Colourmart

You may have heard about ColourMart UK, a reputable Ebay seller of cashmere yarn. Well, turns out that for a dollar, you can order samples from them. Curious about their cashmere, I paypalled them a dollar, and boy was their shipping quick! I mentioned that I was in a knitting group, so they sent me a bunch of extras to hand out. I already gave away all but one extra copy of their sample cards to the first few knitters I came across. I'm planning to bring the sample card to the other groups I go to, so knitters can feel the cashmere love.

They also sent a bunch of washed sample skeins of 250 yards each to show how the yarn blooms and softens with washing. Boy these are *much* softer than the pre-washed samples. Simply luxurious!

The quickie review: I've gotten pickier and lazier in my old age when it comes to yarns which means I don't usually enjoy handknitting unwashed coned yarns because of the roughness. I do, however, like the fact that it means weaving in less ends. Because ColourMart's yarn is 100% cashmere, this means that even with the little bit of added roughness, the yarn is still softer and smoother than most wools on the market. Their thicker yarns are plied together rather loosely and look like they could easily cause splitting problems. The yarns also bloom and change with washing, so you have to be extra careful to make a gauge swatch and to wash and dry it. But overall, ColourMart is a great option for affordable cashmere. The laceweight yarns are especially nice because they have fewer of the problems of the thicker yarns. If you're curious, by all means order a sample. It's only a buck!

More info after I actually *knit* some of it. I might be insane, but I'm tempted to knitstart a sock on size 00 needles.

Oh yeah, and I started the *second* rpm sock. Crazy, isn't it? I'm into the gusset decreases, woohoo! Here's proof:

(The ball of yarn is on my foot to conceal my dry scaly foot.)