Yarns to Love
Six Fantastic Patterns for Sincere Sheep Cormo
Cormmmmmmmo. Cormo Cormo Cormo.
We are all about the Cormo these days.
What Is a Cormo?
Cormo is a relatively recent breed of sheep that originated in Tasmania.
More to our purposes, it’s a breed-specific wool that is out of this world. Springy, soft and fine.
One of the Cormo yarns we carry in the MDK Shop is Sincere Sheep Cormo in a sport weight, 400 yards to 4 ounces. (If you are a newly enlisted member of Jillian Moreno’s grist team, that’s 100 yards to the ounce. I love it when the grist math is easy!) Sincere Sheep Cormo is hand dyed by Brooke Sinnes using natural dyes that yield a subtle and vibrant palette.
As Ann and I knit with Cormo, both of us keep praising it as “cottony,” as if wool would be better if it felt more like cotton, which seems like a weird thing for a couple of wool lovers to say. But it does feel dry, light, smooth: cottony.
It’s soft, but not mushy-soft, not slippery. If that makes any sense at all. I would gladly wear Cormo right next to my delicate skin.
The other characteristic that is strong with Cormo wool is elasticity. I’ve called it springy, and boing-y, and that’s what I’m trying to get at. It’s the Tigger of yarns. It almost feels like it has a little elastic in it. Which of course it doesn’t. It comes from a sheep. Sheep do not grow elastic on their backs, even though that would be helpful to sock knitters. (Sheep breeders are probably working on this in Tasmania, as we speak.)
If any of this piques your interest, try out a hank of Cormo wool. It’s distinctive. It might be your new favorite thing. You might start yapping at people about how cottony it is.
What Can We Knit With Sincere Sheep Cormo?
For a great one-skein ticket to CormoLand, you can’t go wrong with Cecelia Campochiaro’s Swirl Hat.
Photo: Sara Remington for Modern Daily Knitting Field Guide No. 5.
You get a lot out of this hat: a chance to try Cormo, and an easy intro to sequence knitting in the round.
Julia + Sincere Sheep = BFFs
Sincere Sheep is undoubtedly a yarn muse to designer Julia Farwell-Clay. We first noticed this love affair in Julia’s article about knitting a Diebenkorn painting. It’s uncanny how in-sync the Diebenkorn and Sinnes palettes are.
Inspired by another modern artist, Julia went on to design the Sail-Away Shawl (pictured above) in Sincere Sheep Cormo sport (which then caused Ann to lose her stripe-loving mind).
The light weight of this yarn is also perfect for a warm-weather top, as Julia proved with her Timbromania design for Pom Pom Quarterly this spring.
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Photo: Amy Gwatkin for Pom Pom Quarterly.
Knitters Love This Yarn
Sincere Sheep Cormo is one of those yarns that knitters love to sub. Three brilliant cases in point:
Photo: By permission of Laparente on Ravelry.
Leigh Ann (Laparente on Ravelry) substituted Sincere Sheep Cormo Sport in bright orange for the body on her version of Camaro by Tanis Lavallee.
Photo: by permission of KnitterNinjaShar on Ravelry.
Sharlene (KnitterNinjaShar on Ravelry) used Sincere Sheep Cormo Sport for her version of Clio by Elizabeth Doherty. (Check out Sharlene’s project page to see a prolific sweater knitter at the top of her game; Sharlene is a co-host of the Yarniacs podcast.)
Cardigan + dress + jeans will always be a great look.
Another great match of Sincere Sheep Cormo is bklynmom2two’s version of Madewell by Joji Locatelli. This cardigan, in this yarn, styled exactly as Jasmine has styled it: perfection.
We’re always on the hunt for great patterns for Sincere Sheep Cormo. Feel free to shout them out in the comments!
I’ve been thinking about it for Winterfell by Katrin Schneider or Slouchy by Mari Lynn Patrick…
I just went to look at that. I love the clean lines and simplicity here’s the link for others to have a peek: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/winterfell-cardigan
Actually you’ll have to Copy and paste. I don’t know how to make it an active link. But it’s worth looking at, I promise!
It looks like MDK magicians made it a real link. Yay!
Just a FYI, I tried these links in my browser and none of the last ones go anywhere. Something not working?
Most of Joji Locatelli’s patterns work up very nicely in fingering weight Cormo. I’m about 2/3 done with a variant of Trevor using this yarn and will shortly be starting two more sweaters with Sincere Sheep. Cormo is quickly becoming my go-to yarn for pullovers and anything I want to knit at about 22 stitches over 4”. For me, it can replace Marino. It’s soft, bouncy and doesn’t pill!
this post is a feast for the eyes! what a lovely pullover and short sleeved pullover. interesting breed specific material to read later
These are lovely colors. For anyone who is still clinging on to the 1980’s Color Me Beautiful theory as I am, these are Spring colors. Clear, bright, delicate and warm-toned. I am keeping them in mind next time I knit for a Spring. But if you are lucky enough to be free of such ironclad rules (I’m afraid I have been brainwashed for life), the blues or greens especially should work for a whole lot of other people. Thanks for bringing Cormo to the forefront Kay and Ann. It’s beautiful.
Should have said PRIMARILY Spring. There is overlap.
So many wool yarns are itchy to me, even alpaca. But merino and I are great friends. How is this yarn for those of us that love wool but hate having red itchy skin and watery eyes?
Karen C.
Does SS cormo (sport or fingering) bloom a lot when wet blocked? In other words, does the yarn expand much or do the yarn strand stay pretty much the same thickness as when knit?
I’m Tasmanian and I love that this wonderful breed (Corriedale/Merino if you were wondering) has been so successfully transported to the USA. It’s not all that easy to get Cormo wool down under, unless you are friends with a sheep or two, but it’s gorgeous. Thanks for highlighting it.
I’m having a very difficult time going to my LYS because they don’t have the incredible selection of gorgeous yarns and if they do, they only have one skein in stock…oh, well