Yarn Profile: Green Mountain Spinnery
Mountain Mohair

First Impressions
This is a beautiful yarn. The unique colors convey the feel of a handspun, handknit fiber, while the overall quality and consistency of the yarn are definitely first rate.

Colors are gently heathered. The blue I used for the above swatch (called "Lupine") had gentle flecks of white, silver, grey, and cranberry red.

Green Mountain Spinnery lists three gauges for this yarn, and they aren't kidding. The yarn expands and contracts depending on the needle size. Really. I tested it. This means you're three times as likely to find a pattern you like without having to adapt it to a different gauge.

Knitting Up
Mountain Mohair knits up easily and quickly, and stitches appear uniform. I encountered one knot in my skein, but that was about it. No organic matter, no unusual variations in thickness.

Because it's a single-ply yarn, sharp needles may cause it to shred. Think Lite Lopi but much more soft and subtle.

Blocking / Washing
The washing instructions said, "wash gently in cold water," so I gave it an extra-hard thrashing in warm water just to see what would happen. There was no stretching, color fading, or bleeding.

My friction test didn't hurt the swatches at all. In fact, when I took the swatches out of the dryer, they were stretch- and pill-free and had become as soft as pure cashmere.

Wearing
It took quite a tug for me to break a strand of this yarn. It's softer than many of the other mohair blends out there because Green Mountain Spinnery uses yearling mohair, which is from 18-month-old goats.

I'm not sure I'd risk using this for a two-year-old's sweater, but then again I'm a cautious person. For anything else, this is a lovely material that drapes well and ages beautifully.

Conclusion
This yarn requires that you take a small leap of faith. It doesn't truly come into its own until after you've knitted and washed your garment.

It's probably most comparable to Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride. Although both brands offer a good variety of colors, I personally think that the Green Mountain colors are especially memorable.

Reader Comments
I read the review on Green Mountain Spinnery's Mountain Mohair and think the comparison to Lamb's Pride does the Mountain Mohair a dis-service! Mountain Mohair is a far superior yarn! I sold it in volumes in my (former) yarn shop--cold not keep it in stock. It has a better luster, color depth, and feels like silk, compared to Lamb's Pride. Just my humble opinion......." starry46nights, 9/25/2001