Review List
Huge Variation In Colors
I buy a lot of hand-dyed yarn, mostly from indie-dyers, so I was surprised when I received my skein of Blue Oreo and it looked nothing like the JBW photo, and looking around at a bunch of other skeins on Ravelry they are all wildly different - to the point where indie-dyers would label them things like OOAK or potluck skeins, or whatever type of terminology they like to use. My skein is super light on the speckling, like the end of the batch and they were out of dye, so almost entirely white. What color I do have is blue - what appeared to black, and on some skeins is brown and black and others a very dark brown, maybe shows up as 20 tiny medium brown speckles on all 218yds of yarn. The blue color on mine is also VERY bright cobalt - bordering on neon if that's a thing. If I want the speckles to show up I'll have to double the yarn and knit it as a bulky weight or knit it at a very tight gauge like for a stuffed toy or something.
By sarcazm on Feb 10, 2019
4 found this review helpful
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Splitty and airy but at least no dye loss and got a heavy skein?
I was looking forward to this yarn as it was so similar on paper to Mal Worsted but superwash. It really disappointed me. I bought a onesies skein, which was heavy at 130g, and had no dye loss during washing which was the first time this has ever happened to me with a Tosh yarn. Usually during a bath it's like the first time the yarn has ever been exhausted, and my projects change color and my water looks like I dropped a highly pigmented Lush bath bomb into it. That was nice. On the flip-side though, the yarn is super splitty because it's not compact in any way like Mal Worsted or Manos or any of the other worsted/aran singles singles that aren't more rustic like Lett-Lopi. When I wasn't accidentally stabbing into the edges of it I had problems making gauge because of how much it compresses. I'm a tight knitter so I would make the recommended gauge on a US8-US10, and for stitch gauge I was on target. Row gauge though? Fat chance for example, magic looping a hat I made my usual stitch gauge on US10's of 16s/4 but got 28r/4 where I normally would have gotten about 22r/4. Because the yarn is larger in volume but kind of hollow in the middle unless you knit super loosely you might have similar issues.
23 found this review helpful
Really glad JBW sent me a replacement cord
The first cord I received had holes for the tightening key that were too small to fit the key and the machining was done wrong on one end so that the needle tips wouldn't match up with the screws, and on the other end there was an extra spike of metal coming off the end. The replacement works great but with KP cables it's always a toss-up if you'll get one that passed or failed a QC inspection or not.
19 found this review helpful
Gave in and bought short tips for hats
My gauge changes when I magic loop, and sometimes depending on hat size I need to cast on fewer stitches and can't squeak by with regular size needles and the short cord. I'm glad the size is etched onto the metal, and the tips are different colors for different sizes, because the white size information on the needles themselves rubs off right away.
38 found this review helpful
Definitely Color Variation Between Dyelots
Make sure you get all of one dyelot or ask the JBW reps to match your order by eye. For the colorway I purchased, now-disco-d Champion #65, there is massive differentiation between balls of yarn. I'm lucky I was able to get all of one lot, and that they all match, but the color I received is a cooler shade of red, as opposed to a warmer shade as pictured. When looking on Ravelry there is massive variation in this colorway as well. I really liked the brick red color but I'll make due with the shade I received. I haven't knit it up and washed/blocked it yet, but since it is red I do expect there to be some bleeding, even with machine-dyed yarn. I know this yarn is prone to pilling as well, as I've seen balls for sale at my LYS in a bin that get tossed around a bit and they look a bit ragged and fuzzy on the outside. I don't care much considering it will be used for a men's scarf and he'll likely spill beer on it or salsa or tomato sauce or something anyway, and not take great care of it so I'll just be lucky if he doesn't lose it.
72 found this review helpful
loosely plied and knits up more like a worsted
this yarn is definitely knitting up thinner than it looks like it should. it is loosely plied and based on yardage, if it was just merino, it would have been an aran for sure. but with the density of the silk, at 180yds/100g it changes the grist to more of a worsted on my sticks and in my hands. if it had another ply it would be different, especially at this ratio of merino to silk. you’d need to be around 135yds/100g to hit an aran weight at a 3ply like this, and being so loosely twisted it’s very deceptive in the skein and in your hands until you add the slightest bit of tension.
22 found this review helpful