Knitting Goddess Britsilk

When Joy aka The Knitting Goddess sent me a mini-skein preview of her new yarn, it was love at first sight - I pre-ordered a full skein the same day! If you've been following my Instagram feed or recent blog posts, you'll have seen a few glimpses of this gorgeous yarn already but I waited until today to write about it as it'll be available from tonight  - details at the end of this post. 

Swatch on 3.5mm needles

This is a variation on Joy's popular Britsock 4 ply base, but with silk in place of nylon - so the full composition is 40% BFL, 20% Wensleydale, 20% Alpaca and 20% silk. It comes in 100g / 400m skeins - perfect for a one-skien shawl. As the name suggests, the wools and alpaca are sourced from UK flocks and the fibres are processed and custom spun by John Arbon in Devon. 

Don't be fooled by it being based on a "sock" yarn, this has been designed as an accessories or garment yarn - the fibre composition gives it a beautiful combination of drape, lustre and a gentle halo (just the perfect amount of 'fluff'). It's not been treated, so you'll need to give it the care it deserves - a gentle handwash - if you want to maintain the depth of colour. 

Britsilk in Almost a Rainbow colourway

Available in semi-solid and variegated colours, the neutrals are to die for (there's a perfect silvery-grey!!!). Joy sent me 'Almost a Rainbow' which is a beautiful summery colourway - it proved somewhat difficult to capture on my camera on the bright day it arrived, so I've posted a photo with some comparison items below, which I hope might be helpful. 

With a blue Papermate pencil and Knitpro stitch marker for colour comparison

I'm currently working on a very simple new shawl, but it's not progressing as quickly as I'd like due to the school holidays. Stay tuned for that in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the yarn would be perfect for my perennially popular Seafoam Shawlette-to-Shrug pattern and the very simple Garter Stitch Bandana Recipe (free) which I posted a few years ago (it is suitable for total novice knitters, so there's no excuse for 'crocheters' who wish they could knit !!!).

To order Britsilk in any of the glorious colourways (see a few here), head to the Knitting Goddess shop after 19:00 BST tonight. Happy knitting!