Yarn Review: Miss Babs Yowza in “Gray Skies Over Toronto”

First Impressions:

The swatched yarn was surprise yarn from my husband, so it was particularly nice to get. The Yowza skeins are exactly that – almost ridiculously large – and tremendously squishy. The ball bands tell you if it’s a one-of-a-kind “Wild Iris”, a “Babette” (same colourway-ish, but not exactly replicable), or a standard, more easily replicated colourway. I later ordered another two skeins of Yowza in a different colourway (Dark Adobe) for another project.

Preparing: 

These are big skeins (8 ounces!), and the website does not lie. If you have a ball winder that can only accommodate 4 ounce skeins, you may find yourself with a problem while caking it: I would suggest determining how you want to handle it. If you’re working with multiple skeins, because of variation in dye lot, I’d suggest winding the cakes into 4oz / about half skeins, and then alternating between (for example) Skein 1 Cake A, Skein 2 Cake A, and so on. It will be easier to handle the large skeins.

Knitting Up:
This knit up wonderfully, very squishy and easy on the hands. I have found that they do block out larger because of the stretch of superwash wool, so a swatch with the wash and dry process is critical. It also is a light worsted/heavy DK yarn, so it’s important to make sure you’re not going to end up swimming in the finished object.

Wear:
I’ve worn both my Harvest and my Top-Down Shoulder Warmer multiple times, and have been really pleased with the yarn and how it holds up. There have been neither dye bleeding nor blocking issues after repeated washes and wears, and limited signs of pilling (the underarms/wherever there’s repetitive friction). I find it’s a great sweater yarn, and I wouldn’t hesitate to use it for a hat, shawl or even blanket.

Fiber:
This is a 100% superwash Merino wool, which means it will have a tendency to streeeetch. Otherwise, behaves pretty much like your standard merino wool.

Purchase Experience:

The Miss Babs site is easy to navigate, and the colours on-screen have been true to life in receipt (yay!). I’ve had excellent customer service which included refunding extra shipping costs. The Yowza skeins have always been well-stocked when I’ve been checking on them. There are often little things included in the package – stitch markers, small swatch-able samples of other bases, show schedules – and it’s nice to get an idea of what’s  going on.

TL;DR: Giant skeins of superwash, great for sweaters, hats, blankets & shawls – but definitely swatch & wash first.

Studio/Dyer: Miss Babs
Base/Line: Yowza
Weight: light worsted
Colourway: Grey Skies Over Toronto
Put Up: hank/skein
Purchase: My husband purchased this directly from the Miss Babs website.