One of the best parts of my job is to receive deliveries, and I’m sure this goes for everyone working in a yarn shop. There is this very particular excitement when opening the boxes, being the first one to open the bags and pull out the lovely woolliness neatly winded up in fresh skeins or balls. Admiring the texture, the softness, oohing and ahhing over the colours, then rush to get everything up on the shelves in the shop, and online, to show off so everyone get the chance to see. As you can see in my previous blog post, I did the exact same thing when the WAK spring colours arrived, so exited over this chunky super soft yarn and it’s gorgeous colours.

But then I received a comment on that blog post which made me think about how we tend to present the yarns, and how what you see yourself might differ quite a lot compared to what your audience or customers see. My friend Sylvia said ‘Lovely yarn in gorgeous colours. But it is quite chunky right? (…) Maya, do you have any pictures showing us what this yarn looks like knitted up?’

What struck me with this comment were a few things. First of all it made me aware that even though I know that these balls are huge, taking a pretty picture of the ball with a bright white background might not convey the actual size of a ball, or the thickness of the yarn. In a picture like that I guess that a 25g 4Ply would look quite similar to a 200g Chunky. I’ve been playing a bit with this idea today, and I took some pictures to show you some real life photos of this yarn instead of a stylised version.

Then there is the question about what this yarn looks like when it is knitted up. We are Knitters make some brilliant kits, ranging from beginners to more intermediate levels. They’ve been very popular this year, especially with my younger customers. I believe this has two reasons, first, a yarn this thick will knit up quickly which is very satisfying for a beginner knitter, second, the models are stylish and on trend. So to give you an idea of how this yarn comes out when knitted, let me show you some of the kits that I stock over at Knit with attitude.

Can you tell I’m in love with this yarn yet? And did I mention that even though it is chunky it is still super soft, made in peruvian highland wool. Yeah, I’m showing it off, as you can see it is pretty hard to miss should you stumble by my shop these days.