Yarn Lab: Stonewashed Cottons

“Oh my, this is going to be fun!” was my first thought upon opening the box of 5/2 Valley Cotton Stonewash from WEBS. The dappled appearance of the yarn was unlike anything in my yarn stash. I immediately started imagining how it would weave up. What would those speckles look like in a finished cloth? Well, time to start planning a warp or two or three . . .

THE YARN

Valley Yarns 5/2 Valley Cotton Stonewash (100% pearl cotton; 2,100 yd/lb; WEBS), 9 colorways.

Even on the cone, these yarns have an appealing speckled appearance. For my sampling, I warped three looms: a four-shaft table loom, a rigid-heddle loom, and my eight-shaft floor loom. The Valley Cotton Stonewash performed well as warp on all three looms. It was easy to wind on and did not fray or break. Because of its speckled character, I combined it with solid-colored yarns from my stash to explore design possibilities. I found that the Stonewash paired well with all of its companion yarns. After wet-finishing, shrinkage was what I would have expected for pearl cotton, and differential shrinkage with the other yarns was minimal.