Below are some of the comments received from customers who reviewed the Special Purchase BFL yarn. This is the one I had hoped would be my BFL exclusive sock yarn. It has wonderful qualities -- one weaver says it is good for warp, people are knitting socks with it, scarves, shawls. It would be wonderful for a fine sweater. Many, many uses for this beautiful yarn. I wanted to share some of the reviewers' comments:
"The yarn is gorgeous, a really nice drapey hand and lovely luster, *however* (this comes from my experience knitting with my handspun) I would definitely add more twist to this, especially for socks. "
"Even though the staple is fairly long - 3-4" is what I pulled out, to make socks that won't wear out I'd have to knit these on a 000 or 0000. I think this is more a laceweight than sockweight yarn."
"Originally, I started knitting a swatch with #2's, but the fiber didn't seem dense enough - I'm going to make anklets out of the yarn and didn't feel as though they'd be sturdy enough - so I switched to #1's. They seem perfectly suited to this yarn and it's final intended purpose. I'm getting right at eight stitches per inch. I'm convinced that this yarn would lend itself well to a variety of stick sizes depending on the look and final outcome desired.Only semi non positive thing I can say about it, is that it splits a bit while it's being knit - but c'mon, it's a three ply, very fine yarn that's essentially being knit with toothpicks! It's feels so nice to knit with, that I'm completely willing to overlook the splitting, and just be more careful - this probably wouldn't be a problem if I were using larger needles for an open lace pattern."
"I started my socks on #2 needles also and was not pleased, but am VERY happy with them on #1 needles. I really like the yarn it is so soft and beautiful, feels wonderful. ... I'm loving this yarn the more I knit the more I'm loving it."
"After dyeing, I washed in wool wash and then soaked in a rinse bath with a teeny bit of hair conditioner mixed in to give the yarn a little more softness. It came out feeling almost as soft as the merino superwash from Henry's Attic, but not quite. That coupled with the (in my opinion) slightly too-loose ply would make me think twice about using it instead of the merino, and the price difference would definitely be the clincher."
"I was a little concerned initially because of the looseness of the twist. Once it was soaked for a few hours in warm water and vinegar, it began to bloom a bit. As I was dyeing it, using acid wash dyes, it was apparent that it was going to take and hold the color really well. I wanted to try doing a variegation of a color, working with my Mayan Sunshine colorway. It goes from an almost tinted white to a deep golden yellow. The colors held without too much wicking or traveling of colors.
Once it was dyed and the colors were set, it took a couple of days to dry in this Boston rain and humidity. Once it was dry? This is one of the softest yarns! It has such a nice soft hand, and it drapes nicely in the skein. ... When it came time to knit a swatch, I found it best FOR ME to use a US #3 needle. (I broke a pair of US #0 while casting on… man-hands I guess.) It knitted up nicely, and very uniformly. I still felt that the twist could be a little tighter. I ran into a bit of separating of the plies while working with it. I really had to pay attention to what I was doing."
" ...my initial critique of the BFL yarn still stands -- takes the colors very well and retains them well, but the loose ply is a real downfall. I knitted a little swatch and it does knit up well, but when touch-knitting the needles tend to split the yarn a little. I have to keep one eye on it or I end up with lots of split stitches. I will say that I'm a beginner at touch-knitting so we should take that into consideration. ... I do think it has a nice hand and it's fairly stretchy once it is knitted up. It will make nice, comfy socks, so all in all I'd say on a scale of 1 to 10, it would rate about 7 or 8, so I think it's a pretty good sock yarn."
"...and I'm going to alert my yarn-dyeing addicted-to-knitting-socks friend that she should get her checkbook ready. Splitting shouldn't be a problem for her, particularly if she knows that it's an issue. Wouldn't be an issue for me either. I use sockweight for lace shawls all the time, but I don't dye (yet). I may have to start though!"
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