Hello everyone!

I got 2 balls of merino style, one to do a swatch for a design submission, and one to swatch for http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/ben/ben.html

this in hopes that by some chance it would be a close enough match even though the pattern calls for worsted.

so here are the 2 questions:

1) Does anyone else think it's really not DK weight? They recommend size 5 needles and the swatch came out PERFECT on size 9s, plus the yardage is 123 yards and usually DK wool is like 145...

2) Does anyone have experience with this pilling? I have read lots of people had trouble with the washing and wearing of their Swish Superwash so was curious about that before I invested in sweater quantities.

Thanks! :)

I agree, it's not DK. I have some and am knitting it up on the same needles I used for worsted weight. Which by the way, I've reknit both colors a couple times, trying to work out patterns for them, and despite being knit, ripped, rewound, reknit, ripped out some more and reknit again (quite a few times) it doesn't show much sign of wear or pilling.
sue

I've never had any experience with the yarn not being DK, I've always used it for patterns that call for that yarn, and it did come out a little tight, though.

To answer your second question, any merino will pill after a while. This is because Merino have a short, wavy crimp to their fibers, and those will pill. If you invest in a sweater shaver, after the first few times you use it you won't have any more pilling problems, and if you do, very sparingly. And, Merino garments should be worn indoors with easy wear.

Thanks both of you! I know merino and any of the softer, shorter stapled fibers will eventually pill from wear and that shaving a few times will usually resolve it, but I have read some horror stories about the Swish Superwash and WOTA, I was really more wondering about pilling nightmares. And speaking of sweater shavers, I shamefully invested in a $20 Oreck sweater shaver for this very purpose and that thing ROCKS. :)

As for the DK aspect, I am pretty convinced it is closer to worsted than DK, but maybe not truly DK or truly worsted. I should check a WPI on it, but I'm far too lazy. ;) What is important though is it works for my pattern and I get to make a fantastic sweater for like $50 (instead of like $200!) :-D

I did a wpi on it and while I can't remember the number, it did fall in between worsted and DK. You could call it a light worsted.
sue

Did you end up knitting Ben in Merino Style? I want to make it and was worried about using WOTA too.