Today I am putting Bendigo Woolen Mill 8Ply Cotton under the microscope and looking at the good and bad. This is of course just my personal opinion! *This page may contains affiliate links

The hard facts:

Composition: 100% Cotton

Contruction: Plied

Weight: 200 grams (7.05 ounces)

Length: 529 yards (484 metres)

Size: 8Ply Dk weight

Range: 30 colours

Colour transition: Solid

My Opinion

For:

In order to have full disclosure I must state that Bendigo Woolen Mill have my patterns on their webpage. They run a brilliant program for local designers and pass on 100% of all pattern sales to the designers. I also have been fortunate to have worked with BWM on numerous occasions, where they have offered me yarn support. The team who run this business have my respect and I find them brilliant to work with.

This is an Australian yarn company and the largest individual manufacturer of quality yarns in Australia.

BWM cotton is super soft. This yarn has a lovely sheen to it to! The hank dying method they use lends to this softer final product. It is fabulous for blankets and works up just brilliantly, showcasing my designs in a manner that I find pleasing.

I find I get great definition in the stitches with this cotton and cannot fault it for quaility.

I love working in this yarn and it is often my go-to default when I am making any blankets that I want a solid colour in.

I also work often in the same yarn but in a 4ply (fingering weight). Again this is brilliant to work with.

This yarn has a colour selection of 30 shades.

While I have to say I do prefer the cottons (which is just personal preference) they also manufacture yarns in Alpaca, Mohair, Silk, Milk fiber and Bamboo.

These are larger style balls and not tiny 50g balls where you need a ton of the stuff to make a decent size blanket.

If you are lucky enough to strike a sale, then you can load up for future makes..

I typically use a 3.5mm hook when working in yarns of this type and. I do tend to have a very firm tension, so the result is nice little firm stitches.

I have made multiple items in the cotton 8ply. The pictures right and below show just a few. You can visit the webpage for each pattern by clicking on the picture.

.Against:

Now please remember these are my own personal gripes and what bugs me may not bother anyone else!

I only thing that I can say with even a slightly negative lean to it in regards to this yarn, would be the colour range. I understand that to dye more colours may be problematic to the mill, but I would really love a few more to select from. Maybe part of my gripe about this is due to the fact that the range has a number of greens in it and for anyone who follows my writings, you will know that I really am not a fan of green.

I will also add that this is a thinner style 8ply or Dk weight than most. Not an issue but something to keep in mind.

One other point I willl make is the need to keep a clean workspace when using the lighter colours. Of course this is not just relevant to BWM Cotton but to all yarns. There is nothing worse than putting time and effort into a project and find it is grubby by the time you finish.

Overall:

As can be seen by how often I use this cotton, I do love it! I have even converted one of my USA based pattern testers to using it. Yes postage to the USA can be a bit of an issue but they have asssured me that they are more than happy for all family members to starve, in order to feed their need for BWM cotton. (just kidding, postage is not that bad).

I have a rather brilliant (even if I do say so myself) new pattern in testing at present, which is made from BWM 8ply Cotton and in a few short weeks it will be available.

Do yourself a favour and try this cotton.

The links here will take you directly to BWM. I get no kickback from sending you there. My only benefit is the yarn support they offer and also the pattern sales I gain from there. Bendigo Woolen Mill 8 Ply cotton

You can also find a number of my pattern for sale in their independant designer section: Click here

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