Rowan Softyak yarn has been around since last year. But the arrival of their Summer 2020 pattern book, Cape Bay, had Becky reaching for her needles and ‘Canopy - 254’ to make The Stardust Throw by Martin Storey. I have to say, Becky raced through this one - normally she likes to chat a lot at Knit and Natter, and so ends up frogging more than knitting. But that didn’t happen this time, and it seemed to grow 6” every evening.
The Stardust Throw by Martin Storey knitted in Rowan Softyak DK ‘Canopy’.
Softyak is a really lush blend of 76% cotton, 15% yak and a little bit of nylon to help bind the two together. Unlike knitting with many pure cottons - there is ‘give’ in this yarn, so it wasn’t at all hard on the hands to work with. It’s also perfect for summer weight items and comes in 24 beautiful shades. It’s a DK yarn weight, so perfect for a large variety of patterns, from cushions and throws to jumpers and cardigans.
Four news colours for Spring/Summer 2020!
The Cape Bay pattern book perfectly illustrates this, with 18 patterns for men, women and children as well as several household items of which the Stardust Throw is one.
Unity by Dani Sunshine
As I seem to have a lot of blankets at the moment, I decided to try the yarn out in the Unity pattern, available on Ravelry. And I agree with Becky completely - it’s really really really nice to knit with. In fact, I’m wearing it now - although the sun is shining, there’s a slight chill in the air - and it’s just perfect. I’m staying warm without roasting. And because it’s *machine washable I can stop to pick my dogs up for a cuddle without worrying too much about whether they’ve got dirty feet or not.
*Ball band says machine washable at 30°C but please check a test sample first.
Unity is a really pleasurable knit - in the round, always a winner with me. In fact I’m so happy with it I’m going to make another - next one will be a bit longer (the pattern is top down so you can make it whatever length you want) and completely different colours. As you can see in the pic, I went for ‘unity’ colours - which Softyak have in Terrain and Jaune.
We’d love to know if you’ve been knitting with Softyak, and what you’ve been knitting! Do leave comments for us, even if you’ve not used it yet - just tell us what you’d like to use it for!
As always, you can buy the yarns direct from the website, and we are giving you a 10% discount available on stock of Rowan Softyak through to Sunday 10th May, just use the code SOFTYAK10. Between us we’re packing up all our internet orders and taking them to the post office, or if you’re local, they’re coming to you by bike. If you have a particular question, then do use the contact form to get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.
Boo
