Yarn review: Excelana 4ply

Excelana is something unusual in the world of yarn, designed to be old-fashioned. Developed by vintage knitting guru Susan Crawford and yarn producer John Arbon of Fibre Harvest, the range is intended to evoking vintage wools from the 'Golden Age of Knitting' in both feel and colour palette.

According to Susan and John it is: "100% British wool, spun from the fleece of the Exmoor Blueface, which live on the moors of North Devon. A cross between the Exmoor Horn and the Bluefaced Leicester, the fleece of the Exmoor Blueface creates a lustrous yarn with a soft handle, great stretch and excellent stitch definition, affording the knitter a pleasurable knitting experience."

All of which leads me to imagine they know the names of all the sheep involved.

I tried out on Sun-Ray Ribbing from Susan's collection of vintage knits A Stitch in Time - exactly the sort of pattern the yarn is intended for.

I found the bounce of the yarn perfect for the pattern which needs a lot of spring and found it a great knitting experience - soft on the hands and no splitting. Also good stitch definition which is something I value because I enjoy textured and lace knits.

I used the cornflower blue - which is a classic mid blue with a lot of depth.

The 100% wool does give it more volume than some more modern style 4-plys which is worth bearing in mind when choosing patterns.