Having had such a good time at the last yarn tasting I participated in, I went poking around for some more and found out that Berroco also has one going right now. Our kits arrived in short order, and we got into them!

The top two yarns are Remix Light and Summer Sesame, the middle two are Chai and Zinnia, and the bottom two that I inadvertently hid the labels on are Medina on the left and Ultra Wool Handpaint on the right.

I decided not to do a swatch of the Remix Light as I have knit a few things with it already. It is a mix of recycled fibers, and knits up soft and cozy. It’s a really nice yarn!

My favorite by far is the Chai. This is a linen/silk blend, and I absolutely love it. It was fairly stiff while I was knitting it, as linen often is. However, with a soak and some very light blocking, it is already much more drapey and fluid. Still not super-soft, but I suspect it will be after a few washes. It has great stitch definition for lace, though the texture stitches get a bit lost with the difference in color between the linen and silk threads. I suspected I would like this yarn, as I do really like both linen and silk, and it is a pleasant to work with as I had hoped.

The Ultra Wool Handpaint is a nice thick, squishy, wooly yarn. It is superwash, so would be great for things like mittens and so on. Pretty nice stitch definition and nice to knit with. It is very soft and cozy too 🙂

Next up is Zinnia which is cotton/nylon blend. This is easy to knit and feels like it will be cool to wear for the warmer seasons. The yarn is a bit bumpy, which makes texture stitches get somewhat lost. Likewise, I tried a little light lace and that likewise didn’t stand out particularly well. This would make nice plain fabric though, as the little pops of color within the yarn add some visual interest.

Summer Sesame is a cotton/acrylic/nylon blend with gradient colorways and little colored slubs worked into the yarn. I just did light texture stitches with this yarn, as I wouldn’t personally try any cabling or lace with yarn that has this much going on with it. It knits up very nicely into a light, soft, drapey fabric. This would be great for light tops or cardigans.

And the last sample here is Medina, a cotton/acrylic/viscose blend. Like the last sample, this yarn has a lot going on with it. The color variations within the skeins is pretty dramatic, so again I would not personally do much beyond plain stockinette with this yarn. It also makes a light, drapey fabric. The biggest difference between this and Summer Sesame is that this yarn feels a little silky, while the Summer Sesame definitely has a soft cottony feel.

So, Ultra Wool aside, these are all very nice spring/summer yarns. This was a great set of yarn samples, and I will definitely keep a lookout for the fall/winter yarn tasting kit!

Have you tried out any exciting new yarns – or indeed craft supplies of any type? Tell all about it!