Henry's Attic Kona Superwash lightweight fingering specs

Henry's Attic Kona Superwash fingering lightweight
(new weight!)
2,240 yd/lb -- 100% merino superwash

Pics of yarn are of 8 oz hanks, *unscoured*





I recieved my kona superwash lightweight order from wool2dye4 and am pleasantly surprised :) First, wool2dye4 is really a good seller-- couldn't be happier with communication, product, shipping, service. Even sent me a free magnet! I'm such a sucker, really.

The kona lightweight does have a somewhat looser twist at first glance, but I remembered how much the original henry's attic kona superwash (dk weight) changed once it was washed-- it bloomed quite a bit in the wash. (It doesn't have that super twist of koigu/cherry tree hill). The cone is usually much "thinner" feeling than the hanks, but even the dk yarn on the hanks have bloomed for me-- so I figured I'd swatch and block...

Please excuse weird foggy text!

Before (about 3am under floros, after watching Iron Chef Michiba retirement battle) :



After:




Blocked, US 1 on left US 0 on right:



Blocked, US 2 on left US 1 on right:


My gauge was as follows, both blocked and unblocked:

US 0 = 9 sts/inch, 12 sts/column inch
US 1 = 8.25 sts/inch, 11 sts/column inch
US 2 = 7.5 sts/inch, 10 sts/column inch

This is my back & forth gauge, not in the round. Yours may be different, esp. in the round!! Mine is generally the same (round/back & forth)... I don't consider myself a loose or a tight knitter, fwiw.

Though the gauge didn't change, you can see how the yarn filled out after a quick rinse in kookaburra and being laid flat to dry. I admit I was a little hard on the swatch when washing (just to see)-- I rubbed the fabric on itself, and also squeezed it unceremonially dry a few times. The regular kona hasn't felted on me, but does get this fuzzy halo-- same with this yarn. I think it will probably be similar in the wash (a good thing in my book, I enjoy putting my kona superwash socks in the dryer as they always come out puffy and soft and halo-y.)

I only pressed the swatch flat to dry, I didn't pin/block/stretch it. There is quite a difference after blocking though, all my stitches evened up nicely and I can't "see thru" the fabric the same way I did when it was unblocked. (I put it on the black background to try and accentuate how unblocked you can see thru it...)

IMO, I'd use a US 1 with this yarn to be middle of the road... the US 2 is too loose for my taste. The US 0 is also quite nice as well, it may be too tight for some people though (I like it and would use it). As a middle of the road though, I'd prolly reach for my US 1's when using this yarn or thinking about subbing it in a pattern. I imagine using a US 1.5 (2.5mm) would render a gauge of 8.5 8 sts/inch, just a guess though! It may also been too loose for my taste, not certain. I'll take a closeup once I've dyed the yarn, I'd expect to see a change in the look of the yarn once washed/dyed as I did when it was knitted & blocked. My gauge stated above may also change once the yarn's dyed... I'll let yall know.

I like it, definitely. It's a heck of a deal too-- $11/8 oz from wool2dye4 (they have the best price on this right now). So, $5.50 for 4 oz of superwash merino-- 560 yards. I think that kicks Knit Picks dye-your-own yarn's arse ($4 for 440 yd/100gm of merino, but not superwash).

A little comparison interlude, for my math geeks out there...
100 gm of the Kona lightweight fingering would be about 460yd, comparation-shopper wise, a bit more but not much.
100 gm of the Kona lightweight works out to be about $4.68 $4.58 (good reason I was an english major)... so you're paying an extra .68 .58/100 grams for the kona lightweight fingering versus the knit picks color your own 100% merino wool. *And* the kona price is from wool2dye4... if you were say, a business and could buy direct from Henry's Attic instead, it'd be even cheaper (for most of us, the wool2dye4 price is cheap enough and/or we don't have a tax id to buy from HA.) This doesn't figure in the shipping cost (free for +$40 from knitpicks) to the cost, to be fair.

I don't just enjoy the superwash for the machine washability, but also when dying it I don't have to fear felting or shrinkage. I'm not as detail oriented as I should be. I can see myself dying a big batch of this lighweight to make some of the Nancy Bush patterns that usually call for 3 skeins of a premium yarn (when I'm used to 2)... I've been holding off on several of her patterns since the yarn requirements are generally 1.5x what I have in my stash/can justify buying for a project :)

(edit, 5/28: You can see my dying of the kona superwash lightweight using easter egg dyes in this post.)

Speaking of dying, my swap pal said s/he would dig either variegated or self striping yarn... what do you think? I think I'd rather do stripes (I have a fun idea for colors), but I don't know, maybe s/he won't really like stripes? Would you want stripes or variegated yarn? Thick stripes? Thin stripes? (How thick? how thin? I'm in a quandry!) If variegated, I'm going to *try* and work short blips of color instead of longer stretches of yarn...

Oh! Dye pal stuff... I swapped with trek for one of her sock bags for my sock pal, s/he likes knitting socks too and I think this is kinda a cool idea...



Looks good! Exactly what I wanted... I saw the stars print trek made for stariel and thought it would suit... and red stars on the inside :) My kid thinks it makes a great hat.

As for in progress stuff...



I'm working on a few blue squares for Cynthia (from the warming grace project)... she is asking for blue squares for a sweet boy who needs a blue blankie *asap*. Heartbreaking story, and I had to set down my other projects to start on some squares when I read it.

I was working on Hedera (looks the same! so no pics) and...



Dream Swatch headwrap redux in koigu premium painters palette merino, color p326. It'll look better blocked.

I think this is my favorite color of koigu... weird since its not really anything that I typically like-- its just the mix of colors-- teal/blue, black, pink, gold. I'm so not a pink girl, but this one really gets me. I just found out patternworks carries this color and I've been trying to avoid thinking about buying 2-3 hanks there :) This was one of those mini skeins I bought from foxyknits at Stitches West, and the thing wrapped around my shrinking ball? Hoopty diy chinatown yarnbra-- the stretchy buffers they wrap around asian pears to avoid bruising.

Just a few more pics and I'll be out of your hair...

Wool2dye4 also sent their sample card to me; the henry's attic kona superwash fingering lightweight isn't represented-- too new...



A closeup...



left to right,
Wool2dye4 supersock
monty 3/9
silk & ivory (merino/silk)
kona superwash (dk, regular weight)

I am lusting over the silk & merino. Like, trying to justify a $60/lb cone lust. Check out Grumperina's Leaf Lace shawl in it... Merino and silk socks!!! That'd be, 4 oz/$15... hm. Maybe I'll go with a 1/3 lb skein and make some super long Nancy Bush socks, you know-- to try it out first :)

Ergh, enough rambling!! :)