Amano Chaski

Why you'll love it

Every so often a yarn arrives with a story worth telling, and Chaski has a lovely one. The chaskis were the messengers of the Inca empire – runners who carried word relay by relay, across hundreds of miles of mountain road. Amano named their first ever sock-weight yarn after them, and once it's in your hands you can see why. It's light, springy and built to keep going.

It's a blend of superwash merino, pima cotton and linen, and every fibre in there is doing a job. The pima cotton – the softest cotton there is – gives it a springiness and a structure that stops the fabric going limp. The merino brings the warmth and the bounce. And the linen adds a quiet crispness and strength that shows up beautifully wherever there's texture.

It's machine washable too, which for a yarn this soft is no small thing. It'll come out of the wash as lovely as it went in.

Chaski holds a stitch beautifully, so it's a joy for lace and for anything with detail in it, and it's just as happy as a light garment, a shawl or a scarf. The shades were developed with spring in mind, and they have that fresh, clear quality about them.

And a skein goes a long way – 350 metres in every 100 grams.

Specifications

Composition

60% superwash merino wool
30% Pima cotton
10% linen

Skein weight

100g

Yarn length

350m (383yds)

Yarn weight

4ply (Sock/Fingering)

Needle size

2.75mm - 3.5mm (US 2 to 4)

Care guide

Machine washable

Need More?

Need more of a colour than we have in stock? Give us a call on 02 9554 7444 and we'll do our best to help.

We can let you know when more is due in, or help you track down a close match from our range.

Yarn Weight vs Yarn Ply

"Ply" technically refers to the construction of the yarn. It's the number of strands that are twisted together to make a single piece of yarn. While "ply" historically related to the thickness (or weight) of the yarn, today's spinning technology means that the number of plies doesn't always correspond directly to the thickness of the yarn.

However, in some countries, including Australia & the UK, the numbering system of yarn ply still refers to the thickness of the yarn, so it's possible to have a single ply 4ply yarn! - this means that the yarn is constructed of a single ply, but has the traditional thickness of a 4ply sock / fingering yarn).

For more information, please refer to our Hook, Needle & Yarn Guide and our blog A Quick Guide to Yarn Weights.

Happiness Guarantee

We want you to love your new yarn! We accept returns within 90 days of your order being dispatched on stock items.

All return items must be in resaleable condition, unless it was faulty or damaged.
It must be in its original packaging and unopened.
We cannot return yarn if it has been wound from a skein into a ball.

Please see our Returns Policy for more details.

Shipping & Pickup

AUSTRALIA
FREE shipping on orders over $200
Orders under $200 – $13.50 (Standard) or $17.50 (Express)

NEW ZEALAND
FREE shipping on orders over $200
Orders under $200 – $14.95 (Standard) or $23.95 (Express)

Excludes oversized items, all amounts in AUD

INTERNATIONAL
Postage cost will be calculated at Checkout

For more details, see our Shipping Policy.

Store Pickup

We offer a Store Pickup service which you select at checkout. When your order is ready for you to pick up you will receive a notification via SMS. We hold store pick ups for 14 days.

Customer Reviews

About

Amano

Amano work with the natural fibres of Peru – alpaca from the high Andes, fine merino, linen, and Pima cotton from the coastal valleys – and spin them there too.

Pima is only about 3% of the world's cotton. It grows in the valleys of Piura and Chira, where it has been cultivated for more than five thousand years, and it's still picked by hand, which keeps the fibre free of impurities and keeps people in the valleys in work.

Amano's three stated values are sustainably sourced natural fibres, generosity for fair exchange, and respect for nature. A number of their yarns carry certification – some to the Responsible Alpaca Standard, some to the Global Organic Textile Standard – and they name which ones, yarn by yarn, rather than claiming it across the whole range.