Koigu Mori

This is Koigu Mori

After reading so many blogs about Koigu lately, I decided it was time to go see what all the fuss was about.

While there I had a boo at Koigu Mori....Koigu's latest. I bought two 50 g skeins so I could see how it performs on the sock machine.

Mori is 50% Merino and 50% Mulberry Silk; 185 y (169 m)/ 50g; Recommended Hand Wash, Dry Flat, 3mm needles - 28 st/10 cm

I loved the look and the feel of the yarn but I was a little nervous about the elasticity (or lack of) with such a high % silk. Other silk blends I've tried, with a much lower silk content, can be quite stiff to crank.

(Remember the needles on a sock machine have to be able to pull the yarn down into the cylinder to create a stitch, so a certain amount of elasticity is required.)

The verdict.... wunderbar!

On the first sock, I loosened my tension 1/4 turn from normal 4 ply setting - both to accommodate a little less stretch in the silk, and that the yardage is a little heavier. This knit very easily and I wondered if it would knit as well at my normal tension.

So I knit the second sock at my normal tension, and it also knit very well. On this sock I had 9 stitches to the inch, while on the first sock I had 8 stitches to the inch.

For a size Medium, either would do, so I decided to go with the second setting because I like how the colours patterned better. I frogged the first sock and re-knit it to the same tension as the second sock.

The yarn isn't cheap, retailing at $25/50 grams. But, what can I say.

I know.... I can say, "It's cheaper than Qivut!"

And for those of you who are stuck near the top of this post snickering at the notion that I left a yarn shop with two skeins of yarn, fear not.

I did manage to snag a little KPPM to play with too.