As mentioned in my latest post, I received a few skeins from Hobbi so I could play around with them and share my opinion.
Today is all about Alpaca Silk skeins, and following the same pattern as my lastest post, here’s what you are going to find:
- Skein’s information (provided by Hobbii – all in their website)
- First impressions
- Swatching, blocking and my experience knitting with this yarn
- Pros
- Cons
- Conclusion
Let’s dive straight into it!
*Disclaimer: yarn was kindly gifted by Hobbii but my opinion is based on my experience playing around with the yarn.
SKEIN INFORMATION
A bit of info before getting into more details:
- Composition: 70% Alpaca, 30% Mulberry Silk
- Meterage: 50g – 166m
- Needles recommended: 3 mm (US 3) – 3.5 mm (US 4)
- Gauge: 10cm = 27 stitches * 40 rows
- Color selected: Desert Dusk
Now that we got all the facts… let’s hop to my review!
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I was very curious about this yarn, I’ve never tried alpaca and silk before (the closest to alpaca it’s been Divina – which I tried recently, and drops Air), so I was looking forward to see how different and luxury it was. Once opening the package, I can say that it is very soft and kinda “hairy” yarn
About the color, I got what I expected and I couldn’t be happier: a neutral and soft color perfect for a baby project that can be passed down from one sibling to another!
I had some ideas in mind but it after some swatching and a few tries had to change what I had in mind so it could fit this kind of yarn (yup, not every single lace stitch combines with each yarn)
SWATCHING, BLOCKING & KNITTING
If you have been following me for a while and/or downloaded any of my patterns, I’m a very loose knitter. I first tried 2.75mm needles but turned out looser than expected so I went with 2.5mm.
I was afraid that even though I went 0.25mm down it was still loose and would get even looser, so I quickly soaked into water and left it to dry flat to see next steps. Fortunately the result was very nice as you can see above and my gauge for stockinette stitch and 10cm was 29 stitches * 37 rows.
When it comes to knitting, I found helpful to be patient and not knit as fast as I would like since it’s not a single ply yarn, and sometimes it’s easy not to knit the whole thread and ending having little loops or knitting the stitch between threads (which will make it harder when it comes to frogging). I feel it is wiser to knit with a wider loop to make sure it didn’t happen, it’s not a big thing but it’s something to have in mind specially if you are a begginer, since it will make knitting a bit harder.
Lace stitches, as shown in the picture below, are not 100% defined due to the yarn’s composition but are very clear, you could play a lot aorund with this yarn in this aspect, but maybe having more lace than my project I would recommend checking your needles first so it shows off as you would like it (for ex. my pattern would stand up more with I had chosen 2-2.25mm needles)
PROS
- Quality: it’s two components are quite at the top (alpaca and silk) making it a worthy combination and a perfect match for a lot of knitting projects (can’t say about crocheting since I haven’t swatched it but I bet it would be awesome too)
- Drape: just hanging from the cable between the needles the drape it already has it’s amazing, it feels super light and airy since it’s very thin (but super warm thanks to the alpaca).
- Color range: 23 available colors, with some neutrals and some pop up colors so for sure you will find the perfect match for your project!
- Look/appearance: thanks to it’s quality, it gives your project that “store bought” look since it’s delicate and requires small needles, you will impress anyone when you say you made it yourself!
CONS
- Price: comparing price VS gr, it’s a high price yarn (14€ / 50gr), understandable due to it’s composition, so it’s something to have in mind when choosing this yarn. The good thing is that Hobbi has seasonal discounts or discounts for buying in bulk, so if you want to try this yarn I would totally recommend to keep an eye for those promotions!
- Hairy: be aware of what you are wearing or you might end up just like me and my leggings, full of little hairs! I would recommend a knitting “blanket” or something similar to avoid getting those small threads on your clothes and be careful with what you wear when you are out with your project!
- Threads: my recommendation would be to knit with big loops making sure you got the whooole thread on your needle to avoid small loops out of nowhere on your project or knitting between threads and making it harder to frog.
- Frogging: be careful when frogging, since the threads come a bit loose and that means being extra aware when knitting to avoid knitting between threads. Also, have a lot of patience when frogging, since the hairs of the yarn might be tangled, taking more time than usual to frog properly.
- Knitting with 2.5mm or small needles: it makes the process a bit “long”, so have this in mind when choosing this yarn so as not to be discouraged once you start and leave it aside! Or consider mixing with other skeins to make it bulkier and enjoy knitting with bigger needles (ie. Mohair)
- Colors: one of the pros was the range of colors but, I must admit that, based on my color preferences, I think they have too many blues and not so many of other colors such as pink, beige, grey options but it’s a pretty good range after all.
CONCLUSION:
In my opinion, the quality of this yarn is amazing and makes your own projects look like store bought (in the good sense of course!) at least when you knit then with such delicate small needles as you can see above.
This yarn is perfect for small projects, since they are quicker to knit and you won’t be discouraged in the process (at least I usually am when they take too long or I barely see progress when knitting), so be realistic with yourself before buying or starting a project with this jam
Would I choose this yarn again? Probably yes but only for small projects or combining it with other yarns (as Hobbii presents it in one fo their patterns) to knit it faster and not to be so pricy (but of course, texture, stitch definition, etc may vary). I would totally love to pair it with mohair yarn, it would probably make an expensive garment but wouldn’t it look amazing?
Hope this gives you a better insight of this yarn and decide when buying!