The latest yarn reviews
New season yarny buys
STYLECRAFT AMOR
Inspired by the natural world around us, this aran weight yarn delivers a little luxury in every stitch. Once knitted, your fabric is incredibly light and bouncy, a result that’ll flatter any pattern you opt for. Manufactured with a 40% twist of superwash wool, the feel to this yarn is soft but rippled, knitting up into a featherlight drape that’ll add a touch of swing to your garments and accessories. The colour above is Pebble, but variegated fans will also fall for the other shades in the range, such as Berry, Heather and Meadow.
RRP £4.50 WEIGHT Aran
BALL 100g/240m NEEDLE 5mm CONTENT 60% premium acrylic, 40% superwash wool
CARE Machine wash 30°C, cool tumble dry For stockists visit www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk. To buy try www.blacksheepwools.com or 01925 764231
SIRDAR COUNTRY CLASSIC WORSTED
Cast on with this worsted-weight yarn and you’ll soon realise your knit is going to be wonderfully hardwearing! As its soft, smooth weight moves through your fingers, words like ‘warmth’, ‘comfort’ and ‘versatility’ will spring to mind. This is a popular o ering from Sirdar because of its fine worsted nature, which is slightly heavier and quicker to knit with than DK. Making it great for neat and defined garment stitches. As for shades, choose from a range of 29, including pretty pastels, earthy greens and browns, bold reds and pinks, and pretty blues.
RRP £6 WEIGHT Worsted
BALL 100g/200m NEEDLE 4.5mm CONTENT 50% Merino wool, 50% acrylic CARE Machine wash 30°C For stockists visit www. sirdar.com. To buy try www.lovecrafts.com or 01409 404010
RICO CREATIVE MELANGE WONDERBALL ARAN
At first look, this yarn is rich in colour changes and strong in construction, all in one whopping 640m/200g wonderball! It makes you want to cast on with it immediately, so you’ll be pleased to know that its aran weight makes garments, accessories and homewares with speed. Wonderball Aran is a new addition to the Rico range and comes with a harmonious melange e ect that guarantees to deliver excitement to your knits – we love Orange-Green (above), refreshing Aqua Mix, and rich Berry Mix, but there are eight inspiring options to choose from. Pop your work in the machine when done.
RRP £20 WEIGHT Aran
BALL 200g/640m NEEDLE 5mm CONTENT 51% wool, 49% acrylic CARE Delicate machine wash 30°C For stockists visit www.rico-design.de. To buy try www.thefoundryworks.co.uk
KING COLE TIMELESS CLASSICS SUPER CHUNKY
Are you in the mood for something chunky and funky? Timeless Classic Super Chunky yarn has a twisted, two-tone colour built in that plays through to your fabric instantly. Its strong, versatile 90% acrylic/10% alpaca mix delivers soft resilience making it great for large slobby knits and homewares in particular. The range comes in six colour options, including versatile Graphite (seen here) and mellow Pebble. With an appealing range of inspiring garment and accessory patterns to choose from, there’s plenty to keep you interested.
RRP £3.60 WEIGHT Super chunky BALL 100g/85m NEEDLE 10mm CONTENT 90% acrylic, 10% alpaca CARE Machine wash 30°C For stockists visit www.kingcole.com. To buy try www.clarkcraft.co.uk or call 01706 826479
SCHOPPEL WOOL CRAZY ZAUBERBALL 4PLY
This amazingly colourful yarn is designed to drive you crazy with rich hues! A fantastic mix of wool and nylon, Crazy Zauberball is the perfect yarn for tough, super-warm socks and more. As you knit the yarn slips easily through your fingers helping you to create fabrics that are beautifully coloured, strong and resilient throughout. Threaded through with a striped marl section, this exciting yarn is a great option for variegated colour fans too, even the balls are wound to show this o ! Choose from their 33-shade range, we love Schokoladenseite (2092) above, but you’ll fall for many more.
RRP £11.50 WEIGHT 4ply sock BALL 100g/420m NEEDLE 2-3mm CONTENT 75% wool, 25% nylon CARE Machine wash 30°C For stockists visit www.schoppel-wolle.de, To buy try www.loopknittingshop.com
DEBBIE BLISS MERION
Merion, with its gentle roving yarn mix, is the epitome of luxury, and we believe it’ll become a firm favourite once tried. Warm and full in the hand, it knits up into a soft, lofty texture that’s wonderfully pliable. Garments knitted in this top yarn have an extravagant, heavy drape and a beautiful swing. Tension-wise this yarn is a traditional chunky and flies easily o the needles, which is perfect if you’re in a hurry to get that long cardigan or squishy jumper finished. It’s meterage is a huge 100m per 100g, so it’s very satisfying to knit with. Merion’s muted shade range has 12 varied hues, including Oat (above), Moss, Gold, lilac, Rose and Sky.
RRP £8 WEIGHT Chunky
BALL 100g/100m NEEDLE 8mm CONTENT 50% wool, 50% acrylic CARE Hand wash 30°C