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Ístex Plötulopi – Unspun Icelandic - drifting apart

 A little while ago Anna nightmare some Ístex Plötulopi – Unspun Icelandic and I was very pleased to take it off her hands. I've heard of this 'yarn' and it's always fun to knit with something new to me. I'd hear it's very warm and light because it doesn't have a lot of twist. I bought some carry along mohair and last week cast on an oversize dress. I was between sizes, so I opted to go up rather than down.


I soon discovered the yarn is called unspun because it is UNSPUN. This means it drifts apart at the slightest provocation - like pulling it out of the puck it comes in, or having the mohair on top of it, or any slight pressure. 

Luckily, there are no ends, you just hold the yarn next to the break and it melds back into the knitting, kind of like joining when you are spinning. 

You HAVE to centre pull from the puck, and the beginning of each on is full of yarn barf, and if you pull on it too much it comes apart. 

It's Icelandic because it comes from a very hardy breed of sheep, and they include the guard hairs in the final product. 

Now, I'm not one for everything having to be cashmere soft, but I fear I'm making an excessively warm, giant itchy nightmare. At least it's on 5mm needles, so it's knitting up quickly.  

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