I don’t remember a time when I didn’t knit. However, I must confess that it was only recently that I turned to hand-dyed yarns. Maybe the more I knit, the snobbier I get about it. I hope not. Anyway, I just tried using some hand dyed wool from Rio De La Plata Yarn.

Rio De La Plata Yarn is more than a hand-dyed yarn; it is actually made by a cooperative in Uruguay using traditional methods. I read that it is handmade by the wives of the gauchos, the traditional cowboys of South America, with caldero-dyed thread. It sounds so romantic! Before buying Río De La Plata yarn, I read a newsletter about Gladys Rodríguez, who is a third-generation hand spinner and still lives in her hometown of Melo in Uruguay. She said: “I feel calm and fulfilled giving people jobs and letting the world know what we can do. We are very excited that a small town like ours can do something that a great nation like the USA cares about. Uh.”

Maybe I’m getting sentimental in my old age, but I really like the idea of ​​supporting people who are still employed doing things the old fashioned way. In any case, there is nothing old-fashioned in the thread of the Río de la Plata. It is 100% wool and you have to see it to believe it in the color combinations that you can get in the Río de la Plata.

The wool that I bought in Rio De La Plata is called Thick. I chose Pale Chartreuse as the color for my scarf. The wool is super soft and is great for knitting and is also felt in beautiful bags and clogs. I have used Malabrigo and Manos before and if I had to I would say Rio De La Plata compares well to these.

I ordered two skeins from my local yarn store; I won’t name them but they are great for finding new hand dyed yarns almost everywhere. Be careful; This yarn might not be everyone’s cup of tea as it has some pretty big thick and thin variations in places. But, if you are adventurous and want to create something a little special, I can highly recommend Thick from Rio De La Plata Yarns.

For my scarf project I used US 10.5 size needles. The pattern I used was Misti Chunky Ribs and Ruffles; you can get this pattern on the Misti Alpaca website.

My scarf is finished and it looks beautiful. I love my scarf, unlike most of my knitting projects, I’m going to keep this one. Having completed a project using Rio De La Plata Yarn, I can honestly say that I will be using this hand dyed yarn again. It’s not the cheapest wool, one of those special projects, but it’s nice to work with and I kind of like the idea of ​​weaving wool, which has been spun and dyed by hand by gaucho wives. Knitting really brings out the romantic in me.