Schoppel Wolle beyond Zauberball: Reggae, Ambiente, Silky Cat and the rest

What they share

Schoppel Wolle is a family mill in the Swabian Alps of southern Germany, and its habits show in every line: Patagonian merino for the wools, a fondness for gradients and for dyeing a yarn so the color does the designing, and a few constructions — the felted single, the chainette tape — that nobody else uses the same way. The yarns come to the US through Skacel, and we stock the range in depth; the Zauberball guide covers Zauberball, Zauberball Crazy, Starke 6 and Crazy Cotton, and this one covers everything else.

Side by side

Reggae and In-Silk: the felted singles

A felted single is a single-ply yarn that has been lightly fulled after spinning, so the fibers are locked to each other before you knit a stitch. It solves the two complaints about singles — splitting on the needle and pilling in wear — without losing the softness, and it is Schoppel's signature construction. Reggae is the plain merino version at worsted weight in 50 g balls: Reggae Ombre runs a slow gradient through each ball, so a hat from two balls fades from one shade to another, and Reggae Solid is the same yarn in one color, for the brim, the stripes, or a whole sweater. In-Silk is the same idea with a quarter silk, in a 100 g skein of 219 yards; the silk gives it a sheen and more drape, and it is the one of the three to choose for a sweater or shawl rather than a hat. All three felt further if they meet hot water and agitation, which is either a warning or an invitation.

Ambiente and Edition 3: the machine-washable ones

Ambiente, which the ball band also calls Lifestyle, is a high-twist superwash merino at a sock gauge, dyed so that a sock-width tube comes out in small repeating patterns that read as Fair Isle from a few feet away. It has no nylon, so it is the sock yarn for anyone who wants pure merino and accepts a shorter life at the heel, and it is as good for hats, mittens and a child's cardigan, where the patterning is the whole design. Edition 3 is a three-ply superwash DK that fades through three shades in each 50 g ball; the Zauberball guide places it beside the gradient family, and it belongs here too as the DK sweater yarn in the range that goes in a cold machine wash.

Alpaka Story and Zauber Perlen: the fingering colors

Alpaka Story is wool with a tenth of alpaca and a little linen for strength, 437 yards to 100 g at a sock gauge, dyed in long color runs like a Zauberball but softer and warmer in the hand. It is a shawl and sock yarn for the knitter who found Zauberball a little crisp. Zauber Perlen is a paint box: seven small balls in one 100 g pack, two solids and five gradients that share a palette, for a shawl, a pair of socks or a colorwork hat where you choose the order. It is the one Schoppel yarn where you design the striping yourself.

Cotton Ball, El Linio and ALB Lino: the summer three

Cotton Ball is a long-staple Greek cotton at fingering weight in a 100 g ball of 459 yards, in solid colors — smooth, breathable and crisp in the stitch, for summer shawls, light tops and the solid stripes between a Crazy Cotton's gradients, with no wool at all. El Linio is pure linen as a chainette tape, light and airy, with the color shadow-painted along the tape so the fabric shifts softly; it is stiff on the needles and transforms in the wash, and keeps softening with wear, which is how linen behaves. ALB Lino is wool with linen — lambswool from the Swabian Alps, linen from France — in a fingering-to-sport weight with 437 yards to 100 g, and the two fibers take dye differently so the strand is marled. It is the spring-and-fall sweater yarn: the wool gives it bounce, the linen keeps it cool and strengthens it, and it wears for years. The summer yarn guide has these beside the other brands' cottons and linens.

Silky Cat: the mohair

Silky Cat is kid mohair and silk at lace weight, 218 yards to a 25 g ball, in solids. It is the yarn to hold with a Reggae or an Edition 3 for a halo, or to knit alone on a US 6 to 8 for a cloud of a scarf; the holding guide has the pairings and the mohair guide the rest.

Which to buy

A hat that fades: two balls of Reggae Ombre, with a Reggae Solid brim. A sweater with sheen: In-Silk. Machine-washable socks with pattern: Ambiente. A washable DK sweater that shifts color: Edition 3. A soft striping shawl: Alpaka Story, or Zauber Perlen if you want to choose the stripes. A summer shawl or top with no wool: Cotton Ball. A linen top: El Linio. A year-round sweater: ALB Lino. A halo on any of them: Silky Cat. And the gradient sock yarns are in the Zauberball guide.