The weather is definitely turning to Autumn here in South Wales and with it our thoughts turn to thick and cosy winter yarns so we have chosen Adriafil's Sogno for today's yarn tasting.

Our philosophy at Ammonite Yarns is to stock British yarn wherever possible but we can’t resist taking some of the best yarns from Continental Europe and Sogno falls into that category! 
 
Sogno is a really interesting yarn in that it is not a roving but neither is it fully spun.  The finished fabric has volume and a varied texture which Adriafil have characterised as Souffle. We all have our favourite yarns to work with and both of us tend to use finer yarns for most projects (even Aran is pushing it!)  but this is a really lovely yarn to work with.  It is soft and pliable when knitting or crocheting and comes in a varied palette of ten saturated colours.  It would be a great addition to the stash of any superchunky fan.
 
Technical Details
70% superfine alpaca/30% polyamide sold in 50g/50m balls
Knits to superchunky tension of 12 stitches x 16 rows on 8mm needles
Handwash only
 
Recommended for:
This is definitely a luxury yarn best for garments and accessories. 
There is some pattern support in the latest Adriafil pattern book (available in our shop) but it will work for most superchunky patterns.
 
Our Opinion
Jenny has test-knitted this and found it gentle on the hands.  Alpaca can cause her problems to knit with as she finds it prickly but the superfine content of this one means it is fine for her to use.  Jenny found it soft to work with as it has give and stretch.
As a natural fibre with 50m of yarn per 50g, Sogno admittedly doesn’t go too far but Jenny made a pair of fingerless mitts with approximately 2/3 ball so a hat would take two or three. A medium size slouchy cardigan takes 15 balls. 
The yarn is cuddly and soft and, although a superchunky, it makes a lovely lightweight but thick fabric.  We have all colours in stock with brights and neutrals in the range.  You can find the range here -- both of us have fallen for the yellow!
 
Itch Rating: 
(0= not itchy at all 'I could wear this next to my skin' and 5  =very itchy 'I can't wear this'
Jenny's rating: 3
Ruth's rating: 1
 
Bottom line:
This is a high quality mixed fibre yarn with a modern and vibrant colour palette. It feels soft when knitted up and had some pattern support from Adriafil.  

Stylecraft has added to its range of good value DKs with Highland Heathers.  It complements the special range with its subtle heathery tone and can be used for any DK pattern (although we always advise that you check your tension before beginning your project). 
 
Heathers comes in a muted colour palette with 12 colours in the range.  As you might expect from the name, the colours are not solid with the heathered effect being achieved by subtle mixing of strands of colour within the spin of the yarn.  The overall effect is understated and really very pretty.
 
Jenny has been working on the Stylecraft Christmas MAL which is a knitted advent decoration.  She finds the yarn easy to handle with little splitting – very similar to special and as such, suitable for knitters and crochets alike.  The MAL can be found here on Stylecraft’s website.  The patterns are free to download and you can buy all of the colours on our website here.
 
Again, like Special, Heathers is 100% acrylic.  It doesn’t have quite as many metres on the ball with  272 metres compared to 295m per 100g but still goes a long way.  It is reasonably price so is an economical yarn making large projects more affordable for those with smaller budgets.  It is suitable to most projects, from accessories to garments to homeware.
 
Highland Heathers is easy to care as it can be both machine washed and tumble dried. Care needs to be taken as if too much heat is applied it loses structural integrity and the project may grow and lose its bounce.
 
No yarn is perfect so we should mention that acrylic generally doesn’t feel as warm as wool to wear and has less stretch and “memory” which can affect the lifetime of a finished project, especially if too much heat is applied. Like other acrylic yarns, it originates from petrochemicals which may contribute to our environmental changes. As a synthetic, it cannot resist heat and will melt and then burn if exposed to a naked flame.

Technical details: 
Premium acrylic, sold in 100g/272m balls.
Knits to standard DK tension of 22 stitches x 30 rows on 4mm needles. 
 
Our opinion:
As this is a brand new yarn, we don’t have much experience of using it but Jenny is finding it similar to Special to handle.  Like Special it lacks stretch so handles differently to wool  yarns but is a good yarn for a budget price.  We love the colours which are amazing for Autumn knits and the pattern support from Stylecraft is good too.  

Itch Rating: 
(0= not itchy at all 'I could wear this next to my skin' and 5  =very itchy 'I can't wear this'
Ruth's rating: 0
Jenny's rating: 1
​ 
Bottom line:
This is a good quality acrylic yarn with a pretty colour palette. It feels soft when knitted up and is accessible to any budget. 

Stylecraft Special
We believe this is one of the best acrylic yarns on the market and is a very popular yarn.  Special is produced in 4-ply, DK, aran, chunky and super chunky and includes a range for babies. This review is specifically about DK but the characteristics are duplicated across the range. 
 
Special DK comes in a vast array of colours – you can see the colours we stock here  which is only just over half of the range!  This means it is a good choice for projects using multiple colours and is the preferred choice of many crochet designers.
 
The yarn is smooth and nicely rounded making it easy to work with for beginners and more experienced crafters alike. Compared to other acrylic yarns, it feels gentle to working hands and doesn’t tend to snag on dry skin. The smoothness of the yarn means that it is slightly more slippery than is ideal for stranded colour work. Darned in ends may work free over time.

As it is 100% acrylic, Special DK goes a long way with 295m on a 100g ball and is very reasonably priced. This makes it an economical yarn making large projects more affordable for those with smaller budgets.
 
Special DK is an easy to care for yarn as it can be both machine washed and tumble dried. Care needs to be taken though as if too much heat is applied it loses structural integrity and the project may grow and lose its bounce.
 
No yarn is perfect so we should mention that acrylic generally doesn’t feel as warm as wool to wear and has less stretch and “memory” which can affect the lifetime wearability of a finished project, especially if too much heat is applied. Like other acrylic yarns, it originates from petrochemicals which may contribute to our environmental changes. As a synthetic, it cannot resist heat and will melt and then burn if exposed to a naked flame.
 
Technical details: 
Premium acrylic, sold in 100g/295m balls.
Knits to standard DK tension of 22 stitches x 30 rows on 4mm needles. 

Recommended for:
This is a utility yarn that can be used for almost anything, both knit and crochet.
Particularly good for blankets and kid's garments
​
Our opinion:
When Jenny knitted with Special DK she needed to use a slightly smaller needle as her tension tends to be slightly loose. She achieved stitch and row tension by dropping to 3.75mm.  Jenny found it less relaxing than other yarns to knit with as it lacks stretch. Ruth found it an ideal yarn to crochet with as it flows smoothly through the stitches without splitting.

Itch Rating: 
(0= not itchy at all 'I could wear this next to my skin' and 5  =very itchy 'I can't wear this')
Ruth's rating: 0
Jenny's rating: 1
 
Bottom line:
This is a good quality acrylic yarn with an amazing colour palette. It feels soft when knitted up and is accessible to any budget. 

​

All our new Autumn ranges are now sitting pretty on our shelves but, with the covid firebreak in place in South Wales, you are unable to come and visit the shop to see and squish our lovely yarns.  To make sure you don’t miss out, we are going release a series of posts to give you a virtual tour of all our yarns from the new arrivals to old favourites. In each post we will cover a different yarn and talk about all the things we would normally tell you when you visit the shop. Sadly you can’t feel the yarns through your screen but we will do our best to give you a sense of how it handles and knits and crochets. We will even provide an itch rating – although bear in mind that Jenny is a delicate flower and Ruth is less sensitive when it comes to fibre!