I've been having a lot of fun with this kit, and at the same time I can only give it 4 stars because of the yarn. I love merino yarn, it's always a delight to work with. However the yarn supplied for this project is actually merino roving, not merino yarn. For people who aren't experienced with yarn crafts yet, roving is the wool (or other fiber) before it gets spun and twisted into a yarn that we work with. Roving is a lot weaker because the fibres haven't been given the strength that twisting provides (fun science fact, by twisting threads together to create rope, you increase the tensile strength by at least 300%. So roving is spun into yarn to make it super strong and durable). Roving is still a great product, but it means you need to twist while you work to give it some strength, then let it relax after it's been knitted together to get the perfect relaxed look. If you don't twist while you go, you're potentially going to have it pull apart while you knot. Also, because it's roving, your jumper is more likely to felt together much faster than yarn felts.
Is roving worse than yarn? Not really, it's just a bit less durable. I would wager that roving is used here because for the total length gained it's much cheaper. Spinning roving into yarn compresses it, so you need a lot more to reach the same thickness. I don't begrudge the company if that's the case, I would have just appreciated a note somewhere on the kit listing that the chunky merino is roving, not yarn. It's a…
