I have been so eager to get this one posted! I have a lot to say about it!

Pattern: Amiga from Knitty.com

Yarn: Dyeabolical Yarns New cotton slub

I’ve spent the last year or so far more interested in cottons and fibers other than wool. I believe this switch is due in part to having too many wool sweaters now. I’ve had a need to branch out, and then in doing so I find that I have great fun experimenting with something new. Dyeabolical’s cotton slub was one which I had the opportunity to try and fell in love with. It is a yarn with a fantastic texture, feels great to knit with, holds up well, feels great to wear, it is really all I could ask for in a yarn. And then it was no longer available. Sad!

So, now she has a new cotton slub. And I had the opportunity to give it a try! (Thanks Rachel!) There are some differences for sure. The most immediately apparent is that the new is a DK weight yarn, while the old was a fingering weight yarn. In choosing the Amiga pattern, I had to make the DK weight yarn fit the called for worsted weight pattern. But that was no problem at all, my swatch worked perfectly.

I had decided to knit the two different cotton slub yarns next to each other, to do a comparison. Upon later reflection, this was perhaps a bad idea. My overwhelming love for the old cotton slub probably colored my initial impression of the new cotton slub. While the old cotton slub is very evenly slubbed, the new is not even at all. The old slub has slubs at regular intervals and they are predominately the same size. The new slub is not at all regular, the slubs are very different sizes. This initially threw me off. If I’d encounter a larger slub, I’d get my needle a bit stuck and it would break my rhythm.  This was something that I got accustomed to, and no longer caused me irritation about 1/4 of the way through the sweater.

The other large difference is the softness of the yarn. I’d say that the new slub is very soft, and not tightly spun. That makes for one amazing feeling sweater, but there is a bit of lint transfer when knitting. I also think that it needs to be handled with a little more care. I noticed that my stitches looked fuzzier when knitting this sweater, but after a gentle wash and a block, this was no longer immediately apparent. Instead, there is a gentle and attractive all over halo to the sweater.

By the time this sweater was complete, I was once again completely and utterly in love with cotton slub yarn. Yes, I would knit with this again. Yes, I WILL knit with this again. I love the versatility of a DK weight yarn that will work as a worsted if allowing for a slouchy garment. I just love the feel of it, love the way it feels on, lightweight, breathable, comfortable, it really is another win in the cotton department from dyeabolical yarns!