Virtually all commercial hand dyers of merino yarn now are using machine-washable base yarns. Koigu seems to be an exception. Because the process used to render wool yarn machine washable compromises the elasticity of wool, and because I hand wash any item knit of animal fiber yarn, I use Koigu KPPPM or KPM yarn as my first choice. At one time, KPPPM color blends were exquisite, but that has become less true through the years. I now tend to use the tonal blends of KPM for most projects. I returned the yarn listed for this review because it was so different from the skeins of the same shade color that I already had on hand. The color difference between dye lots of Koigu can be very dramatic, so alternating skeins each row may not work as it does with alternating skeins of the same dye lot. That said, Koigu fingering weight merino yarn has a tightly twisted ply that washes easily and does not pill nearly as much as single-ply or loosely plied merino. It is soft but not fuzzy soft. I always swatch, but a washed and dried swatch of Koigu yarn always seems to be the same size as the unwashed swatch. I have bought Koigu since the early days when it was a small family business in which they raised their own merino sheep, spun the yarn themselves, and one artist did the yarn painting. That yarn should be in a museum. I yearn for those days, but they are long gone. Today's yarn still is a good choice, although I heartily wish Koigu would switch to 100 gram skeins. |