Malabrigo Rios Worsted Yarn

Malabrigo Rios is soft, plied superwash merino, and the color is what people buy it for. It's kettle dyed in Uruguay, which gives the color depth and a shift through the skein, not one flat tone. The four plies keep stitches crisp so cables and texture show, and it's machine washable, which is usually what decides whether a hand knit actually gets worn.

About the colors

They vary, a lot, which is what kettle dyeing by hand actually means. There are no dye lots to reorder against, the tag is a date at best, so two skeins match because they came out of the same bag. The watercolor multis move most and the near solids hold fairly steady. For anything bigger than a hat, work from two balls at once, alternating a few rows from each, so the variation evens out across the fabric.

So we match skeins by eye when we pack an order. If you want your color to lean a certain way, or all your skeins from one bag, tell us when you order and we'll go look, and if you ask we'll photograph your actual skeins before they ship. Lighting is never quite exact, but you'll see how they sit together. If we can't get you a matching set we'll let you know before it ships, so you can decide whether to have it sent anyway or wait for the next bags. On a deadline, say so and we'll send it rather than hold it for your answer. And Rios ships as twisted hanks, so for a small fee we'll wind them into center pull cakes before they go in the box.

How much to buy

A mid size adult pullover usually lands near 1,400 yards, so seven skeins. Smaller or cropped runs five, larger or longer runs up to ten, and a baby cardigan is one to three. If you're between sizes buy the spare skein now rather than later, because a second order won't match the first.