July 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 July sample skeins. These are NOT comprehensive yarn reviews. They are my opinions reflecting my personal preferences after knitting a sample skein.

The two swatches on the left were machine washed. The two on the right were hand washed. All four were laid out to dry. All washed well.


Nilo (upper left). 60% Cotton, 30% Viscose, 10% Linen. DK weight. Swatch knit on #5 needle. 5.5 stitches/inch before washing, 5 stitches/inch after washing.

Nothing wrong with this yarn, I just don't care for the look or feel of it. Maybe that's because of the yucky color they sent me. The picture doesn't do it justice.

It's very drapy and beware - it grew when washed.

Sula (lower left). 50% Cotton, 25% Linen, 25% Acrylic. DK weight. Swatch knit on #4 needle. 5.5 stitches/inch before and after washing.

Looking at the unknit skein I though Sula was going to be splitty. It wasn't. It knit up nice.

The colors all have a contrasting strand spun in, making for an interesting texture. I think the colors would be prettier without it.

None of the colors is calling my name, but if someone gave me a bag of this yarn I'd happily knit it up.

Pure Bamboo (not shown). 100% Bamboo. Fingering weight.

The sample skein was rolled into a ball about an inch in diameter. When I went to knit it up, I couldn't find it. I'm sure it's somewhere in or under a piece of furniture, but it's doing a great job of being invisible.

One good thing came from this - while searching I found a long lost favorite cable needle down inside the sofa.

Noro Silk Mountain (lower right). 65% Wool, 25% Silk, 10% Kid Mohair. Bulky weight. Swatch knit on #10 needle. 3 stitches/inch before and after washing.

Yikes! Do people really knit with this stuff?

With my Continental knitting technique, this yarn turned me into a bumbling, super slow, frustrated knitter. The point of my needle had to poke around in each stitch to find the actual loop. Sometimes I'm sure I missed the loop and speared one of the blobs in the yarn.

No way do I want to knit with this yarn ever again. Even though the colors are gorgeous.

Katia Scotch (upper right). 65% Silk, 25% Wool, 9% Viscose Rayon. Chunky weight. Swatch knit on #7 needle. 4 stitches/inch before and after washing.

This is my favorite yarn of the month. It's thick, soft, cuddly, and smooth knitting. All sixteen of the colors are tweedy and attractive.

I tried some simple lace and frogged it. The yarn is too heavy.

Katia Scotch isn't available until the end of the month. I'm letting my subconscious work on finding the perfect pattern. It needs to be simple to show off the yarn.