Wooldreamers Mota: Imagine the possibilities!

Many of you are already familiar with WoolDreamers yarns from Spain. They are committed to supporting Iberian sheep farmers, meeting environmental standards, and creating quality yarns with low carbon footprint and a reasonable price. WoolDreamers Mota is no exception. On top of all that, the yarn itself is a round, structured but fluffy yarn that comes in a fantastic range of colors on both white and grey bases. All around, it would be a fantastic sweater yarn and would also be great in mittens or a cowl you want to stand up around your neck. 

Mota is listed as a DK, but its construction is so fluffy that I’d consider it a worsted weight for gauge purposes. It has 252 yards (230m) per 100 gram ball, so on paper it’s a DK but when you knit it, the light density means those stitches are bigger than for a denser yarn. It’s also a 3-ply yarn, so it’s nice and round, and has little halo, so textured stitches (cables, moss stitch, etc.) would really pop in this yarn. 

I swatched with Mota in a warm off-white (801). The recommended needles for Mota are US 7-9 (4.5mm - 5.5mm). Knitting about a 6 inch square swatch in stockinette, I got a gauge of 14.5 stitches to 4 inches on a US 9 and 16.5 stitches to 4 inches on a US 6. Neither swatch is too loose to be a sweater, but I think I would probably choose the US 6 (16.5 stitches). You’d want to go much looser (even 12 stitches?) to use in a shawl or something similarly drapey, and even then it won’t be very drapey, so I wouldn’t actually recommend it for shawls unless you’re aiming for more body in your fabric. 

I also swatched in two-color colorwork, adding a deep sky blue (034) to the warm off-white (801). I used a US 10 and still actually got 17.5 stitches to 4 inches, which is quite a lot tighter than my stockinette swatch on a US 9. This could absolutely be me - I’m generally a tight knitter and especially so in colorwork - but it could also be that the yarn is quite compressible and really shines with a bit more room to breathe. 

One last thing to mention for our crocheters! It’s actually a Z-twist construction, so if you’ve ever had issues with knitting yarns (generally S-twist) untwisting and becoming splitty in your crochet projects, this yarn is twisted the opposite way so you’ll have no problem!

Overall, I want to knit an all-over textured sweater in this yarn, somewhere around 16-17 stitches to 4 inches gauge, even 18 in cables perhaps. Or an oversized cozy cardigan around 15 stitches gauge? Or a colorwork cowl to stand up and hug my chin? Mota would be great in any of those, has community-building and environmental bonafides, and is pretty budget friendly. When you knit it, I’d love to hear what you think!

We have two fabulous Sweater Yarn Sets available to jumpstart your Mota project! Check out Ozetta's Seaway Pullover for some light cables, or The Petite Knitter's Clairdelune sweater for some colorwork fun!

Seaway Pullover by Ozetta Knitwear

Clairdelune Sweater by The Petite Knitter