Knit Me: Be Sweet Yarns, Vinni’s Colours
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.
Posted on March 19, 2018, in knitme, knitting, Uncategorized and tagged best, besweetyarns, knitme, knitting, review, vinniscolours. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
I am not a knitter, but I think it looks neat, having the slight change of shade partway up.