Yarn I've been waiting for (is there yarn that I haven't been waiting for?) has finally arrived... The newest sock yarn from Fleece Artist is their BFL Sock, which is a mix of BFL (blue face leicester is a sheep that has a face of white hair over black skin, making it look blue- thus the name) and nylon. This is the first bfl blend that I've carried and it's lush, takes dye beautifully and has a slight fuzzy halo. Jill knit up the sample in the color Twilight for me and her review is below.
Allison asked me to test knit at a very stressful time, and although I could have declined, I felt it was a message that I needed more knit in my life at that moment. The yarn arrived looking oh-so yum-o-licious, it was sheer torture waiting until I had help in the evening to wind the hank into a ball. The yarn was put up very nicely. The only problem with putting it into a ball was human error (I do not have a swift or a ball winder) due to the late hour and exhaustion of both the hank holder and myself winding. No snags, breaks, worn parts or knots whatsoever.
The dye job was even, no bleeding onto my hands or needles. No funky smells and boy, is this yarn lush! My hank holder was my 14 year old daughter who is a beginning knitter. Her remarks were favorable (very soft and pretty) and encouraging (no tangles!) considering her only encounter with this yarn was during the winding phase.
This yarn put me in the mind of my beloved Trekking XXL as it slid through my fingers and wrapped around my needles. The only time I encountered any splitting was when working K2tog and I really thing that was more my fault than the yarn's. The fabric produced feels slightly thicker than some sock yarns, but not uncomfortably so. I did find the yarn halos a bit as it was worked and while I sdislike that in any yarn, it does not distract from the finished product like some.
The shocker with this yarn has to be no pooling at the gusset as tends to happen with multi-colored yarns. I do not know the last pair of multi-colored, non self striping socks I knit without pooling somewhere. The colors are evenly and nicely distributed in this yarn. I would knit this yarn again, especially if a green or pink colorway exists. While I have not washed the socks yet, I do believe it will stand up to some tough use/abuse just from the feel of the finished sock.
In my hurry to get knitting, I chose the famed Monkey pattern and automatically picked up my US 1 needles as is my habit. Had I checked the Ravelry forums a bit more before casting on, I would have seen that I needed my US 2 needles in order to knit Monkeys that fit me. But my youngest daughter, Ellie, loves these and they fit her so all is not lost. She reported "this sock feels soft and squishy at once. It's very pretty and reminds me of a bowl of berries."
Thanks to Allison for helping my mojo find the way home yet again.
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