I have a new favourite yarn! (I’m not sure I had a favourite before but I certainly do now.) Since Henry is very very nearly finished (just 3 rows and then the cast-off to do), I bought some yarn at I Knit last night to make a scarf/wrap for my Mum’s Christmas. The pattern that I’m making specified a slightly fuzzy aran weight and I ended up buying some Wensleydale Longwool from Wensleydale Longwool Sheepshop. This is wool as wool was meant to be! It’s 100% pure wool from Wensleydale Longwool sheep and is just beautiful. It has a lovely natural subtle sheen to it and it’s fabulously soft, unlike some other 100% wools that I’ve worked with. It’s soft and warm and fluffy and it’s definitely what I’m going to make my own scarf out of, when I get back around to making things for me.
It’s not perfect: it sheds considerably and it’s a little “grabby” so ripping back when you’ve gone wrong is not easy. Someone else at I Knit mentioned having wasted an entire ball’s worth of yarn having to rip back a jumper and the yarn being unusable afterwards. Note that I would expect both of these problems with any yarn of this sort so these are not criticisms as such.
I can’t comment on the colourways available either. I bought two balls in cream since I wanted something neutral that could be word in summer as well as winter. Since choosing yarn was standing between me and a bottle of organic cider from the I Knit fridge, I didn’t spend too long admiring things that I wasn’t going to buy! You can see (and order) other colours online at I Knit.
Of course, all this means that I have a barely-started project that I need to finish in the next 11 days. I’m also not sure that I like the pattern that I’ve chosen worked in this yarn; I think I might like something simpler given how beautiful the yarn itself is. I do have another pattern in mind so I’ll choose between them tonight and try and post some pictures over the weekend when there’s daylight.