Happy 10th Birthday Blacker Yarns

Blacker Yarns is 10 years old on Friday 18th September, so it is only fitting that September's Yarn of the Month should be their new celebratory birthday yarn, Cornish Tin.  Not only that, read on for details of a giveaway!

Cornish Tin, launched on the 18th September will be a limited edition yarn celebrating all things Blacker Yarns and British wool.  It will be available in 100g skeins in both 4 ply and DK weights.  Cornish Tin will only yarn be made once so when it has gone there will (sadly) be no more. 

Cornish Tin
Photo used with kind permission from Blacker Yarns

The yarn is woollen spun and is a blend of ten of the highest quality fibres Blacker Yarns knows and loves.  These are Alpaca, Mohair, Gotland, Jacob, Shetland, Black Welsh Mountain, Texel, English Merino, Falklands Merino and Gotland / Romney Cross.

Cornish Tin comes in one natural shade (a gorgeous silver) and four stunning toning, dyed shades all named after Cornish minerals.  I was very honoured to be one of the first people to see this yarn outside of Blacker Yarns and yes I fell in love with it at first sight.   It was not long before I cast on my first swatch! 

Unblocked stocking stitch swatch

Textured unblocked swatch

The yarn was nice and smooth to knit with and feels nice and springy in the skein.  I particularly liked the darker fibres still being visible.

The two swatches were knit in DK in the Dolcoath Turquoise shade.  They were a pleasure to knit and I was busy planning projects in my head as I was knitting them! The stocking stitch swatch has produced a really even square with great definition and it has some drape.  I really love how the textured swatch has turned out.  Not only does the pattern really stand out it feels really bouncy.

I didn't notice a massive difference after blocking. There is a slight halo on both swatches and both have formed a really nice looking and feeling knitted fabric.  The swatches have a medium softness to them.  I think if you are a sensitive to woolly yarns then this might not be suitable for next to the skin wearing.  However, worn with layers it will make a brilliant winter garment or accessory.

After blocking

Negatives? I wish, as it is coming up to winter, that there was an Aran weight version and that this yarn would be around forever!   

To celebrate Blacker Yarns 10th Birthday, BritYarn will have a little giveaway during September.  From the 1st September to midnight on 30th September (GMT) any order which contains two or more balls of any Blacker Yarns wool (not including Cornish Tin) will be automatically popped into a prize draw. The winner will be selected at random and will receive 1 skein of Cornish Tin 4 ply and a BritYarn canvas shopping bag.  I will announce the winning order number here on the blog and over in our Ravelry Group.

Image used with kind permission from Blacker Yarns

Cornish Tin will be available to buy from Friday 18th September.