Calming down with BC Garn Loch Lomond

Hello, Tangled Yarn readers!

My name is Patsy and I’m a knitter and sewist based in Yorkshire. I was thrilled when Rachel asked me to write a blog post for her about BC Garn Loch Lomond. I have recently used it for the first time and, not to give away the ending or anything, I downright loved it!

I started knitting regularly at the end of 2008 – I learned when I was a child and went back to it a few times in the intervening years, but it didn’t stick until then. It may have taken some time, but I quickly became very passionate about knitting and even found a part-time job at a knitting shop for a while. Over the last 10 years, however, knitting has taken more of a back seat while I’ve been more interested in sewing. Until the end of last year, that is, when I eagerly picked it up again and haven’t slowed down.

 

 

A few months ago, I signed up to test knit the Calm Down Cardigan by Lily Kate France. Despite having been knitting for the best part of 15 years, I had never test knitted until earlier this year. The pattern calls for BC Garn Loch Lomond, and I decided I wanted to use it if I could find it.

 

 

Lucky for me, Tangled Yarn not only carried the yarn, but they were also offering a discount if we were to buy the yarn from them for the test knit. I mean, it’d be rude not to and, since I couldn’t pick which colour I’d like to make, I ended up buying the Silver as well as the Red.

 

 

So let me tell you about this yarn: it’s 100% organic wool, GOTS-certified and cruelty-free. It has these little flecks throughout, giving the yarn a tweedy look and they add interest to the knitted fabric as well. In the skein and caked up it looks and feels like a mildly rustic yarn, which is not a bad thing in my book. It’s not scratchy at all, but it’s quite “toothy” if you know what I mean; slightly
sticky to itself as woolen spun yarns tend to be.

 

 

I’m usually a loose knitter and often need to go down at least one needle size to get gauge. The Calm Down Cardigan was no exception and I got to the required 22 stitches per 10cm with 3.5mm needles rather than 4mm, which is normal for me. This yarn was also a pleasure to knit: my stitches glided nicely off my needles, but if I dropped a stitch, the stickiness of the yarn made it stay in place rather than ladder down.

 

 

Where Loch Lomond particularly shines though is after it’s been blocked. It blooms so beautifully, and I couldn’t believe how much softer my cardigan became. Not to mention the drape the fabric developed! I tried to capture that in the photo below but I’m not sure I was all that successful. It undeniably is a yarn that needs to be seen and touched to be believed.
 

 

The fabric has worn very well so far. There has been none to minimal pilling and no other signs of wear, even though I’ve worn it so much already in the last few months. This cardigan has quickly become my favourite thing I’ve ever knitted and I’m certain the yarn choice greatly contributes to how I feel about it. It’s lightweight yet warm, sturdy yet soft and I haven’t even talked about the
variety of colours available yet.

 

 

It was, without a doubt, a struggle to choose which colour I’d like my cardigan to be. At one point, I had 4 different colourways in my cart and wanted to buy them all. As I said at the start, I did end up buying the Fire Red as well as the Silver, but I still haven’t decided whether to make the Calm Down again or something else with it. All the colours are stunning: from the more muted neutrals to the
brighter greens, blues and yellow.

 

 

Looking at the colours as I’m writing this is just making me want to add them all to my cart though and that is probably a sign I should wrap this up. I hope this has been helpful if you were thinking about trying Loch Lomond and tempting even if you weren’t. I heartily recommend it and look forward to knitting up the skeins that are in my cupboard.

 

 

If you’d like to see more from me, I can be found on Instagram @patsypoomakes where I share my sewing and knitting exploits from time to time and I also blog sporadically on WordPress at patsypoomakes.