When Brown Sheep announced it was coming out with a new superwash wool DK-weight yarn, I couldn’t wait to sign up to try it.  Brown Sheep generously offered me up to 3 skeins of their new Stratosphere, and I chose two with hats and mittens for the kids in mind.

Stratosphere is a 3-ply, soft, fine grade superwash wool and comes in 3.5 oz (100 g) skeins of approximately 260 yards.  It’s perfect for next to the skin wear and comes in a variety of bright, fun kettle-dyed and variegated colorways.  I selected Hot Air Balloon and Flying Kite.

I started by selecting patterns for hats and added some bits and bobs of leftovers from my stash as contrast yarns.  For Miles, I opted for the River District Hat by Chrissy Graham using the Hot Air Balloon and a bit of leftover dark blue superwash from the stash.

I can tell you that the Stratosphere was delightful to work with and stood up to lots of ripping. I actually ripped and re-knit Miles’ hat into 3 different patterns and the yarn still looks perfect!

For Roxy, I used the Feathered Hat pattern by Flock Fibre Studio.  I used the Flying Kite with a pop of turquoise – a skein of superwash yarn I overdyed in blue Kool-aid!

Again, the yarn is great to work with. It’s super soft and squishy, and less splitty than some of the yarns I would compare it to.  At $14 per skein, it’s a pretty good price for a workhorse yarn that I would use for anything that needs to be easily washable. I’m thinking of sweaters for the kids next!

The generous yardage in the skeins meant that I easily had enough leftovers to make both Miles and Roxy matching mittens.  I’m thrilled they’re all set for winter!

A special thank you to Stitchcraft Marketing and the folks at Brown Sheep who sent me 2 skeins of Stratosphere (retail: $28.00) for free. I received no other compensation for this review. All opinions and photos are my own.