Dipping my toes in DK

I’ve mentioned a few times in various vlogs and podcasts about a Corriedale Polwarth DK yarn that is going to appear in my Etsy shop… Well, the waiting is over and its here!

I got the first batches just before I went on holiday but didn’t have enough time to be able to take some good photographs to show the colours.

Unlike the other yarns that I offer in my shop, this DK yarn is not dyed by me. They are spun in the UK from wool tops (a blend of Corriedale and Polwarth) that have already been dyed. This is done commercially in large vats and batches, so the colour is very consistent within each skein and also between each skein of the same batch.

My thinking is that these colours would be perfect for jumpers, sweaters, cardigans, shawls, hats, scarves and almost anything. Unlike hand dyed yarn, you don’t have to alternate skeins when working on a large project. Whether you are knitting or crocheting, that is a HUGE pain in the you-know-what.

The colours go really well together but I’m also planning to get some of the same base undid so that I can dye up some semi solids and hand painted colour ways to coordinate for colour work projects, shawls, scarves and wraps,

As the dyeing has already been done for me for the solid colour ways, I’m able to offer them at a very good price – making a sweater quantity less likely to burn a hole in your bank account.

The colours

The yarn itself is 100% British wool. It has no nylon, acrylic or any other fibre. The wool comes from sheep that graze freely in the Falkland Islands or in the UK (the blend uses fleece from both locations). The wool agent I deal with knows the farmers who supply the fleece, he oversees the grading and production of the tops, the dyeing process and commissions the spinning from mills in Devon (John Arbon) and in Yorkshire (Laxtons and others).

He is local (good Yorkshire lad) and likes to know where his wool ends up too, so he drops the yarn off to me at my house on his way between mills and other customers.

I like knowing exactly how the wool is produced and the fact that one person knows all the steps that it goes through. Its the best way to be confident that the wool is ethically produced and good value because there are fewer ‘middle-men’ involved.

It may be possible in the future to have a say in the next batch of colours in the range (I dropped heavy hints about purple!!), which is really exciting.

Now all I need is to get going on using my samples of this gorgeous stuff! But I’m not waiting for that before listing it in the shop. Its available now and if you make something before I do (VERY likely), I would love to feature a photograph of your project on Instagram and here on my blog.