Tahki Donegal Tweed

It's time for another yarn review. Actually, I'm procrastinating. I'm supposed to be writing the pattern for the EGBDF sweater. But in the meantime, I was going to knit a new version in different colors. SO I went through my stash to see if I had enough of any one yarn for a full sweater. What I found was Tahki Donegal Tweed. Made in Ireland, it's made from 100% new wool and is a worsted weight yarn (No. 4) with 183 yds/167m to the skein. Recommended gauge is 18 st and 22 rows to 4"/10cm. 

 I'm very sensitive to scratchy wool and my first impression as I rolled it into a ball is that there is no way in hell I could wear this next to my skin. If I did make a sweater with it, I'd have to wear it over a long sleeve t-shirt. Though the label calls for size 8 needles, I knit my swatch on size 7 because, frankly, I couldn't find my size 8. Oops. 

My swatch, pre-blocking, was 9" wide by .4.5" tall and my gauge was 18 stitches by 10 rows. I washed it on the wool cycle which means no agitation so the swatch didn't felt. After drying, the finished size of the swatch was now 8.75" wide by 4.5" tall. And my gauge was now 19 stitches by 10 rows. IN other words, the swatch shrank roughly 10% in width without shrinking at all in length. 

Did it get any softer? Nope, not even with fabric softener. You can see the hairiness of the swatch in the picture. I still wouldn't be able to wear it next to my skin. Oh, and it's a single. I tried to tighten the slipknot used for the first stitch and the yarn came apart without any force.