Biscotte Albus
If you’ve been following my trials and tribulations with my next design, you know I ordered some consolation yarn. If you don’t, here’s what happened. I designed a sweater, the EGBDF, in honor of getting hired to sing with the Israel Opera. I knit the first version and hated the way it came out. I redesigned it and used different yarn to reknit it. And frogged it. And reknit it. And frogged it. Over and over again to the point that I ruined the yarn and had to throw it out. I ordered new yarn from two sources, one of which was Biscotte. And that yarn is Albus.
It’s a blend of 50% silk and 50% Merino and feels like heaven; each 100 gram skein has 150 meters/164 yards. Biscotte’s suggested needles are 4.5 to 5.5 (US 7 – 9) and I knit my swatch on US 8 needles. I was a little skeptical as it’s a single, rather than plied, but it doesn’t fray or come apart when I pull on it, probably because silk is so strong. I had planned to use it to reknit EGBDF, so I ordered two colors: Betterave and Ambre. Betterave is a stunning beet red/purple, and the Ambre is kind of an amber color.
The original finished dimensions of my swatch were 7.5 inches x 5.5 inches with 21 stitches x 29 rows to 4”/10cm. The stitch definition, as you can see in pictures of both the knit side and purl side, is perfect. Personally, I like a firmer fabric and at this gauge, it has gorgeous drape that isn’t quite to my taste. I imagine it would be lovely in shawls, though. When I knit an actuall sweater with it, I will probably go down to a US 6 needle. And then I blocked it in the machine on the gentle Wool cycle.
After that first blocking, the dimensions changed. The swatch was now 8” wide by 5.5 “ long. While the stitch count remained the same, the row count increased to 31 rows. I then out it in the washing machine with other laundry on a regular wash which uses hot water. I was curious if the Merino would shrink or felt. It did neither. But the dimensions changed again. Now the swatch is 8.25” x 5”. And I’m getting 32 rows and 19 stitches to 4”.
I love the color and while not a solid, I didn’t get any color pooling in the swatch. I still recommend switching skeins every few rows as there might be differences from skein to skein. Also, I must mention that there hasn’t been any pilling. All in all, this yarn is amazing. What I find fascinating is how many people who have Albus in their stashes on Ravelry describe it as bulky. It is decidedly not. It's definitely worsted. 
