Breed: Cotswold
Category: Lustre
Brand: Blacker Breeds
Form: 50g ball, DK weight
Preparation: Woollen Spun

Skein Squish: Silky and smooth. There’s a nice sheen to it and lots of bounce. It feels a bit like a mixture of linen and silk; it doesn’t feel like wool to me, which is not to say it’s not pleasant or soft, just has a very different texture to the other breeds I’ve knitted with. I’m using DK weight but it does look a lot thinner than other DK weight yarns.

What It Is Like to Knit With: Very smooth to knit with but there is a lot of shedding of very fine and short fibres. My clothes were covered with them and they were also easily airborne so my nose was quite itchy at times while knitting. It also splits a teeny bit at times, so had to be careful where I put my needle.

Breakability: This is very strong yarn. It took quite a tug to break this with my hands.

The Unwashed Swatch: White yarn just says lace to me, so I cast on 79 stitches, did a moss stitch border and then three repeats of a pattern called Twin Leaf Lace from Barbara Walker’s Treasury of Knitting Patterns, volume 1. The unwashed swatch measured 10 inches wide and 8.25 inches high. It’s curling in on itself but blocking should solve that. There’s a bit of a halo over the swatch too.

After the First Wash and Block: I unpinned the swatch after it was dry and let it lie there overnight. In the morning there was no shrinkage. Blocked swatch measures 10.5 inches wide and 9.5 inches high. I wore it for eleven hours against my stomach with the top bit held by my bra. Have to say it was fairly prickly. I managed to keep it there all day, but was also very conscious of it.

After the Second Wash and Block: Wow, here’s a revelation - much, much softer after the second wash and block. I did another wear test and it’s fine against the skin now. Final swatch measures 10.25 inches wide by 9.5 inches high. There is a slight bloom and halo, but no pilling so far and the loose fibres seem to have settled down. The blocking has kept the lace stitches nice and open, stockinette looks great, moss stitch looks a bit lost under the halo. I still can’t get over how much softer it is after the second wash. Still has a nice sheepy smell too.

Final Notes: This seems like a really classy wool, a nice uniform creamy white, easy to knit with although be prepared for those loose fibres and perhaps a sneeze or two. I think this would be lovely for lace shawls, hats and mittens, possibly socks and sweaters and cardigans although you’d definitely have to swatch as this yarn is much thinner than average DK, more like a heavy fingering.