About a month ago, Stitchcraft Marketing contacted me to see if I would be interested in trying some South African yarn, Vinni’s Colours Bambi, from Be Sweet Yarns. I knew I had a baby gift to knit, and was excited to try a new to me yarn. Vinni’s Colours is owned by Vinni Nielsen, a Denmark native who has lived in South Africa for over a decade. There she started creating hand-dyed yarns in her kitchen and now employs many people in two factory buildings in Cape Town. Her Bambi yarn base is a 70% cotton slub and 30% bamboo yarn in a DK/light worsted weight. Skeins are 50g and approximately 96 yards (88 meters). I had my choice of her colors ranging from pastels to vibrants, and I chose 2 skeins of the Indigo colorway.
I knew I wanted to make a baby gift for a little boy due in April, so I settled on Milo by Georgie Nicholson. This sweet vest comes in a variety of sizes and you can choose-your-own cable pattern to make it your own.
Right away, I was very pleased with my choice of yarn and pattern. The yarn was lovely to knit with. It is lightweight and a bit textured and slubby, which was fun to work with. The yarn itself is quite soft (even more so after washing) and it knit up beautifully.
Of course, I haven’t had a mishap in a while, so I might have gotten a little cocky. When using hand-dyed yarns the cardinal rule is to alternate skeins so any subtle color differences are blended together. Do as I say, and apparently not as I do.
For some reason I can’t fathom, I didn’t alternate skeins. And this wasn’t immediately apparent to me until yesterday, when I washed and dried my baby gift and popped it into the light box to grab a few photos, and what should appear but an extremely distinct line right where I changed skeins. I want to stress that this is absolutely no fault of the yarn dyer; this was my mismanagement of the skeins. However it took a bit of the wind out of my sails. I suspect I’ll probably rip and re-knit part of this vest this week.
That said the yarn was lovely to work with and the perfect yarn for a summer baby and this cute little pattern. I also think it would make a great summer top if you live somewhere where the heat index hits the triple digits. I may have to try that this summer!
A special thank you to Stitchcraft Marketing and the folks at Be Sweet Yarns who sent me 2 skeins of Vinni’s Colours Bambi (retail: $21.98) for free. I received no other compensation for this review. All opinions and photos are my own.
I am not a knitter, but I think it looks neat, having the slight change of shade partway up.