Corn fibre and wool/milk fibre samples

These are the samples for the other 2 new yarns I mentioned in my post a couple of weeks ago. This yellow sample is knitted in 100% corn fibre. The ball band suggests a needle size of 6 to 6.5mm but I felt this was much to big as the yarn looed to me like a DK weight so I knitted the sample on 4.5mm needles. (The little eyelets at the bottom of the stocking stitch section are a shorthand to indicate the needle size)

The sample knitted up to a very nice smooth stocking stitch fabric giving a tension gauge of 23 stitches and 30 rows to 10cm (4 inches) - fairly close to the standard DK tension. the knitting feels smooth and soft but seems to have more spring than cotton yarn. It produces a good stitch definition although the 'print' colour makes the knit and purl pattern more difficult to see. The yarn does come in solid colours as well.

The brown sample is 30% milk fibre and 70% Australian wool. Again the needle size given on the ball band is 7mm but the yarn looks like a DK weight so I started the sample on 4.5mm needles but after the moss stitch section I changed to 5mm needles. The tension gauge on 4.5mm needles was 19.5 stitches and 28 rows to 10cm (4 inches).

The knitted fabric feels like a good quality wool with a slightly silky feel. It has the body and elasticity you would expect from a wool yarn. The stocking stitch produced using the 4.5mm needles is good but slightly firmer than I personally like so I went up a needle size to see what that was like. After the second section of stocking stitch there are 8 rows of blackberry stitch followed by star stitch leaning to the right and then leaning to the left. The star stitch makes an interesting pattern even in the 'print' yarn. This yarn is available in solid colours as well.

The 4 yarns I have been trying out are all produced by Rosarios 4 and made in Portugal. I understand from my student who supplied the yarns that they are imported by Moral-Fibre