Plymouth Yarn: which one is which?

What they share

Plymouth Yarn has been a family company in Bristol, Pennsylvania, since 1964, and it is a designer of yarns rather than a mill: the lines are spun to its specification, mostly in Peru, which is why alpaca and Peruvian highland wool run through the whole range. The prices are honest and the color cards are big. Encore, the acrylic-wool blend that is Plymouth's best-known yarn, is not one we stock; the last section says what to use instead.

Side by side

Worsted Merino Superwash

The plain one, and the one we sell most of: a soft superwash merino at 218 yards to 100 g, in thirty-five colors, that goes in a cold machine wash. It is the sweater yarn for anyone who wants merino without the care note, the baby-blanket yarn, and the yarn to buy when a pattern says "worsted superwash merino" and nothing more. The superwash guide explains what the treatment changes: it drapes more and holds a block less than untreated wool, so knit it at a firm gauge.

The alpacas

Baby Alpaca Grande is a chunky 100% baby alpaca, 110 yards to the skein, at 3 stitches to the inch: the fastest luxury on the shelf, for a hat in an evening or a cowl that feels like a cloud. Baby Alpaca Worsted is the same fiber at worsted weight in a four-ply with a washable finish, which is rare in alpaca; it goes through a cold gentle cycle and a low tumble, so it is the alpaca for a sweater that will be worn and washed. Both are hypoallergenic and warmer than wool by weight, and both drape rather than bounce, as the alpaca guide explains, so a Grande sweater will grow unless it is knit firmly.

Quaker Hill and Hearthstone are the alpaca-wool blends, where the wool gives back the spring. Quaker Hill is half highland wool and half alpaca at DK-to-sport weight, 298 yards to 100 g, with the stitch definition for cables and colorwork; Hearthstone is merino with a fifth of alpaca in a two-ply sport weight with 436 yards, light and soft, for shawls and fine sweaters. Suri Stratus is the brushed one: suri alpaca with nylon at lace weight, 274 yards to 25 g, to be held with another yarn for a halo as a mohair-silk would be — the mohair guide sets the two side by side — and it is the halo for anyone who cannot wear mohair.

Alpaca Lino and Tussah Kissed add linen. Alpaca Lino is four-fifths alpaca with linen at worsted weight, warm but breathable, and it softens with every wash; Tussah Kissed is a DK two-ply of alpaca, linen and tussah silk with drape and a dull sheen, for a light sweater or a shawl worn in three seasons.

The Peruvian wools: Homestead, Hearty Homestead, Roam

Three plain untreated wools with a rustic hand, all of which felt. Homestead is the worsted, 191 yards to 100 g, in twenty colors, and it is a classic winter sweater wool at a low price — a substitute at Léttlopi's gauge, as the Lopi guide notes. Hearty Homestead is the same wool at chunky weight, 123 yards, for the warmest hats and outerwear. Roam is the sport weight, 302 yards to 100 g at 6 stitches to the inch, and at its price it is the cheapest way to knit a colorwork sweater or a felted project on our shelves.

Yakima: the yak

Yakima is a single-ply of superwash merino with 15% yak down, hand-dyed, 384 yards to 100 g at a DK-to-sport gauge. Yak is finer and warmer than merino and the small share of it makes the yarn noticeably soft; the single-ply construction gives it a smooth, slightly halo-ed surface. It is a shawl and light-sweater yarn, hand wash, and the hand-dyed guide applies to its colors.

Davila and Pima Rino: the small ones

Davila is an extrafine merino in a beaded twist — a two-ply where the plies alternate thick and thin, so the strand looks pearled — at light worsted weight in 50 g balls, for textured stitches that show the twist. Pima Rino is pima cotton with superwash merino at worsted weight, machine washable, a four-season basic. We carry both in a small number of colors at a time; what is on the shelf is on their pages.

If a pattern calls for Encore

Encore is a worsted acrylic-wool blend at 200 yards to 100 g, knit at 5 stitches to the inch. Worsted Merino Superwash matches its gauge and its machine wash in pure merino; HiKoo Simpliworsted is the blend with acrylic in it, a little heavier, and the HiKoo guide has it. For a blanket or a child's sweater the Simpliworsted route is the closer one.

Which to buy

A washable merino sweater: Worsted Merino Superwash. A washable alpaca sweater: Baby Alpaca Worsted. The softest quick hat: Baby Alpaca Grande. A cheap, honest winter wool: Homestead, or Roam for colorwork. Cables in an alpaca blend: Quaker Hill. A fine shawl: Hearthstone, Yakima or Tussah Kissed. A halo without mohair: Suri Stratus. And the alpaca shelf has these beside the other brands' alpacas.