Alegria Grande

With the same easy-care blend of super-soft superwash Merino and polyamide as the tremendously popular Alegria, Alegria Grande is a workhorse worsted weight yarn. It's perfect for bright, beautiful, durable knits of all kinds: baby blankets, kids' sweaters, thick winter socks, colorful scarves... the only limit is your imagination.

All of Manos del Uruguay yarns are hand dyed. The artisans use big kettles heated by wood-fueled boilers, dyeing in small batches creating wonderful colors. The colors of Manos yarns are bright and wild, full of nuances and variations. No two skeins are the same, each one is unique, a testimony of a particular moment.

Due to the small batch hand-dyed process, there may be differences in colors between skeins. Order enough yarn for your project for a better likelihood that skeins will match. Alternate skeins where needed.

All Manos del Uruguay yarns are mulesing-free.

Our notes

After making a few of our own projects with this yarn, here's what we've found:

Deliciously squishy: This is one of those yarns where we just couldn't stop squeezing the skeins once they came into the shop. So squishy, so soft, such vibrant colors... and the swatches we made felt just as nice in the hand.

Good stitch definition: Stitches are crisp and clear with every craft we used to swatch Alegria Grande, even on both legs of each knit stitch (if you know, you know).

Not splitty: Alegria Grande was far less splitty than expected, even with a long tail cast-on. It's friendly to both knitting needles and crochet hooks, and has enough twist to keep itself together for most stitches and techniques.

A bit slippery: Like most superwash yarns, this is on the slippery side. Expect garments to grow significantly when wet; toss them in the dryer to shrink them back up, or knit at a tighter gauge to reduce stretch. Always wash and block your swatch the way you plan to care for the finished garment.

Less elastic and bouncy than Sami: Sami is another fantastic superwash yarn from Manos del Uruguay, with far more elasticity and drape in the finished fabric. Alegria Grande will give you a denser, sturdier fabric.

Swatch details

All swatches were wet blocked before measuring.

Knit

• Colors: Caterpillar, Oasis
• Swatcher: August
• Needles: 5.0mm (US 8)
• Stitch: Stockinette with a garter stitch border
• Gauge: 

Crochet

• Colors: Caterpillar, Oasis
• Swatcher: Jaden
• Hook: 
• Stitch: Half double crochet
• Gauge: 

Weave

• Colors: Caterpillar, Oasis
• Swatcher: Stephanie
• Sett: 8 ends per inch
  
• Structure: Plain weave
• Warp: Size 10 crochet cotton