Working with Marr Haven

Marr Haven merino is easily the most unusual wool that I have ever worked with.

Now, don't take that as a negative statement---by unusual, I mean just that. Most yarn that I work with, is very processed. Even Cascade Ecological wool is a very clean, commercial feeling yarn with just a crisp woolly scent that I enjoy. Marr Haven merino isn't scoured clean of dirt and lanolin like most wool is---it's put through a more gentle cleaning process that leaves in lanolin and some bits of veg. I was interested in getting my hands on some more Mother-Earth type wool, so I ordered two skeins in natural, undyed white.

When I pulled out the yarn skein, I was surprised at how much there is. 210 yards doesn't sound like *that* much, but it is. Anyway, so I stuck my nose into the wool and inhaled. Whufff---I pulled back, a bit surprised. I don't know how to describe the smell of lanolin. It's very faintly greasy, but with a different twist. The yarn has an interesting feel---very bouncy, and soft. You can feel the lanolin when you touch it, and especially when you work with it. There are little tiny bits of vegetation stuck in the yarn, too, which I didn't bother to pull out because I think it looks kind of nice---like I said before, Mother-Earth yarn.

I washed my swatch, and the water clouded immeaditely, but a few rinses seemed to get it clear. The color of the yarn lightened to a much lighter white color---an unwashed swatch looked rather greyish next to it. It made it softer, too. I tried what the Vogue Cable book called a "Drunken Cable" and I thought it looked a little flat.

I'm toying with the idea of a Zimmermann percentage sweater, maybe the Aran sweater from the Almanac, with this yarn, but I'm not sure yet. I'd have to order more yarn and the book. The idea---of natural wool, natural knitting---is appealing, but I'm not sure how an aran would show up in this soft yarn. It certainly would make a comfortable sweater.