Yarn Review: Local Cormo from Dresow Family Farm!

Hello!

Today I wanted to share with you a bit more about the special yarn that I used when designing the Magic Fringe Shawl. I chose Dresow Family Farm Cormo Fingering-Weight in the Mace & Rosa Natural Combo for my sample because it is such a special and perfect yarn to make something cozy from. It isn't mass produced, so it has a bit of character, but it also is one of the most buttery & elastic yarns that I have ever had the pleasure to knit with so you don't have to worry that it will be overly "rustic". (Seriously, look at the micron count on these skeins! It's as if you added bounce and a great twist to your favorite merino.)

Read on to find out more about this amazing yarn that is grown and produced just outside the Twin Cities in Minnesota or visit Dresow Family Farm's online shop to snag one of their limited edition skeins for yourself before they're sold out!

Have fun & happy knitting!

Shaina ^_^

PS: I know it's a stressful time right now & money might be tight for a lot of us, but if you're able to please consider making a purchase from Stacy Dresow or myself. Keep in mind that small businesses like Dressow Family Farm and my own Yumi Yarns design business rely on those sales to stay afloat & continue doing what we love, providing great materials & resources for the fiber community.

To everyone who has purchased a pattern from me or yarn from Stacy already, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I can't tell you how much each sale means to us. Stay safe out there & do what you can to keep yourselves feeling well both mentally and physically. This too shall pass & life will go on... till then, at least we have our knitting. ^_-

Dresow Family Farm is centered around sustainability and keeping things local so their Cormo and Cormo-Cross sheep graze in the farm's pasture & woodlands & sleep on bedding made of plant matter from neighboring farmer's fields. Most of the sheep are Cormo, but they also raise Cormo/CVM , Cormo/Bond, Merino, Cormo/Merino, Corriedale, & Corriedale/Bond sheep.

The sheep are all white, brown, oatmeal or some combination of these natural colors. The sheep's fleece also changes color slightly over time as the sheep ages just like human hair color does. This is one of the reasons I really love the Mace colorway used in my shawl sample, his fleece was such a beautiful shade of brown-grey and the finished yarn has a very slight heathered look to it which gives it a nice depth. Unfortunately, Mace passed away not long after this yarn was made so the batch that is currently available from Dresow Family Farm is all that is left of his colorway.

Stacy does have another sheep that seems to be chaging colors the way that Mace did so she's hopeful that there will be more skeins similar to these within the next few years, but there is really no way to tell for sure if they'll ever achieve the same shade. So if you love this color as much as I do, you should scoop it up before it's gone for good.

Most of the finished yarn comes from the Cormo sheep while most of the cross-bred fleece is sold raw at the farm after Spring shearing. The Cormo fleeces' micron count ranges between 17-23 & the Cross-bred fleeces range between 21-28. The finer or lower the number of microns, the softer (and generally more expensive) the wool.

"Most merinos—the finest wool yarns—range in micron count from 18 to 20½ microns, though extra fine merino can have a micron count of 19, or even a little less." - Classic Elite Yarns

So, yeah, I'm not kidding when I say this yarn is buttery soft!

Earlier I mentioned how conscious of sustainability Dresow Family Farm is, one of the ways they're working to improve their impact on the planet is through their dye process. Stacy uses natural dye methods and pulls her colors from food scraps, literally. Because of this some of the colorways are one of a kind and seasonal which makes it fun to watch her shop & see the new creations she comes up with.

A close-up of the geometric and striped patterning on the Magic Fringe Shawl

Working with this Cormo yarn has been one of my favorite knitting yet. In the skein, you can tell that it's a soft & lovely yarn, but when it's running through your fingers as you knit up a project... that's when you can truly appreciate the fact that this isn't just any old yarn. The stitches pop in the mosaic colorwork sections of the Magic Fringe Shawl & the garter stitch stripes feel like hygge* in visceral form.

I know buying yarn off the internet can be tricky and I promise I'm not trying to toot my own horn too much for the pattern writing, but I just can't get over how much of a pleasure it was to knit this sample. With everything that's going on in the world right now and the extra stress that I know we're all experiencing, I just think that a little bit of wonderful cozy knitting with luscious materials will do us all a world of good. If you do snag some yarn from Stacy at Dresow Family Farm, please let me know so I can send you a little thank you present that I hope will help to keep your hands busy & your mind calm during this tumultuous time.

Stay well friends!

*Hygge is a Danish and Norwegian word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment.