Bijou Basin Ranch and Outlander

Despite having never heard of Outlander 8 weeks ago, I am now a little bit obsessed. I've devoured the first three books, but I'm making myself wait to buy the 4th because I know I won't get anything done around here until I read the whole thing. I haven't watched the tv show because we don't get that channel, but with wool as my witness I will find a way. It's just so enthralling! I can't imagine going from modern life to 1700s life, just like that. Running water and A/C for me, please. But anyway, it's a good series. So when Bijou Basin Ranch contacted me to see if I'd like a skein of their new, Outlander-inspired yak yarn, I was like heck yes, I love those books! Let me see the colors. I got a skein of Himalayan Trail, which is 75% yak and 25% merino, in the colorway Gloaming, a really pretty lilac-y semi-solid. I love a good semi-solid- so much more interesting than a plain old solid.

Yak is supposed to be incredibly warm, so my first thought was gloves. Last winter I realized that I had a serious glove shortage. I have enough mittens to wear a different pair every day for a month (exaggeration: I do it sometimes) but I only have one pair of gloves, and those I made a few months ago. I'm not sure how often I'll even need gloves (Louisiana, it's hot here, broken record, blah blah), but I like the idea of having some, just in case.

I made some simple gloves, nothing fancy. I thought I wouldn't have enough yarn to do anything fancy, but I was wrong, and there are leftovers. Oh well. The yarn was really lovely to knit with- it feels so indulgent. It has a slightly felted texture when knitting, which I kind of liked, and meant that there was no splitting. I love a not splitty yarn. You do have to be careful when ripping this yarn though- it didn't like to be ripped and re-knit. Got pretty ragged looking pretty quickly. Just be certain that you're casting on the correct number of stitches, and you'll be fine. One more thing- you do have to be gentle. When I was drawing the yarn through one of the fingertips, I broke the yarn. Super annoying, but not the end of the world.

I love these gloves! This yarn is seriously great. If a sweater's worth ended up under the Christmas tree, I wouldn't be upset... just sayin'. But really, if you're looking for Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/etc. gift ideas, a skein of this lovely yarn would make any knitter happy. Or you could whip up some one-skein projects for your non-knitters.

Full disclosure: I got this yarn for free in exchange for a blog review. My own opinions, of course.