This, my friends, is Fine Art. The much-anticipated new sock yarn from Rowan. (Yes, their very first premium hand-painted sock yarn!) It's a blend of fiber and color. Designed for socks, shawls and other accessories, it is made with merino wool, kid mohair, mulberry silk and polyamide to make it the perfect choice for all kinds of projects.
Fine Art is also a story of the people in South Africa who source, spin, and dye the yarn. 'If there is one aspect of this business we'd really like to highlight, it's the empowerment of individuals.' You can read more here about the group of people who form a collaborative effort to create this beautiful hand (and sponge!) painted yarn. It's a pretty neat story worth checking out.
You may remember when I first posted the gorgeous photos from the Fine Art Collection here, and when I got my skein in the mail (and saw the gorgeous neutrals in this colorway, called Chiff-Chaff) I started to get excited about a certain pair of ankle socks in the book.
And so I cast on Sparrow by Gemma Atkinson, shown in the photo above. It's a bit hard to see the detail on the cuff in these photos, so had a fun surprise as I started knitting these! There are three rows of gathered lacy bits near the top and the rest is garter stitch, which shows off the color changes ever-so-nicely.
Even more fun than watching the colors change is feeling the softness as you go. This yarn is so incredibly soft and wonderful to knit with. It's not stiff, and not flimsy. I can tell these are going to feel incredible when I finally get to wear them. (Oh yeah ... did I mention that this is my very first time knitting socks?) Even if I make a few rookie mistakes, these are going to be beautiful, I can tell. I'm sure this very first pair will be a little bit extra special.