Berroco sent me 5 yarns to review for the upcoming season. They’re lovely yarns and you just might find one you’d like to try!
Spree
US 6 metal tips
56% wool, 44% cotton
Color #9448
I love the gentle dapples of the color with just touches of accent colors. In my white and blue skein, those accents were a lime green and a pink.
My needle occasionally split the yarn, but because of the tighter twist of the yarn, it was quick to both discover and fix it.
The yarn is 4 plies and each ply is comprised of 2 strands.
Each of those strands is individually dyed so the overall yarn is smoothly dyed. The effect is even and quite easy to look at. You don’t see any noticeable patterns to the dye.
The substantial amount of wool makes the resulting swatch stretch nicely.
Meraki
US 6 metal tips
71% cotton, 24% hemp, 5% polyester
Color #6017
The yarn has a thick-thin component but it’s not like some in that the thick-to-thin doesn’t come with wildly different gauges. The thick part is less-spun and is more pillowy-soft.
Even though it has several plies (5 in total) and I was using sharp needles, I didn’t split the yarn. I suspect it’s because the fluffy parts kept it together and it was harder to make it come apart.
You know how sometimes, hemp can make a yarn crunchy? That isn’t the case with this yarn.
Regarding colors, the yarn is mostly solid but it does have little bits of black in it. I think those black bits give it some character and movement. From afar you’d still describe it as that main color.
Pima Soft
US 6 metal tips
100% Pima Cotton
Color #4637
Pima Soft is a lovely Cotton yarn that’s worthy of being a workhorse yarn for warm weather.
The palette is good for a new yarn and there are 22 shades. They range from warm neutrals to water shades to summer-brights to dark basics. My guess is that they’ll add to these colors if it’s a successful yarn.
Even though it’s not mercerized, it does have some shine like a mercerized yarn.
Its two plies are intertwined like a rope. The overall yarn behaved nicely while being knit and didn’t seem to bias or lean.
If I were using this for a project, I would knit a large swatch and wash and dry it. I suspect it can be machine washed/dried but it would very likely shrink (probably in length). I would plan for this and knit accordingly.
Vivo
US 6 metal tips
100% Cotton
Color #3525
It’s a thick thin. It reminds me of a cotton Noro but it’s a multi-ply. The dyeing is reminiscent of Noro though in that each new color is introduced gradually and in just one ply at a time.
I needed to take a bit of care not to split the yarn when a thick part came by because those thick bits are made of a thicker and fluffier strand a cotton.
Isola
US 6 metal tips
38% Cotton, 36% Linen, 26% Viscose
Color #8926
You can feel the crunch of the linen.
The yarn knit a bit easier than a 100% linen, and I suspect the viscose had something to do with that. Having said that, I’m personally not a huge fan of knitting with Linen. But if I had to, this one would likely be on top.
There’s a thick-thin thing going on with the yarn. It’s slight, but it’s there.
About Linen yarn in general. It benefits from a beating in a dryer. It fluffs up and gets softer. So, even though I’m not a fan of knitting Linen yarn, I’m definitely a fan of wearing Linen yarn. And Isola, with its hefty amount of Viscose, certainly makes that a lot easier.
Isola comes in beautiful, slowly-changing gradients! I can see this being a good pick for a warm weather garment.
About the Reviewer: Jody Richards
Jody is the founder and lead editor of Knotions. She loves poring over stitch dictionaries and trying out new stitches. And while she likes all things crafting (well ok, except that one thing), yarn crafts are her true love (and she has the stash to prove it).
She’s a serial starter-of-projects and has a serious problem with finishing things without a deadline.
And don’t get her talking about hand-dyed yarns. You’ve been warned.
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