Titus DK is part of our classic and long-standing Titus collection of yarn bases which comprises 75% superwash extrafine merino and 25% silk.
Although I've had the DK weight for many years it has always been in the shadow of its ridiculously popular 4ply sister yarn, and now that it has been revamped I would really like to shine a light on it.
The 2021 version of this yarn took me by surprise to be honest; I didn't realise it'd been changed a bit, so when I opened the box and felt the yarn I was completely blown away. It's always been a smooth and lustrous yarn, but now it's even softer (like.. *really* soft) and has more plumpness to it. This is a good thing!
The yarn is HERE and I always do large dyelots so that you can get sweater quantities.
The stats are:
75% superwash extrafine merino, 25% mulberry silk
100g
225m/245yds
4 - 5mm (US6 - 8) needles
3 - 4.5mm hook
13 WPI
Machine washable
I've made two swatches so far (I was a bit limited by a variety of RSI's - argh); one knitting and one crochet. There's loads more that I could do but this should give you a starting point. My tension is *usually* quite average - it's not particularly tight or loose. And I've blocked the swatches gently - they would have taken more stretching but I don't usually do that unless it's lace or I really need the thing to grow.
So... the crocheted swatch is on a 4mm hook and I just did rows of UK half trebles (my favourite stitch!). My gently-blocked tension comes out at 16sts and 14.5 rows to 10cm.
The knitted swatch is done on 4mm needles in stocking stitch, with garter stitch borders. Again, this was gently blocked rather than well-stretched, and the tension has come out at 19sts and 29 rows over 10 x 10cm.
I feel like that's actually a slightly odd tension - 19 stitches over 10cm doesn't seem like many. It would be interesting to compare how many I'd get on 3.5mm needles.
The fabrics that I've got here are beautifully soft and I hope you can see the gorgeous shine in the photos, which is from the silk content. There's definitely an element of drape to this yarn (again, thanks to the silk), but with the plumper merino there's now more structure than previously. I'd have no hesitation in using it for a garment just as much as a shawl or a hat for example. I also think that held double with Eldwick Lace it would be absolutely stunning.
We do have a blog post of patterns and projects which use this yarn - it's a live document so we do add to it (it's designed as an alternative to using the yarn page on Ravelry seeing as that's not a safe space any more). Please do check that out HERE for some inspo!
