I’ve been meaning to spin up some Gotland for ages, ever since I first got my hands on some back in the summer, but it actually sold really quickly, and I had other fish to fry so to speak. When I got more, I determined that some of it would be mine.

Gotland is a funny thing, not what many spinners or knitters would consider to be a desirable wool. It’s not soft. It’s not all that easy, and it makes a yarn that you probably wouldn’t want to wear next to your skin.

But do you really wear woolen underpants? Honestly, why does everything need to be next-to-the-skin soft?

Here’s what Gotland is. It’s long, and so won’t fuzz up all to heck if you need to reknit something (not that I ever make mistakes, of course), and the garment will wear well. It’s shiny, and shiny needs no argument in its favour. It’s light, hollow, and so should keep its warmth well even when it’s wet.

I live in Raincouver. This is a serious consideration.

Before I did a test spin, I read up on what the more experienced spinners on Ravelry had to say. a) They agreed that it needed to be spun woolen, as spinning it worsted would result in twine. This makes sense – it doesn’t have much crimp, more of a wave like BFL or Icelandic. A high crimp wool will still puff up if you spin it worsted, but a wavey wool doesn’t have much body to start with. b) They suggested a lighter weight yarn for the same reason. c) They said don’t expect to wear it on your neck.

I wanted to use it for colourwork (I want to use many things for colourwork). In particular, a yoke style cardigan with a Fair Isle motif or something similar. I’ve had Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Fair Isle Yoke Sweater on my to-do list for ages, and given that the instructions are essentially to do an EPS sweater and put the charted yoke pattern on the top, it seemed a good fit for handspun yarn of uncertain gauge.

I’m ready. I have dyed 22lbs of Gotland in 11 different shades, several of them in varying strengths of related shades. I have done a test spin, and it came out to a lovely and knittable (not twiney) sport weight.

And now, I’m choosing colours. I’m not being haphazard about this process like I often am. I have learned my lesson. Colourwork is not just about the right combination of colours, its about the placement of those colours, the overall effect, the minor combinations that occur within the larger whole. This takes time, consideration. Natural light. And the absence of determination to cast on that very day.

I laid out some options, I took some pictures. Here they are:

The majority of the sweater will be the natural grey, which is why I included it in the picture. Which one do you like the best?