Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Cotton - A Review

                           

A few years ago I became very interested in trying to use organic cotton whenever I could. At the time there were several yarn companies producing a fairly impressive range of organic cotton yarns, but very few fabric companies had taken the plunge at that time and their range of designs was very limited. 

Over the last few years the tide seems to have changed completely. You can now easily buy organic cotton fabric in a wide range of types and a mulitide of designs, but several of the yarn manufacturers that initially started an organic line have discontinued them. 

To the best of my knowledge Debbie Bliss Eco Baby is the only one remaining from those early days.

I can't even begin to guess at the reasons for this, but it has meant that whilst my stash of organic cotton yardage continues to grow and be used, my yarn organic yarn stash is now almost totally used up.

So a few months ago I tried really hard to find some new organic cotton yarn supplies. 

I purchased a few and today I shall review the first one that I found - Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Cotton

Knit on 3.75mm needles I achieved a double knit tension of 22sts to a 4" square 

It comes as a 65 gram skein and is hand wash only. 

At £12.25 a skein it is definitely a luxury yarn.

There are 22 colours to choose from, and the shades are modern.

I chose to use Squash (shade no. 306)

Both the cost and the hand wash criteria made me hesitate for a while, but I'm glad I took the plunge and tested this yarn.

I can honestly say is a dream to knit with - and I don't think I've ever said that about a yarn before! It is so, so soft and did not make my hands ache, which some cotton yarns do. It did not split at all, gave brilliant stitch definition, and held it's shape well

I think that the hand wash only factor would be a deterrent for some knitters if they wanted to use this yarn for baby items. Babies are prone to a lot of unpredictable spewing, after all!

In my experience, however, mothers who want to avoid traditionally grown cotton close to their baby's skin are quite prepared to trade a little hand washing for the knowledge that their baby is not being exposed to unnecessary chemicals.

The pattern is Sirdar 1238 from the booklet Cosy Little Knits.
The model in the top photo is my grandson!

Would I use this yarn again?  Yes! Most definitely - provided I knew the recipient appreciated organic cotton and was prepared to hand wash their garment.
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