Rowan Brushed Fleece!

Rowan Brushed Fleece is like no other yarn I have ever knit with!  It is so soft, knits to a chunky weight, it has loft and is a dream to knit! When knit up, it is so light!

I tried it first in the Muddy scarf by Kim Hargreaves.
Brushed Fleece is alternated with Rowan's Fur.
I can't tell you how much I LOVE this scarf!
Read my Muddy blog post here :) 

But I have to admit, I didn't even swatch for this scarf!  No I didn't!  Ha ha ha! Me, the one who is always saying to my knit friends....did you swatch? 

After all, this was a scarf!  Heavens, if you can't just cast on a scarf!!!

But, before I start a major project with a yarn, I do like to see how it going knit up, how it is going to wash and wear...

The gauge called for was 13 stitches and 19 rows to 10cm/4inches....so I cast on 18 stitches and knit a stocking stitch square.  With just a bit of gentle hand manipulation, I was spot on 19 rows, but was measuring 14 stitches in a 10cm/4in - this was with me pinning the square out to 6".

One stitch might not seem like a lot.....but say your sweater piece, the back, is supposed to be 24" across.  The pattern would call for 78 stitches which would give you your 24" piece knit at the gauge of 13 stitches per 4"  IF your knitting was 14 stitches per 4", your 78 stitches would give you a piece that measured 22.25"

That's 1.75" less! If the front was also 1.75" less, that is a total of 3.5" smaller than anticipated!

But wait!  We haven't WASHED and BLOCKED the swatch!  What happens then?

Well, it washed up beautifully - cool water with a bit of Soak fibre wash, don't move it around a lot, squeeze excess water out gently, lay flat to dry, patting it into shape! The length didn't change, but it is now just a touch over 6" in width. Amazingly, it now measures 13 stitches to 4" - PERFECT!

I can also say that the swatch when dry is still wonderfully soft....and I LOVE IT EVEN MORE!!!

The shade I am using is #252, Cavern....which is actually a darker, duller blue....but with our weather and lack of light right now, it is really hard to photograph. 

Convinced that I'm going to love the fabric of this yarn,
I've just cast on Mette from Rowan's Brushed Fleece brochure
designs by Martin Storey!

I aim to finish it soon, as the temperature here is way too cold, even for Canada, and 
I could sure use a warm yet featherweight sweater to wear right now!

There is an extreme cold alert and we tend to hibernate when it is like this.
(thankfully this doesn't happen that often here in Southern Ontario)
Hubby ventured out to the mail box...

Daisy wanted to go too, but honestly, it is just too cold!

Lackie knows how to give you the guilts!!!

So it's time for a bit of in-door doggie entertainment.  Daisy likes to drop a ball down the stairs so that I can throw it back up to her....then coax her to let it drop again :) Lackie prefers hide and seek....or catch me if you can. It won't take long to tire them out....

Then I can get back to my knitting!

Anne