Roving yarn for felted bonnets?

[John Henderson]

After seeing this post, http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...almoral-74554/, about knitting and felting a Balmoral, I bought the pattern and have been honing my knitting skills on some practice pieces and simpler projects. While in a local store shopping for the ingredients for the bonnet (and finding a dearth of 100% wool choices in the local stores), I came across wool yarn roving. I assume that this is yarn that has not been twisted into plies. I've looked at some manufacturers' websites, and they indicate that one major purpose is for felting. I was wondering if any of you who have knitted and fulled your own bonnets have used this, and I wonder what your experiences are. Is roving yarn appropriate and usable for bonnets?

[Benning Boy]

You might want to check out the yarns at cowichantrading.com in Victoria, BC. Apparently they have two stores on Government Street, one doing business as Cowichan Trading, and another about a block away operating as Sasquatch Trading, the one I visited, which can be emailed at sasquatchtrading@shaw.ca . Dixiecat and Sydnie7, both knitters were with me. They both seemed impressed with the yarn. Dixiecat bought 2lbs of yarn, thinking it would make very nice bonnets and would felt quite well. It's a heavy yarn, lightly twisted. It's available in a range of natural colors. If you wanted blue, for example, you could always dye the white. It's a very heavy yarn. I bought a Cowichan sweater, something I've waited 55 years to get, essentially a zip front cardigan, size 50, that weighs five pounds, more than an 8-yard kilt. PM Dixiecat for an honest evaluation.

[Thistledubh]

I suspect the roving would be great, but any 100% wool yarn will work well. Try Michael's crafts or JoAnn fabrics for Patons Classic Worsted; affordable and easy to get.

[Benning Boy]

Thistledubh has gotten fabulously wealthy designing knitwear and teaching others to knit. You can take whatever she says about yarn and knitting as gospel.

[Pleater]

Some all wool yarns have been treated to be washable, so preventing felting, so you do need to check that a yarn does felt. I usually do a small sample to check the gauge and then put it in the pocket of something going into the wash, rolled in a handkerchief so it doesn't stick to itself.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[sydnie7]

How difficult is it to knit with roving? I've not tried, wonder if its nature might be challenging esp for a novice. Thick/thin, might tend to pull apart under tension is my guess but just a guess.

[Thistledubh]

Yes, I should have said any untreated 100% wool would work. Thanks for the clarification!

[HarveyH]

Is roving yarn appropriate and usable for bonnets?

'Wool yarn roving' as opposed to roving yarn - roving is a term used for wool fibre that has been combed or carded but not yet spun into yarn, it is just the long wool fibres slightly pulled out into lengths, usually looking like a long sausage of wool fibres. This is what you twist the fibres from when you spin yarn - it makes it much faster to spin if the fibres have already been prepared as roving.

Roving would be fine for felting as it is loose wool fibres - but it is not yarn and you would have to spin it and set the twist before attempting to knit.

[SemperFyffe]

Hello John and welcome to the club. Be careful as these are very addictive to knit. If you read the pattern carefully (hard for us guys, I know) one of the yarns Anne recommends is Cascade 220. There used to be an amazing selection of colors available at a website called "yarnmarket" but they have been bought out and the selection of colors has diminished. I can also recommend "Wool of the Andes" from KnitPicks. They also have a great selection of colors. I have had good success with both of these brands. Stay away from blends or "superwash" wools. Some blends are supposedly "okay" for fulling but I have never had any success.

[kiltedrennie]

I second the Cascade 220 yarn. Best yarn I've tried by far. Nice and smooth result. I've also used Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool which gives the hat a more textured look.