Sunday, June 17, 2007

Touch Lace Yarn from Yarn Place

In the frenzied excitement of swatching for the Princess shawl, I almost forgot about the skein of Touch that Jane had included in her goodie box to me.

Touch is lovely to both fondle and knit. It's soft and a bit silky, but still has the liveliness that characterizes knitables from the Yarn Place. The composition is a mix of 5% cashmere, 85% merino, and 10% Tencel. The Tencel contributes the silky feeling, cashmere the softness, and merino the springiness.


Left to right on the dime:
Heirloom Knitting Gossamer Merino
Angel
Touch

I made the swatch on #0 needles, but if I were going to actually knit lace with it, I would go with a size 2 needle. It's a bit heavier than than Gentle. Here's another dime shot:



And a little comparison chart:
Heirloom Knitting Gossamer Merino: 100% merino, 11811 yards/lb
Angel: 100% merino, 8423 yards/lb
Gentle: 5% cashmere 95% wool, 6265 yards/lb
Touch: 5% cashmere, 85% merino, 10% Tencel, 5811 yards/lb

I thought it actually felt a little finer to knit than Gentle, so you might want to take the yards/pound with a bit of salt. I'm sure that Wraps Per Inch are more accurate, but wrapping all these teeny tiny yarns around a WPI thingie will have to wait for that mythical time when I have alphabetized my stash, carefully arranged my needles in pristine order, and cleaned out the drawer in the kitchen with the ten-year-old catalogs.

Anyway, here's a swatch lineup:


My sample page shows Touch available in nine colors, including the regrettable Split Pea Soup shown here. Harry actually liked this color, which he dubbed "Grasshopper." No accounting for taste, I guess.



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7 comments:

  1. LacefreakJune 18, 2007 at 1:22:00 AM EST

    Dear fleegle,

    The split pea soup sounded better on the phone when I ordered it LOL. Little did I know what it would actually look like! Lucky it comes in other very pretty colors. I have way too many lace projects so watching you swatch instead of me is very entertaining and a time saver.

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  2. LittleBerryJune 18, 2007 at 1:34:00 AM EST

    I always read your blog with interest and find your comments invaluble on swatching with different yarns.
    Thanks :o)

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  3. BattyJune 18, 2007 at 11:04:00 AM EST

    Pretty yarn!

    Not sure I'd want split pea soup in a shawl (the color actually looked nicer to me until I read the name...), but it's very nice yarn.

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  4. OpalJune 18, 2007 at 4:27:00 PM EST

    i really love your take on the different lace yarns available. so far i've only knit with jaggerspun zephyr. you would not believe how much of it i have in my stash. one day i'll actually venture out and try a different type of laceweight.

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  5. CarolJune 19, 2007 at 12:11:00 PM EST

    I have to say "Grasshopper" sounds better than "split pea soup"....

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  6. LaughingratJune 20, 2007 at 11:16:00 PM EST

    I have to admit I like the pea soup color too. ;) Then again, yellow-green is always cropping up in my colorways...

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  7. AnonymousJune 22, 2007 at 1:47:00 PM EST

    In honor of you, Fleegle, we have renamed the Touch shade to "Grasshopper". You should know that the color name on your color chart was just a "temporary" descriptive name (wasn't feeling very creative that day). There is also a shade that is a brighter green, called Green Apple.

    We have a re-order of the Touch yarn coming in later this summer that will have some of our very popular shades back in stock: red, aubergine, ivory, and others. It will likely be here in early August.

    Diane

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