Hey guys!
Fiber Friday
What is Fiber Friday? Every Friday I’m gonna share with you one new yarn that I’m absolutely loving, including allllll the info – the yarn specs, what I would make with it, what I’d use it for, why it’s great for certain types of projects, and what patterns I’ve found that use this yarn including my own patterns and patterns from others! It’s fun to really focus on one specific yarn and explore all the projects people have been making with it. This is one way that I find new patterns, new designers and new designs that I love and can add to my Ravelry queue to make when I have time to start a new project!
Quick back story on why I’m doing this: When I started knitting and crocheting, I basically used Lion Brand Thick and Quick yarn exclusively. I’m sure you’ve tried it before.. It’s the best. It’s a fun, high quality department store chunky yarn that is easily available and inexpensive – perfect for beginners or those who love those quick gratification projects. If you’re learning to knit or crochet, I would 1000% recommend learning with this yarn! In the last 3 years, I have knit more hats made with Thick and Quick than I can count, and I think now it’s time to venture into new territory and explore some thinner yarns.. and I thought it would be fun to do it together!
Lion Brand – Merino Camel
Like I said, lately I’ve really wanted to expand my stash to new brands, new fibers and new types of yarn. I’ve been allowing myself to order new yarn every month and it’s been really fun trying out new materials and new yarn weights. A few months ago, I acquired a few new yarns and wrote reviews on them (Beautiful You was the first, Chainette was the second), and this is the third from that order that I wanted to share with you: LB Collection – Merino Camel.
Note: It won’t always be Lion Brand reviews, it’s just that I ordered 3 new yarns from them so I wanted to go through all of them and share my thoughts!
Patterns
I ordered 9 balls of LB Collection Merino Camel because I loved the colour of it and was intrigued by the “camel” part. I honestly didn’t even know camel hair was used in yarn! My plan from the beginning was to crochet a cardigan with it, and you can see the baby raglan starting to form in the above photo! I’m not sure if this is how it’s going to look, but this is how far I’ve made it in this design thus far! You can expect the final pattern for this project (whatever it ends up being :P) in November or December 2019 in my “Double Crochet All Day Collection”!
This is the part where I usually tell you about some other patterns that use Merino Camel that are definitely worth checking out! I could only find ONE pattern and one more where Merino Camel is used as an alternative!
Patterns worth checking out:
1. The Voyager Cap – Two of Wands
- Also available as a knitting kit here.
2. Idlewild Dress – Make And Do Crew (Sample made with Beautiful You, but Merino Camel is a suggested alternative)
Before we get into this, let me preface this with saying that if I don’t love it, I won’t use it, and I definitely won’t recommend it to you in a blog post, promise 🙂
Yarn Specs
- Fine, Category 2 yarn
- 136yds/125m per 50g ball
- 80% Merino Wool, 20% Camel
- Recommended needle size 3.75mm
- Recommended hook size 4mm
- Hand wash + lay flat to dry
- 6 really gorgeous, washed out colours (I have the colour “tan“)
- The others are Navy, Grey, Black, Burgundy, Olive. Basically – all the most gorgeous neutrals! Check ’em out here.
My Thoughts
I am a fan of the LB Collection, so far! I have tried 2 others: Mako Cotton (I actually knit up a top in Mako, but it ended up too small and I haven’t worked up the patience to go frog it and start again! Lol!) and Chainette! I’ll include a photo right here to show what I’ve created in Chainette! You can also read my Chainette review here.
The LB Collection is a collection of yarns released by Lion Brand that are made of more luxurious fibers. It’s basically their luxury line. For example, this Merino Camel is made of 80% merino wool and 20% camel. All natural fibers with no synthetic fibers in there (not that there’s anything wrong with synthetic fibers – sometimes it’s just nice to use more luxurious materials)!
Merino wool is the “cashmere of wool” as they say. Something I noticed about the camel aspect was that it has a sort of “hairy” look to the yarn strand just like alpaca has. Other than that, I find this really hard to describe. It’s not smooth and shiny, but it’s also not super textured and fuzzy. It’s somewhere in the middle. I’m going to take it straight from Lion Brand and let them describe it to you:
“Merino is the cashmere of wool breeds: prized for its softness and warmth. Camel, often associated with luxurious menswear, is one of the finest noble fibers, embraced for its lustrous, smooth hairs that create luxurious yarns that are warm, yet lightweight. Lion Brand’s Merino Camel is a blend of both: the merino provides buoyancy and stitch definition, while the camel give each project silkiness and drape. Merino Camel is a CYC 2, and comes in 6 classic colors. This is the perfect yarn for hats and scarves for all the special people in your life.” – Lion Brand Website.
I really like this yarn and I can’t wait to see what my cardigan looks like once I’m finished! Click here to shop your favourite colour of LB Collection Merino Camel!
Let me know if you’ve ever used this yarn and what pattern you made with it, because I am always looking for fun, new projects to make and I would love your suggestions!
Thanks so much for reading!
Happy making,
Janine xo
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