#malabrigo silk merino

[andromedasummer]

oh my god i missed the whole rt stream becaus i was. shopping

[creativeseal]

Here are all the tour de fleece 2024 skeins after washing them.

I really like how all the skeins turned out!

First, some background. I have been spinning since at least 2006 (that’s the year listed on ravelry and my old blog for some of my earliest handspun-knit projects). I have been participating in tour de fleece (on and off) since 2008. Some years I spun only one or two skeins, most years I spun a handful of skeins. This past year is the winner for the most skeins I’ve spun.

Everything except one skein was spun and plied on my new electric spinner (one yarn was spun on a spindle and then plied on the e-spinner).

Here’s all the details:

Frabjous fibers, BFL, 4oz - Deep space 114.5g, 246.5 yards, dk, chain plied

Rabbit (labeled as Agouti)

42.6g, 135 yards, dk, chain plied and has a slight halo

TurboFluffed creations, merino/silk/bamboo, 4oz - Equinox

111.5g, 208 yards, dk/worsted, 2 ply

TurboFluffed creations, merino/silk, 4oz - Leo

107g, 481.5 yards, fingering, 2 ply, singles were spun on spindle

Into the whirled, superwash cheviot, 4oz - dramatic pause

128.7g, 125 yards, worsted, chain-plied, slightly overplied

Malabrigo Nube, merino, 4oz - Diana

111.5g, 395 yards, fingering, chain plied

Little bean loves yarn, merino/silk, 4oz - Neon acid / Ember

115.9g, 194 yards, dk/worsted, chain plied

Cece’s yarn, merino/acrylic/rayon, 4oz - happy accident

115.1g, 391 yards, fingering, 2 ply

Cece’s yarns, wool/acrylic/rayon, 4oz - penstemon

112.2g, 345 yards, dk/worsted, 2ply

TurboFluffed creations, 4 oz, 23 micron merino - Heavenly

116.2 g, 225 yards, dk, chain plied

TurboFluffed creations, 4 oz, 23 micron merino - Finding emo

115.4g, 187.5 yards, worsted, 2 ply

Cece’s yarn, 8oz, wool/acrylic/rayon - Seashell

230.1g, 533 yards, sport/dk, chain plied

Dirty girl yarns, rambouillet top, 4 oz, Lagoon/tropical drazi

113.2 g, 206 yards, worsted, chain plied

I think my favorites are these two:

…but I can’t wait to figure out patterns and knit/crochet/weave with each of them!

Any favorites? Or ones that immediately tell you what kind of project they want to be made in to?

I’m now completely done reporting on the 2024 tour de fleece - until I start knitting with it!

[petirrojo57]

Color me crazy but I decided that not only would I cast on a new project (Anker Tee by Petite Knit) for sweater number 4 (even though I have not finished sweater number 3 yet) because the yarn I’d bought for it* was burning a hole in my stash, but I realized that another yarn** burning a hole in my stash (for which I’d frogged 2 other attempts to use it) would also work for the pattern so I simulcast it to start sweater number 5! I work a bit on one, switch over to the other to kind of keep things even and if all goes well 🤞 I should have 2 Anker Tees in a month or two. I’m nuts.

Yarn* Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply in Denim is a soft, drapey silk/merino wool blend and it’s going to feel wonderful, even if it’s a little (lot) bit slippery and splitty — I dropped a yarn over on the second of the first increase rows trying to to the kfbl but clap for me 👏 I actually managed to pick it up (imperfectly, but hey, any time I don’t end up frogging something because of shit like this it’s a win for me), so it’s one I’ll have to pay attention to as I knit.

Yarn** Malabrigo Metamorphosis Sock in London Alley is a merino wool and as a superwash it’s a little ‘dryer’ in texture, but it’s a great speckled color changing gradient and I’m happy to use it this way because I’m never gonna be a sock knitter to the extent I’d use up the 3 balls I have of this special edition yarn.

[naritaren]

Associate Ren, Shota, and ELP with yarn colors you currently have!

Oh this will be fun. I have a massive stash.

This is for elp. It's Malabrigo Rios in Cian. It's a hand dyed Superwash merino wool. This one is worsted weight and very soft.

This is for Shota. This is Tweed Dream from Hobbii and is 100% acrylic. I believe it's also worsted weight. Also very soft (I didn't want to default to the hot pink cheap yarn I just got lmao)

This is for Ren. This is Rowan Sultano and it's a cashmere, silk, and alpaca blend yarn. I have it in both bulky and dk weight. It's incredibly soft (and incredibly fucking expensive).

I tried to pick some of my nicer stuff for this. But this was fun because I forgot I had the blue and pink yarns!

[olderthannetfic]

Sure!

I don’t think I can give useful yarn recs since like 95% of my stash comes from a used yarn consignment store where people are destashing things they bought 20 years ago. I just counted and out of 90 I have stashed, 49 are for sure discontinued entirely, and others may not be available in the color I have.

Overall, I’m loving the silk wool blends. Sundara Yarns is amazing, though way above what I’m willing to pay new. I wouldn’t say “overpriced”. These are glorious hand-dyed yarns on fancy fiber bases like tussah silk plus merino. It’s priced appropriately; I just don’t want to pay that.

I’ve mostly been working with wool or wool blends. I intentionally try to avoid anything with a man-made fiber. I’ll accept a little rayon, and sock yarn almost always has like 10% nylon, but I’ll almost never buy anything with even a small percentage of acrylic content or anything with nylon that isn’t a sock yarn.

I’m liking the gloriously smooth yarns like the Malabrigo Rios I’m knitting a hat out of today. I very much dislike the modern knitting trend for holding multiple strands together and adding hairy yarns to everything.

I’ve recently bought a few skeins of white hemp yarn, one blue linen one (the only skein of that the store had or I’d have gotten more), and a baby blue sweater lot of a cotton blend. I’m looking forward to trying some more plant fiber summer knits. I haven’t quite figured out what I want to use that cotton for yet. Definitely something textured since flat, even colors are not my favorite when knit in plain stockinette.

I think one needs to be logged in to see people’s stashes and such. Here’s my project page, though it doesn’t have the hat I’m currently knitting.

[moongothic]

‘Tis a yarn haul 🧶 

So yeah, my only local yarn shop is closing down, so today I went and bought an absurd amount of yarn from the remaining stock they had. It wasn’t a lot actually, like pretty much all the yarns I would normally get were completely sold out, and the color selection in the remaining yarns left a lot to be desired (but it is what it is)

Like you know my favorite color is black, and there really wasn’t a lot left of any black yarns. It kind of broke my heart a little because amongst the medium sized hanks, there was a fuck ton of that orange yarn, but just ONE hank of black. Like had there been more, I would’ve gotten just black and orange because then I could’ve made something with a Halloween-y color palette, but no, there was just one black 💔

But yeah, this is not a selection of yarns I would’ve ever gone for normally, but it was mostly what was left, and it was discounted, so I’ll just have to take it.

So I got that one sparkly cake of Katia yarn- I usually stay away from plastic blends (and plastic yarns in general) but this was the only one they had left that had a monochrome color scheme (the others were pretty gradients in misc colors), and like. Even if I didn’t buy it, it still wouldn’t make the plastic go away anymore, so I grabbed it. The yarn is super soft though and while I don’t like the sparkly bits in it that much, I’m sure I can make something cute with it

Then I got four lorger Malabrigo hanks, two white and two red. They’re 100% merino wool sock yarns and I’m sure I can think of something cute to make with them (in fact a while back I thought it could be cute to make something with like a peppermint swirl on it, not sure what but, well, I certainly have the yarn to make something now). ((These were the only remaining reds they had the shop, they also had one more white and a green but I left those because I figured someone else might like them))

And all the remaining hanks are silk/wool blend. They had a bunch of misc colors left (and a fuck ton of that orange), I ended up grabbing pretty much all the remaining greens and some whites to go along with them (since I don’t think those hues really go well together), and the last black with one orange to go with it.

So yeah. I normally would never do a yarn haul like this, I prefer to buy yarn when I know I have a specific project to use it with. But considdering the situation, I think this one yarn haul won’t be the end of the world. God fucking knows I am not buying any fucking yarn for the rest of the god damn year

[dropkickspindle]

I’ve had this one in my drafts for quite awhile, so I figured I should clear it out. I made these scarves last year on my rigid heddle loom. From left to right:

1. A variegated green wool scarf, much narrower in width than the rest of the scarves. The green varies from yellow-green to forest green, with some bits of brown thrown in there for good measure. This one is one of the Debbie Bliss Botany lace weight yarns, which I cannot find anymore in any of my usual places, which is a shame because it is a LOVELY yarn line. It’s super soft too.

2. A glittery scarf in dark blue and black. The pattern is actually log cabin, but there’s not enough contrast between the yarns to show it well. So in person it just looks sparkly and dark, dark blue. It’s surprisingly comfy against the skin for something with glitter fiber in it.

3. A hound’s tooth scarf in chocolate brown and light grayish-green. This one was an experiment, since I’d used the alpaca silk blend yarn before but not in color work. Honestly I’m not a huge fan of this one but it’s always good experience to make something, even if it doesn’t turn out great.

4. a hound’s tooth scarf in cream and dark green. Now THIS one looks great, and has since become one of my favorite handmade scarves to wear. The cream is alpaca and the dark green is Malabrigo rios, a merino wool. It’s super soft and warm.

5. A wide scarf in various shades of green and reddish-purple. This was a cake yarn that I used as it came off the cake to warp my loom, forming colored stripes in the warp. For the weft I used more of the cake to form blocks of each color. I’ve done this technique a lot, because I’m a sucker for cake yarns. It always turns out looking great.

And 6. This hounds tooth, in light pink and chartreuse, also turned out lovely, but I ran out of yarn after about a foot and a half. So all you get is a close up.

[mademoiselleseraph]

Did some calculations with their favorite jacket to get a good set of measurements for a fit they'd like. I'll need at least 138 squares the size i'm making them and I currently have 37. I'm running low on the batch of yarn i started out with. I still have plenty fiber to spin more of the white (polwarth/tussah silk blend) and the blue/purple/pink gradient (merino with a bit of stellina for sparkles), but the other two (ashford merino/silk blend in cinnamon and malabrigo nube merino roving in cereza) i'm out of. I might have more yarn i already spun, but i'm not sure it's the right weight to work with the others.

I know that i should have spun all the yarn i needed before starting, but this is the first time i've ever done a project like this so a just plain didn't know how much i'd need. Plus i needed to get started before losing steam and at the very least i have enough for the front

Making my love a granny square cardigan out of yarn i spun myself. Here are the ones i have so far.

[viciousewe]

*casually sidles in with a bag of fiber and a Starbucks as if I have totally made any personal craft posts for almost a year*

I honestly have not spun any yarn for like half the year and I have been knitting the same massive green shawl for the same amount of time. I was slammed this semester and the next one will be even worse between thesis, internship, and portfolio work. But I never stop making and the hole spinning has left has been filled with a new fiber based hobby: needle felting! Instead of making cute sculptures I have been horns. I have found some very inspiring images of dragons tho. I’m working my way up.

I went to Imagiknit with a friend and found a stunning silk hankie package from frabjous fibers (my fave roving company I think. Their polwarth was delicious!) and an almost matching skein of malabrigo roving so it looks like I’m back in spinning business tho! One ounce to spin with the silk, one ounce to spin with some black Merino silk, one ounce for future spinning and one ounce for needle felting.

[mostly-mundane-atla]

I asked you guys about favorite crochet stitches and a few of you said catherine wheel stitch which i was unfamiliar with so i gave it a try

This looks a little wonky, but to my own defense these yarns are handspun, different weights, and different fiber content. The darker yarn with green and purple coloring is spun from Malabrigo Nube in the colorway Candombe. It's 100% merino wool and i plied it from the estmated center of the single. I did some snooping for the fiber the other was spun from, since i bought it years ago at a fiber festival from someone who was trying to make room in their stash and lost the little paper tag that was on it. Looks like the merino and silk blend from Ashford in the colorway Cinnamon. That would make it 80% merino wool and 20% silk, which along with being chain-plied (making it three ply instead of just two) gives it a lot of density and structure that the handspun Malabrigo doesn't have.

The stitch pattern is fun when i remember those three single crochets, forgetting them made me feel a bit like a doofus lol. The visual aspect is nice, though i generally prefer something lacey or with a 3D effect. I could see it being wonderful for blankets or handbags. It feels like whoever first designed it wanted shelling to have a level two. I bet you could manipulate it to look like duckies instead of just circles

[ha-bloody-ha]

This is only some of my knitting that you may see in Murdoch Mysteries this year. I say again, you buy masks from the costume designer of your favourite show, and things can get pretty weird. (And awesome. Honestly this is getting me through this annus horribilis.)

EDIT: I should credit all the pattern designers and yarns!

Big ivory lace cape: Lady’s Circular Cape in Shell Pattern, Jane Sowerby, Victorian Lace Today. Malabrigo Silkpaca Lace.

Green capelet: my (first!) design, cobbled together from Carol Sunday’s Pachelbel, Foldi knit’s Panna Frost Flower Lace Shawl, and Ann Budd’s Grand Plan Top-Down Capelet. No I didn’t write it down. Patons Angora Bamboo.

Reddish shawl: Jenny Johnson Johnen’s Echo Flower Shawl, in Tanis Fibre Arts Silver Label Mulberry Silk.

Yellow fichu: Harebell Fichu, Jane Sowerby’s Victorian Lace Today again. Indigodragonfly’s Merino Silk Lace.

Grey cuffs: Victorian Lace Cuffs, Caroline Steinford, in Cascade 220 Superwash Merino Sport.

Grey scarf: The Skinny on Lace, Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer, in the same Cascade yarn.

Teal cardigan: Colette, by Joan McGowan-Michael of White Lies Designs. It’s written for aran-weight yarn, and I used worsted, so I ran it through Amy Herzog’s CustomFit pattern generator. Yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash Merino. Label is from Kylie and the Machine.

[affreca]

Fluff to yarn to hat.  

Fiber is 4 oz Malabrigo Nube (merino) in Persia colorway and 1 oz silk from Paradise Fibers.  I carded it together for a heathered look, with the silk adding a pop of turquiose to the blue and grey wool.  I spun it short forward draw on my Ashford traveler, then plied three bobbins together.  The hat pattern is Lake Reed, which was apt as in includes the name of the ex-coworker I gave it to.  

[knitcrate]

August 2021 Early Preview

August is just around the corner! Let's take a peek at the clubs crates we have planned.

Knit & Crochet Club + Sock Club Theme

This month’s Indulge theme is all about treating yourself to the luxurious yarn that you deserve so that you can immerse yourself in squishy fiber decadence. Our designs this month are the perfect mix of sophisticated and comfortable that are sure to fly off your needles and hooks. Take the time to spoil yourself and engage in some self-care, because you’re worth it. And what better way to indulge than with a few new skeins of yarn?

KnitCrate Knit & Crochet Club

It’s time to indulge yourself with our decadent yet comfortable yarn this month. You’ll love the cozy elegance of Audine Wools Mellow, a squishy mix of 80% Alpaca and 20% Tencel that comes in two rich and velvety colorways. Each skein is 125 yds (114 m)/100g of bulky yarn to plump up your yarn stash and delightfully create your next projects.

Knit & Crochet Club August 2021 Colorways

Members will receive 2 matching skeins in one of these 2 colorways.

Cordial: This deep shade of gray-blue, reminiscent of the night sky just after sunset, will have you feeling serene and ready to take on your next project.

Mimosa: The crisp, bubbly taste of a mimosa comes to life with this taupe colorway with muted orange undertones, sure to delight you from the very first sip – or stitch.

Please Note: In an effort to work with our partner mill to move up production for future months, some of our originally planned colorways are not being produced. You may see pattern samples made in some of these not-produced colorways.

Knit & Crochet Club Patterns

During the Early Preview, we will show you close up swatches of the patterns featured in this club, without revealing the entire piece quite yet. This way, you can see how the yarn works up before subscribing!

Featured Knit Pattern is pictured here in the Merlot colorway (colorway not available):

Featured Crochet Pattern is pictured here in the Mimosa colorway:

Not a member yet? Join today!

Sock Knit & Crochet Club

Live in luxury from your head to your toes with this month’s succulent sock yarn. Audine Wools Indulgent Sock is a mix of 60% Superwash Merino, 20% Camel, and 20% Nylon, perfect for your next pair of socks or any creation you can dream up. You will receive one skein with 400 yds (365 m)/100g skein that is sure to be a treat for your feet.

Members will receive 1 skein in one of these 3 colorways.

Spa Day: This natural and earthy tone of Spa Day calls to mind the relaxing aura that comes with a stone massage.

Bask in the Glow: The gilded yellow ochre tones of Bask in the Glow are reminiscent of the golden rays of the sun. You can almost smell the scent of turmeric and saffron.

Rose-Tinted Glasses: Relax on a pile of silken royal pillows with the stunning rose purple.

Sock Knit & Crochet Club Patterns

During the Early Preview, we will show you close up swatches of the patterns featured in this club, without revealing the entire piece quite yet. This way you can see how the yarn works up before subscribing!

Featured Knit Pattern is pictured here in the colorway, Rose-Tinted Glasses:

Featured Crochet Pattern is pictured here in the colorway, Bask in the Glow:

Want to join Sock Knit & Crochet Club? You can do it here!

Malabrigo Partner Club, Quarterly Membership Theme

It’s electric! This theme is all about bold colors, geometric shapes, and daring color combinations that will take your projects to the next level. Get in touch with your bright side with a pop of color in your crafts. Perfect for anything from a night out on the town to a cozy weekend at home, this month’s yarn will bring that wow factor. So set aside your weekend for some amazing crafting!

Malabrigo Partner Club Crate Yarn

Get ready for the weekend with the electric tones of this month’s Malabrigo yarn, Silky Merino! This exclusive Electric Slide colorway from Malabrigo, dyed especially for KnitCrate, features speckles of neon pink, green, yellow, and blue mixed with pearl base tones. It’s time to get in touch with your bright side with bold pops of color that bring out the WOW factor. You will receive 4 - 50g DK Weight skeins, each with 150 yds (137 m), of Silky Merino yarn that is 51% Silk and 49% Merino Wool to bring pizzazz to your yarn stash.

Malabrigo Partner Crate Patterns

During the Early Preview, we will show you close up swatches of the patterns featured in this crate, without revealing the entire piece quite yet. This way you can see how the yarn works up before choosing your Crate!

Featured Crochet Pattern:

Featured Knit Pattern:

[knitcircus-luxury-yarns]

This week were featuring Malabrigo Susurro, a beautiful sport/DK weight yarn thats a wonderful choice for shawls, cowls, and lightweight garments. This single ply yarn is a blend of silk, Merino wool, and linen and has such a luxurious and unique feel. Order at www.knitcircus.com.

[socratesofthesocketset]

mirrorstone replied to your photo: It’s all bouncy scrunchy right now because it’s...

It’s already looking pretty, I’m looking forward to seeing it after being blocked! I’ve never used merino before, so it’s neat to me to see what working with it is like too.

Thank you!

I am a self-admitted Yarn Snob. Where my pocketbook allows it, I prefer to buy the finer fiber/yarn in life- silk, merino, cashmere... It is exceedingly rare I go for something like the cotton/acrylic of the last shawl (which I could have gotten away without blocking if I didn’t care about the points on the edging.) That said, this is my first merino shawl and the bouncy squishy nature of it as lace is hilarious to me.

As for how it is to work with, absolutely lovely. Runs smoothly through my hands, doesn’t catch or knot. It’s single ply so I don’t have to worry about splittiness. It is super squooshy, I love making winter hats from merino. And wonderfully soft. I usually prefer Malabrigo yarns for Merino, I think theirs is softest, but this one from Manos del Uruguay has been wonderful too- I think their laceweight might be softer and smoother than their worsted.

[professorpski]

Interweave Crochet, Winter 2020

It’s cold out up north, and the holiday season, so this issue has some gifts to make, like the Sheepback Shawl by Alla Koval in a lovely hand-dyed Malabrigo Silk Merino in a mix of shades of blue at top. This one is made using cross stitches.

The smaller (and easier to get finished for giving) Rimaye Cowl by Kabila Sri Ponnusamy is done with a Tunisian hook which keeps stitches “live” as in knitting which allows you accomplish things that are not otherwise possible in crochet where each stitch is usually finished, one and done. The deep sea green yarn is by Brown Sheep, the Nature Spun Sport Weight.

The grey Ogive Cardigan by Isa Catepillan has dropped sleeves and is worked side to side in pieces, which means creating vertical ribbing across the body, before adding the shell stitch collar. This is Patons Classic Wool at work.

The Firn Capelet on the cover has a hood and was designed by Lisa Naskrent and makes the most of the ombre shading of Scheepjes Whirligig yarn. Notice how she placed the darker grey at the bottom and the paler blues near the face. She uses post stitches to create that nice texture. 

There are more projects, more sweaters, more smaller scarf gifts, that silly little snowman as well as a technical article on grafting by Susanna Tobias, and the usual columns on new books, products.  You can find it at your local bookstore or newsstand or online here: https://www.interweave.com/store/crochet/crochet-magazines/crochet-magazines-interweave-crochet