I bought this yarn on a lark and knit this sweater on a lark. I really just wanted to try out the yarn, Malabrigo Arroyo, a new to me
yarn, which felt fantastic in the skein. I rarely buy variegated yarn, and am pretty good about not buying yarn without a specific project in mind. But you know how you just sometimes walk out of the yarn store with a faint sense that you have no idea why you made a purchase? I took it home and thought, wait, it's variegated, I'm not a fan, what's up? And what on earth can I do with a single skein? (Baby sweater always seems to rescue the single skein and I love love love knitting teeny baby sweaters anyway.)
It was only after I cast on that I realized why I was so drawn to this: for the last month I
have been drying hydrangeas, heaps and heaps, and the melange of colors must have spoken to me. So very hydrangea-ish and purty.
Arroyo is one of those
big-sigh yarns. It's so lovely to knit; so soft and well
behaved. Each stitch will bounce into place properly and practically salute you, so eager it is to do the right thing. The stitches are very even, and if you have a problem achieving even tension in stockinette, I don't think you will have a problem with this, it takes care of all that on it's own. I doubt it's needle fussy, but it loved my Caspians. The skein is 335 yards, just enough to knit a 3-6 mos. size baby sweater. The yarn is machine washable in cold, but must pat flat and let dry in the shade. I broke my own rule as I really prefer baby knits to be machine washable AND dryable, but, oh well, rules, sometimes they are annoying and need to be ignored.
If you hate DPNs as much as I do, here's a tip: I knit this little sweater top down and in the round. When I get to the separation of the sleeves, I put the sleeve stitches on a stitch holder until the body is done. When I go back to the sleeves, I cast on one stitch at each end, knit them back and forth flat, then use those extra two cast on stitches for seaming. This avoids the dreaded DPNs! Also, this is the fastest little sweater to make, great to knit stripey with extra bits of yarn languishing in your stash. Find out how to do that here. Would you believe me if I told you I knit this in one night? True. No, thinking back it must have been two nights.
Edited 9/22: My friend Cindi said her experience with Malabrigo is that it pills like crazy. Agree, that's an understatement for Malabrigo Worsted. Everyone raves about that stuff because it's so soft, and while it is, before I was even done with my garment it looked ratty and worn, worse than pilling. I was hoping that since Arroyo was superwash it would not have that problem. I'll ask the mother to get back to me (if she can remember!). If any reader has used this yarn I'd love to hear from you. xo
Edited 9/22: My friend Cindi said her experience with Malabrigo is that it pills like crazy. Agree, that's an understatement for Malabrigo Worsted. Everyone raves about that stuff because it's so soft, and while it is, before I was even done with my garment it looked ratty and worn, worse than pilling. I was hoping that since Arroyo was superwash it would not have that problem. I'll ask the mother to get back to me (if she can remember!). If any reader has used this yarn I'd love to hear from you. xo
My links
Malabrigo Arroyo at Webs and Jimmy Beans
How to dry hydrangeas
- September 21, 2014
- 12 Comments