When I was offered the chance to review Nature Spun, a 100% wool from Brown Sheep Company, it seemed like a great opportunity to get started on my holiday gift knitting. It’s an affordable quality yarn that’s available in four weights and eighty colors, which means you can make a huge variety of projects while still staying within budget. Worsted weight is my favorite gift-knit weight, so I chose that in three colors: Snow, Blue Boy and Impasse Yellow. Each 100-gram ball has 245 yards, so I figured I’d have plenty to make mittens for at least the youngest niece and nephews. I started with the yellow and a very basic fingerless glove pattern.

My first thought was how easy it was to find the center-pull end! Made it quick to get started knitting. The yarn is springy and strong, making me think it’ll be nice and long-wearing for kids who do a lot of playing. After the gloves, I had enough yarn that I decided to make a hat, and I wanted to see how this yarn did with cables. Guess what: it’s PERFECT for them!

The stitch definition is fantastic, and the yarn is just sticky enough (it’s hard to find the right word; I definitely don’t mean sticky in a negative way) that you don’t worry about stitches slipping away while you’re working the cables. The yellow ball had enough yarn for a small-adult size pair of mitts plus an adult-size hat. I loved the cables in this yarn so much that for my next pair of mittens, I needed a cabled pattern. What could be better in a color called “Snow” than Snowman mittens??

I mean, come on, those are awesome, and a flash to work up, even with the minimal cabling. Again, the center-pull was quick to find, which I appreciated. Now, I will say, these mittens are for a four-year-old, and they’re white, and this yarn is hand-wash only. If I were his mom, I’d be happy to let him wear them when we go places and use washable ones for playing in snow, and just wash when needed. So I still think this yarn is good for kid-related projects, given the sturdiness, affordability, and color choices, but it would definitely be a solid choice for adult sweaters too, especially colorwork. It softens up nicely after a bath in woolwash, with no color bleed in the water.

Still, I wondered what else it would be good for, and decided I needed to try a little animal. I pulled out the blue and settled on a Bluebird of Happiness. We could all use a little extra happiness right now, I think!

Isn’t he adorable? Again, this yarn was great for a small, fiddly project like this, and again, center-pull for the win! It was easy to keep the stitches tight, and I had no issues with the stuffing showing through. He’d stand up to lot of little-kid love. Just think of all the baby animals you could make for shower gifts with this yarn — fast, cute, sturdy, and affordable. I liked him so much I made another.

The other nephew will get a pair of blue mitts, but I just might have to throw a little bluebird in the package too.

Okay, so the yarn was pretty, easy to knit with, made a variety of fun projects — what else do you need? Maybe not much, but I also like that Brown Sheep Co. is a family-owned and operated business in the U.S. They’ve recently made it easier to buy their yarns, too, by making it possible to buy directly from their website if you don’t have a store near you that stocks it. If you decide to try it, use the code BK2020 for free shipping from now until August 31, 2020!

Thanks so much to Stitchcraft Marketing and Brown Sheep Company, who sent me three skeins of Nature Spun Worsted (retail value: $33) for free. I received no other compensation for this review. All opinions and photos are my own.