Some customers have been slightly worried because the Appletons wools look thicker than the DMC wools they are replacing, so we have knitted up samples in each wool to show there is no real difference. It appears the Appletons wools are thicker because the wool is not as tightly spun as the DMC wool.
The photo shows a sock knitted with Appletons wool on the left and one knitted with DMC wool on the right. As you can see in the photo below there is hardly any difference between them.
When Frances was knitting these she did not find any differences working with the two wools. Both wools were originally designed to be used for crewel needlework so needed to be strong enough to pull through linen or canvas, this makes them ideal to knit with as they are strong enough to use for complicated Aran jumpers in 1:12th scale. Both brands of wool are mothproofed (unless they are washed) so can be put on display in a dolls house without the worry of moth larvae eating their way through hours of work!
As we mentioned in an earlier newsletter there are over 400 colours in the Appletons range compared to about 100 in the DMC range. We have already stocked some new colours from Appletons and these are selling well.
We would be interested to hear comments from our customers as to whether they have noticed any differences working with the two wools.