Yarn Review :: Cornish Tin II

Some of you may remember the general excitement that accompanied the release of Blacker Yarns 10th Birthday blend Cornish Tin (you can read my review of this yarn on my old blog Tales from Mount Pleasant). This gorgeous limited edition yarn exceeded even their expectations and sold out within weeks...

But, if you missed out last time, never fear because Sue has decided to do it all again to celebrate their 11th Birthday!

image copyright Blacker Yarns

As before the blend is a limited edition and will only be made once. This time there are a few changes to the blend - most notably that it is made from 100% UK based fibre (the first Cornish Tin contained Falkland merino). 

Tin II is a woollen spun yarn blended from a collection of British fibres including Alpaca, Portland, Saxon Merino, Gotland, Jacob, Shetland, Black Welsh Mountain, Mohair, and English Merino and will be available in both 4ply and DK weights.

Once again it will be available in undyed Levant Grey and Blacker have tweaked the colour palette to seven glorious dyed colours, all named after Cornish Tin Mines.

Sonia sent me a small sample of both weights to play with and I couldn't wait to knit up a couple of swatches...

I kept it simple with my DK sample in deep and mysterious Polgooth Blue.  Squishy garter (after hearing Louise at Knit British rave about how the garter bumps popped -and OMG she was so right!!) interspersed with a panel of textured moss stitch with a couple of rows of stocking stitch in between for definition, on the recommended 4mm needles. It knit up quickly and smoothly - the yarn is definitely less 'rustic' than the first Cornish Tin  - and formed a thick, robust fabric. I think it would make the most fantastic winter sweater, it would certainly keep you cosy and warm!

For the 4ply sample (in the fantastically named Ding Dong Purple!) I decided to try something a little more lacy and knit up a small swatch in Old Shale lace.  Again the swatch knit up quickly; the yarn just slides through your fingers so smoothly, with superb stitch definition. This fabric too seemed quite thick but opened up beautifully with blocking. There is more than enough give for quite aggressive blocking here too - the lace opened up nicely without losing any of that wonderful texture or definition.

Both yarns appear to be sturdy, robust, smoother than the original Cornish Tin and soften and bloom  with blocking. I imagine they will wear well and age beautifully... (this is beginning to sound like a review for fine wine lol!) Cornish Tin II has wonderful stitch definition and would be perfect for structured and textured projects - cables in particular - and I think both yarns could easily cope with going up a needle size or three for a little more drape.

As my shawl obsession shows no signs of abating I have been looking, on Ravelry, at some of the lovely haps in Kate Davies' 'Book of Haps' and I think Cornish Tin II would be the perfect yarn to use for any of these gorgeous designs (I don't have the book as yet, I am saving my pennies for it because, however practical a digital download might be, you just can't beat the feel of a beautiful book in your hands...)

Tin II goes on sale on the 20^th September and will retail at £16.20 per 100g, this is a limited edition yarn so don’t miss out! 

Special Offer - pattern discount

Last year I designed a little pattern for the release of Cornish Tin (my first pattern for sale on Ravelry!) Lost in the Forest Mitts are a simple lacy fingerless mitt, inspired by autumnal walks in the Forest I call home. They take a very small amount of 4ply yarn (130m/142yds) and are a great project for using up those precious leftovers. They would knit up just perfectly in Cornish Tin II 4ply (or any of Blacker's other gorgeous 4ply yarns) and I would like to offer a special 20% discount to all you lovely readers using the code CT2BLOG at the checkout.
This offer runs till the end of September.

Summer knits...

Last week I wrote about how I was not likely to get very much knitting done during the school holidays (you can read about that here). Turns out I needn't have worried too much - last weekend saw the completion of not one but two knitty additions to my handmade wardrobe!*

First up were the Langit Socks that have been lanuishing in my sock knitting project bag since we came home from our little Lake District holiday back in early May and have since been suffering from a bad case of second sock syndrome. These socks were the second instalment of the Blue Skies Sock Club -  a bi-monthly yarn and pattern club from The Knitting Goddess that I signed up to at the beginning of the year with the best of sock knitting intentions. I chose the Britsock option so each hand dyed skein I receive is a thoroughly British product -  grown spun and dyed here in the UK. Each skein comes with a sock pattern exclusively designed by the lovely Clare Devine at KnitSharelove. Two more glorious skeins have since arrived along with their respective patterns but I have fallen so far behind I'm really not sure if these skeins will actually become socks. Mainly because I still want to knit ALL the shawls...

acres of stocking stitch...

Also finished is the lovely Bonny sleeveless top by Emily Wessel of Tin Can Knits. I treated myself to her pattern book Handmade in the UK along with five balls of Jamieson & Smith's 2ply laceweight Shetland and lambswool from BritYarn a couple of months back and thought I really should crack on so that I could actually wear it this year before summer (such as it is ) deserted us for another year...

...and a fair bit of lace!

To be honest the thought of knitting an entire garment in laceweight was a little daunting but Bonny is knitted on needles more usually associated with sportweight or dk (I used 3.75mm needles rather than the 3.5mm suggested) to give the fabric plenty of stretch and drape so it actually grows really fast. Knit in the round from the bottom up meant the first half of Bonny was an easy tv knit and once I got the lace pattern established and separated the front and back it just seemed to fly off the needles. I did make one adjustment, knitting a few rows in garter stitch for the hem rather than the roll hem in the pattern -  I find they just keep on rolling over my belly and another spare tyre is the last thing I need!

If you fancy knitting your own Bonny don't be afraid to follow the suggestions for knitting a couple of sizes smaller than you usually would. My Bonny is knit with 4" of negative ease (ie 4" less than my actual bust measurement) and fits perfectly!

Using the J&S wool made this a suprisingly budget knit, coming in at less than £15 - once again proving that knitting with homegrown yarn needn't be expensive!
I absolutely love it. In fact I love it so much I might even knit another one in something a little more luxurious...

Not one to hang about, I have already cast on my next item from Handmade in the UK, the fabulous Lush cardigan, using more British wool - Wendy Ramsdale DK in the Bedale colourway (also purchased from BritYarn). It's 3/4 length sleeves make it perfect for those cooler September days.

Yes, I am looking forward to Autumn already...





*there is a reason why I had extra knitting time. I went out on Saturday night and danced the night away with friends. On Sunday I literally could not walk... must remember that I am not 18 anymore!

 PS - for those of you who are wondering, I have also made a little progress on my other summer projects as mentioned in the last blog post and hope to have a new pattern or two to share with you very soon!