Saturday 10 March 2012

Blog Hub Swap 2012: Day 3















The whimsical feel of this 2 of Wands from the unique Phantomwise Tarot reflects the contemplation and consideration that is due to the gift that was labelled 'Day 3' in my package from swap partner Denise.


I am sure that even the non-yarny amongst you will recognize what is in this package by its shape; and when I further inform you that it was most delightfully squishy ? What else could it be, but yarn.


The carefully written card tells me Denise thinks I'll love the color and slightly rustic quality. She was right. 

It is 4oz/350 yards of Farmhouse Silk Blend DK in 'Tangerine', which is 34% silk, 33% cotton, and 33% American lambswool: an unusual combination. It has a very textured feel, and seems thicker than most DKs - and on checking the needle size recommended on the label (US size 4-5) which is 3.5 - 3.75mm, I was quite surprised how small the needles were for the apparent yarn weight. The label gauge is 5-6 stitches per inch, which equates roughly to fingering/4 ply  and/or sport weight. Depending on the stitch pattern, I would have thought that this would give quite a dense, stiff fabric with this yarn. But anyway - no need to drag you down further into my musings on weight and gauge, as the real issue is:

What kind of pattern might suit this yarn ? You already have the technical information, and you can see the color. Recommendations, please ...

Denise has so far achieved a hat trick: check back tomorrow to see if her run of good luck accurate stalking continues ....

3 comments:

  1. ooooh that looks lovely, Viv. She's put lots of thought into these little gifties for you!

    Ali x

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  2. I'm so glad you liked it, because it was darn difficult for me to part with that skein of loveliness. :)

    I'd definitely swatch with this, because I do agree with you on the gauge/yarn weight issue. However, the devil will be in the swatch blocking, because I expect that yarn will block on the large side because of the silk and cotton content. So what might seem like dense fabric will actually have a fair amount of drape after blocking.

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  3. Squishy = enough said :)

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Thanks ! I love comments :-)