June Sample Skein Swatches

When I subscribed to Elann Sample Skeins, one of my goals was to knit up each sample skein, including yarn I would never dream of buying. Because who knows? I might fall in love with a yarn that I otherwise never would have tried. Or, in short, I wanted to experiment a little and expand my yarn exposure.

The following are my impressions of the June sample skeins. These are NOT comprehensive yarn reviews. They are my opinions reflecting my personal preferences after knitting a sample skein.

The swatches have all been machine washed in warm water and laid out to dry. None had any shrinkage.


Coto Canapone (upper left). 52% Cotton, 48% Hemp. Worsted weight. Swatch knit on #4 needle.

Nice summer yarn at a very reasonable price. I'm going to give it the ultimate test, and knit myself a short sleeve summer sweater.

All the colors are lovely. I had a hard time choosing. Finally settled on Summer Spice, a muted orange color, and placed my order this afternoon.

With a #4 needle I got 6 stitches/8.5 rows per inch, so I question the "worsted weight" classification. The fabric is not tight, not baggy, and was comfortable to knit. I'm sticking with the #4 needles.

Bamboo Fusion (upper right). 50% Bamboo, 31.2% Cotton, 18.8% Acrylic. Worsted weight. Swatch knit on #5 needle.

Beware! Beware!

The colors are beautiful. The knitting is unpleasant.

My swatch was totally splitty. I couldn't knit at my normal speed without splitting the yarn. Even at a reduced speed and eyeballing every stitch as it went on the needle I still got some splitting. It was like the threads making up the yarn just didn’t want to hang together.

I won't be buying this yarn.

Lustrado (lower left). 100% Mercerized/Gassed Cotton. Fingering weight. Swatch knit on #2 needle.

Someday I'm going to get into doily/tablecloth knitting. If I were doing that now, this would be a perfect yarn. It machine washed up in warm water with no shrinkage.

Since I have no current use for it I won't be buying any Lustrado, but it's a very nice yarn for cotton fingering weight.

Katia Swing (lower right). 70% Acrylic, 30% Cotton. DK weight. Swatch knit on #3 needle.

Katia is a flat, ribbon like yarn available in numerous bright colors. It knit up nice and it machine washed with no problem.

The swatch has a harsh acrylic feeling. I don't think I would enjoy wearing something knit from this yarn.