We have happy smiles because we can finally share our new yarn with you! When we started to plan our books for this year, I had in mind exactly the yarn I wanted for Something New to Learn About Lace (which will be available to pre-order later this month, with copies shipping in June), and the best way to get the yarn I wanted turned out to be having it made especially for us!

Something to Knit With 4ply is our first yarny adventure, but won't be our last! We have chosen a blend of 70% Highland Wool and 30% Superfine Alpaca. I adore knitting with properly woolly yarns – the way they are springy to knit with, and when blocked, your stitches just shuffle themselves into place – but at the same time I also like to be able to wear my knits next to my skin. The addition of 30% alpaca to the wool keeps it soft, without compromising the wool's bounce, which is exactly what I was after!

Something to Knit With 4ply is worsted-spun which means that the fibres are carded through a series of fine metal combs. This means that the fibres are all aligned in the same direction prior to spinning, which makes a smoother, stronger yarn than woollen-spun yarns. This is what gives us great stitch definition, in combination with our choice of a 4ply construction. Rather confusingly 4ply can mean the total thickness of the yarn (in the US this thickness is also called Fingering weight), but it can also refer to how many single strands are spun together to make the finished yarn. We've got 4 ends twisted together which creates a rounded smooth yarn. There's a great article on The Why of Ply over on Mason-Dixon Knitting, which doesn't go up to 4ply, but gives a great introduction to the subject. Our yarn is both 4ply in construction but also 4ply weight.

The alpaca content gives our yarn a tiny bit of halo, which just slightly softens the edges of the stitches in this Fair Isle swatch, making a pleasingly flat fabric. I can't wait to try out more colour combinations!

Something to Knit With 4ply is now available in our online shop at £8.00 per 50g skein.

Technical information
Content: 70% Highland Wool, 30% Superfine Alpaca
Recommended needle size: 2.75mm – 3.25mm [US 2–3]
Tension: 28 sts and 35 rows to 10cm [4in] using 3.25mm needles over stocking stitch OR 30 sts and 38 rows to 10cm [4in] using 2.75mm needles
Number of metres per skein: 187m [205yds] per 50g skein
Washing instructions: Hand wash in cool water

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