Billow, Blankets, Braids
By Megan Goodacre
I posted a while ago about ordering some Knit Picks Billow for a blanket, in the colour Gosling. Billow is a newish yarn, in a lovely muted palette. It would make a cosy blanket or oversized pullover.
It's pima cotton, a high-end cotton known for its softness. Billow is a bulky weight yarn, meaning it has a nice fat gauge, and is worked on large needles. The needle size range recommended by Knit Picks is 6.0mm to 8mm (US 10-11).
Here it is, tested on 6.5 mm needles with a simple 6 stitch braided cable. (Isn't that a funny picture? It looks like I'm stretching a tiny animal hide. A tiny cabled animal.)
You can see in the skein the thick-and-thin, loosely plied, nature of Billow, which gives it a great tactile quality. Very cosy and textured. A little challenging to work with; I think the trick with it is to stay fairly loose, and let the yarn go where it wants to go. This is not a yarn for tight even stitches. This is a very natural looking, oversized yarn.
A postscript: while I intended to work this into a blanket, my hands got quite fatigued after a few rows with those big needles. Years (decades) of typing and knitting have made my hands vulnerable to repetitive stress, and it doesn't take much to set it off. Forced to listen to my hands, I've put the big needles aside for now.
It's pima cotton, a high-end cotton known for its softness. Billow is a bulky weight yarn, meaning it has a nice fat gauge, and is worked on large needles. The needle size range recommended by Knit Picks is 6.0mm to 8mm (US 10-11).
Here it is, tested on 6.5 mm needles with a simple 6 stitch braided cable. (Isn't that a funny picture? It looks like I'm stretching a tiny animal hide. A tiny cabled animal.)
You can see in the skein the thick-and-thin, loosely plied, nature of Billow, which gives it a great tactile quality. Very cosy and textured. A little challenging to work with; I think the trick with it is to stay fairly loose, and let the yarn go where it wants to go. This is not a yarn for tight even stitches. This is a very natural looking, oversized yarn.
A postscript: while I intended to work this into a blanket, my hands got quite fatigued after a few rows with those big needles. Years (decades) of typing and knitting have made my hands vulnerable to repetitive stress, and it doesn't take much to set it off. Forced to listen to my hands, I've put the big needles aside for now.