Yarn review: Eden Cottage Yarns Carlisle Fingering

I am working on a very exciting project at the moment.  This year I will be publishing my first ebook of crochet patterns. I love my job as a designer, especially the part where I have to research, squish, choose and buy yarn for new designs.

I want to include all sorts of yarn (weights, fibres, budgets) in the book and it's particularly important for me that I have a pattern that uses just one skein of hand dyed 4ply/fingering/sock yarn.  Almost every crocheter and knitter has at least one gorgeous skein in their stash, much admired, lovingly stroked, but still to be used.  I do too, but not in the right colour.  Plus, I'm a sock knitter so I do use up those single skeins.

I was looking for superwash merino, 100g, very pale, not a solid colour but not striped or speckled either.  The pale bit turned out to be quite tricky.  The world is filled with a riot of colourful hand dyed yarn, as it should be, but finding the yarn I wanted took a while.

After much (very enjoyable) wandering around the internet, I found this beautiful skein of Carlisle Fingering by Eden Cottage Yarns.  The colour is Snowfall and it's a very soft ivory with tiny little hints of the gentlest blues.  It's 100% superwash merino and is as soft, squishy and gorgeous as you could possibly wish for.  Oh, and I think I might have snaffled the last skein of it.  There are lots of other colours available, though, and of course a whole web-store filled with other hand dyed loveliness.

© Eden Cottage Yarns Carlisle Fingering in Larch

I have started to work up my design and it's crocheting up very well.  I'm using a 3mm hook, which is giving me good stitch definition and creating a cosy fabric.  Even with the very textured stitch and small hook, it still has a little drape.  I usually go for a 3.5mm or even a 4mm hook to encourage drape, especially for shawls, but I'm aiming for warm and snuggly with this design.

The distribution of the faint blue is just right - enough that it is dotted throughout every row, but not so much that it dominates the cream base.

I can't wait to share the finished design.  In the meantime, if you have a hankering to squish your own skein of Carlisle, you can find it here.