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Yarn Review: Kaleidoscope by Elegant Yarns

Kaleidoscope was part of my recent gigantic multi-colored yarn order.  I chose it because its 100% wool and I knew I wanted to make a felted bag out of mitred squares.  Its also pretty affordable at $7.20 for a 100 gram skein (only $5.40 after factoring in the WEBS discount due to my order being over a total of $120).  I liked this yarn but I’m not in love.  One of the reviews on WEBS says the purchaser is having trouble felting it…I think there must be something wrong with their washing machine.  This stuff felted like a dream.  One quick hot wash/cold rinse cycle with a towel and bam, sturdiest felt purse ever.  You would never guess each of those diamonds was individually knitted.  I would absolutely buy it again if I wanted to make another felted bag, but probably not for anything else.  Why?  Its got that scratchy cheap wool feeling to it.  I’m not sensitive to wool and there are several yarns I love to wear against my skin that are 100% wool, but I would NEVER use Kaleidoscope for a garment.  The label doesn’t say what kind of wool it is, but we’re definitely not talking merino here.  Bottom line?  The colorways are fun and I highly recommend it for felting, but for garments there are better options.  

*The bag is available on my Etsy shop.

Yarn Review: Chroma by KnitPicks

The finished scarf

See all the beautiful colorways of this yarn here: KnitPicks Chroma

I am in LOVE with this yarn.  I’m currently working with Chroma in worsted weight but it also comes in fingering.  I recently purchased an obscene amount of multi-colored yarn because I just freaking love multi-colored yarn.  I’ve been playing around with entrelac lately and multi-colored yarn creates some really neat effects.  One of the yarns I included in my recent purchase was Knit Picks Chroma Worsted in the colorways Lollipop (pretty pastel colors) and Prism (rainbow colors).  I picked this yarn mostly because the colors were pretty and I was already ordering a few other things I needed from the Knit Picks website so I figured I might as well give it a shot.  I am SO glad I did.  I started knitting with it last night; I’m making a scarf using K1P1 ribbing and switching colorways every 2 rows.  The gradual color changes create a really neat effect when you stripe it.  The colors I chose are gorgeous and were accurately portrayed by the photos on the website.  This yarn is also REALLY REALLY soft.  Its 70% wool and 30% nylon and knitting with it is so wonderful its like candy for your fingers.  If they have a cyber monday sale I very well may be buying more; I think this stuff would be great for entrelac cowls, especially since its worsted weight and will work up faster than the fingering weight Mini Mochi I used for my first entrelac cowl.  One potential negative thing to be aware of is it does have a bit of a thick and thin quality to it.  Its single ply and most of the time its approximately the same weight but there have been a few places where it has been a little thinner than I would prefer.  I can also see one place on one of the skeins where 2 ends are knotted together creating a not so subtle color change.  But overall, I really like this yarn and will definitely be buying it again in the future!

Lollipop

Update 12/8/12:  I've worked with this yarn quite a bit since my initial review and I wanted to provide an update.  I recently finished a project with the fingering weight and it is just as lovely as the worsted.  The thick and thin problem I encountered in my first project has not reoccured, however knots ruining the subtlety of the color changes are fairly common.