Vegan Yarn Review: Fibra Natura Sea Song

Sea Song is a soft, worsted weight natural fibre yarn consisting of 80% Pima cotton and 20% SeaCell®, a fibre derived from seaweed. The manufacturers make some claims about SeaCell which I find hard to believe, for example:

the structure of SeaCell® facilitates the active exchange of substances between the fiber and the skin – nutrients such as calcium, magnesium and vitamin E are released by the natural body moisture when the fiber is worn, thereby creating a complete sense of well-being.
—Smartfiber AG website

However, even if these claims are overblown the fact remains that adding SeaCell to cotton results in a very soft, comfortable yarn—noticeably softer than 100% cotton.

Sea Song comes in seven solid colours and eight variegated colours. The knitted sample above is in Sea Color, a variegated periwinkle blue/light jade green. I liked the fact that it is not too contrasty; I find that sometimes high contrast variegated yarns create a bold pattern which distracts from the lines of the garment. However some of the other variegated colours, like Spring, which is periwinkle blue, chartreuse, and dark green, are more contrasty if that is what you prefer.

Knitted up, Sea Song produces a soft, lightweight fabric ideal for summer clothing. I did have to take some care to prevent splitting while I was working, but I gather this is par for the course with multi-stranded cotton yarns. The yarn has a matte look.

Sea Song is made in Turkey. The manufacturer recommends hand-washing. In Toronto, you can buy it at the Purple Purl

How to crochet a lace head-scarf

I just learned to crochet and discovered it is surprisingly easy to create a fancy-looking piece such as this—and cheap too: this head covering used only a tiny fraction of a $7 ball of Circulo Cléa crochet cotton, which I bought at Mary Maxim at Yonge and Eglinton.

Here's how you can design your own.

1. Measure over your head from ear to ear to determine the width of your scarf.
   
2. Work up a swatch of filet crochet to determine your guage. I did 4DC filet mesh with a 2.5 mm hook (although after I was well into the project I realized that the Cléa label says to use a 1.25 mm hook; I was so distracted by the Portuguese labelling that I didn't notice that in the store and just guessed what size to use.)
   
3. Figure out how many squares across you should make to get a scarf of the correct size. Choose the nearest odd number.
   
4. On graph paper, work out a design. Mine (49 squares across) is shown at the right. Click to see a larger version. (I see that in drawing it on Adobe Illustrator I made a mistake, but you get the idea. If you have a larger head or smaller squares you could make a more interesting pattern.)
   
5. For a scarf x squares wide, work a foundation chain of 3x + 1 (for 4DC filet mesh) or 2x + 1 (for 3DC filet mesh).
   
6. Crochet following the chart you made. End off.
   
7. Starting at one of the "side" corners, work the lace edging of your choice around the two short edges. I used the free pattern provided on the Cléa label, shown at left (click to enlarge). End off.
   
8. For the ties, crochet two chains the desired length (mine are about 30 cm) and slip stitch to the side corners of the scarf. Then work a row of double crochet starting at the end of one tie, across the tie, across the scarf, and across the other tie. End off. Work in all ends.