With much kindness Michelle of Needlefood sent me a skein of her lovely yarn to review, I requested an Oddball called 'Martinborough Vines'.
I really love the packing of the yarn, the cellophane seems like that used to wrap flowers, so its like a yarn bouquet. The cellophane is tied with a ribbon which also carriers a seller label for needlefood as well as five split ring stitch markers and a seller label for the markers.
The yarn itself is in skein form and is surrounded by a yarn band which notes composition, weight in grams and 'type'-fingering, needle size and washing instructions. The yarn is 80% merino and 20% nylon, 100g, ≈353m, fingering weight for 2-2.75 needles and machine washable. In other words the yarn is perfect for socks. The yarn feels slightly thicker than Vintage Purls however I'll have to see whether that is reflected in the gauge when I knit it up. The yarn smells slightly of vinegar, testament to its hand dyed nature and which I must admit I quite like.
A note on the colour, what I had imagined was a deep blue purple but as you can see from my picture above and that in the middle here, it is in fact a maroon. If you compare the website picture on the left from one I took on the left with a flash you'll see they are very similar. I don't mind hugely and maroon is far more grapish than blue-purple however its something to note that colours do not exactly match photos.
In terms of the labels, I have a few comments. I really like the label with yarn on it, gives a great idea of the other colors and is in a sturdy card. The yarn band and stitch markers label are however just on paper, I think they would be better on a light card. When I opened up the skein to look at the colour changes and made it into a skein again, it was impossible to put the ball band back on. A ball band that is slightly looser and stiffer would allow for reusability of the band.
It's lovely that Michelle includes a single use amount of delicate wool wash called Soak and five stitch markers from Memarcierenee. Overall a wonderful first impression, I can't wait to start knitting myself a lovely pair of socks.
