Starburst by Ficio, Yarn Review

Starburst by Ficio is a 100% cotton yarn made in North Macedonia  for Lincraft stores.

  • It comes in 100g balls with 230m per ball.
  • The rrp is $10 a ball and I was fortunate enough to buy it at 40% off. 
  • A 4mm crochet hook is recommended.
  • Gauge – 10″ x 10″ equals 30 rows by 24 stitches.
  • Lincraft sells 7 different variegated colours of the Sunburst yarn..
  • The label recommends a cool hand wash and lay flat to dry.
  • The weight of the Starburst yarn is not marked on the label, but I would say it’s a dk weight judging by the meterage and the way it looks.

My Observations

I crocheted 2 swatches of the Starburst yarn, the purple in a puff stitch with a 4mm hook and the blue in single crochet with a 5mm hook. I noted the following:

  • The centre of the ball was quite easy to find.
  • Although the Starburst yarn is not labelled as a mercerised cotton, it has a lovely sheen to it.
  • It’s nice to crochet with and didn’t give me any problems, it’s definitely a bit smoother than the average cotton yarn.
  • The colours are really beautiful and I love the graded effect.
  • I crocheted the purple Starburst yarn into a potholder/trivet and It took approximately 30g yarn to make up.
  • The yarn didn’t split at all which is great!
  • The Sunburst yarn has a nice drape, which I think would be nice for clothing items.
  • The single crochet swatch curled at the corners, so with some stitches, some sort of border might prevent this or blocking might be helpful.

Washing

So, I wanted to see how the Starburst yarn held up in the dryer, so after washing on a cold gentle machine cycle, with a lower spin cycle as well, I dried the purple trivet/potholder naturally on a clothes horse and the blue single crochet swatch on a normal dryer cycle. These are the results:

  • So the blue swatch shrank quite alot in the dryer. It was 14½cm wide  x  14cm high before I washed it and 12½cm wide  after, but strangely enough the same height. That’s nearly 14% shrinkage.
  • The stitch pattern was a lot more compact, probably due to shrinkage.
  •  I feel like the yarn lost some of its sheen as well.
  • The purple swatch of the Sunburst yarn seemed to be pretty much the same before I washed it and didn’t shrink at all.