Yarn Review: Louet KidLin lace weight

Friend-of-the-shop Sarah has been working with Louet KidLin lace weight, a yarn that is new to us. So we sat down with her to get her impressions.

First the facts: KidLin is made of strands of two different fibers twisted together. One strand is Linen, and the other is Kid Mohair/Nylon. In some of Louet's shades the linen and mohair strands are dyed the same color, but Sarah chose a shade they call Mexican Orange, in which the linen strand is bright pink and the mohair strand is a greenish-gold. Together they read "orange" to the eye. Crazy! Each skein has 250 yards, with a suggested gauge of 5 stitches to the inch on US 5-7 needles. The price is $13.50 per skein.

Sarah's KidLin project was the "Lilith" shrug, a single pattern by Louet designed specifically for this yarn. It took 3 skeins, with a quite a bit leftover on the third skein. It's a simple lace rectangle that is converted into a shrug by using i-cord to gather the cuffs, and 12 optional buttons to close up the sleeve seams. (These pictures were taken before the buttons were added.) The finished shrug is on display in the shop where it has attracted much admiration.

Sarah found the yarn quite easy to work with. She describes it as "mohair for people who don't like knitting with mohair." It doesn't stick to itself or shed fiber. The addition of the linen ply gives it more structure than your typical all-mohair yarn and it's less drapey and clingy. Still, it has the softness and fuzziness you look for in mohair. It was easy on the hands to work with and the two plies did not come apart, as she feared they might. The shrug pattern is super-easy: straight knitting with regularly-spaced yarnovers.

So if you've fallen in love with a pattern that calls for mohair yarn, but you're no fan of knitting with mohair (let's face it: some people love it, some hate it), think of KidLin as mohair without the hassle.
Have you used KidLin? What do you think of it?