Tweed Heaven

The best thing about my graduate school (or perhaps the most dangerous thing, from the point of view of my bank account) is its proximity to School Products, one of the best yarn stores in New York City, and a great place to score a sweet deal on mill ends or cones in addition to the vast selection of Karabella products -- Berta Karapetyan, the store's owner, is also the founder of Karabella Yarns.

Recently, after taking a French test, I decided I had reason enough to visit School Products -- after all, taking the test had been stressful, right? And after that stress, I deserved a calm yarn shopping trip, right?

So I ended up walking out of there with this cone of yarn, a little less than 4 pounds of aran/bulky weight wool blend tweed for a little more than $75:


I'm not sure of the fiber content; after a little research on the School Products site, I think that it is a wool/silk/cotton blend, with about 66% wool. It was oiled for spinning, so after finding it just a little too tough to manipulate unwashed, I wound off a big skein and washed it pretty thoroughly with dish soap. Here's the ball of washed yarn:


Looks pretty normal, right? But here's my coffee cup for comparison:


The difference between the washed and unwashed yarn is pretty significant:


I think I'll have enough to make a gift for a friend and a sweater for myself, and perhaps I'll even have some left over for mittens or a hat or something. I've already swatched up for a vest using the cables from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Saddle-Shoulder Aran sweater: