(1 Skein) Lion Brand Yarn Mandala Yarn, Troll

I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase one each of several colors of this yarn when it first came out. I wanted to buy more but apparently it is sold-out everywhere until September/October (it is now June.) Because I only had one skein, I developed a diagonal scarf pattern that, for me, shows the color changes and works for my needs. I will include that pattern in the comments at the end of this review for anyone who might want to try it. I was really happy to find that Lion Brand brought out their color change yarn in acrylic and in a size 3 weight (the other brands are currently all worsted weight 4 and at least one includes wool.) I love the drape of a sports weight 3 for clothing items. That they included 590 yards on the yarn cake is also an outstanding plus. The yarn is spun as a cake rather than a skein. That means that pulling from the center is not advisable. You can find the end and try it but eventually you will hollow out the center and have a floppy cake that cannot hold its shape. You can always ball the yarn (and be able to see and deal with any problems you come across. As I like to pull from the center of skeins and don't like to have a cake or ball spinning around on my lap while I stitch, I found and am using a yarn dispenser. There are a number available but this is the one that I found that I like best (though I had to make a small fix to it which is included in my review.) Yarn Dispenser by Yarn Valet - Non-Slip Base with Built-In Holder for Markers, Pattern and 4" Gauge Ruler The color changes are immediate – it does not slowly blend from one to the other. That would also be a beautiful style yarn and I hope Lion Brand comes out with that, too. Maybe Mandala Gradient? However, on Mandala yarn, the changes are abrupt. Personally, I like that. I have two adult daughters that I love to crochet items for. One doesn't like yellow and the other doesn't like pink. With the generous amount of yarn I get on these cakes and the abrupt changes, I can snip out the color they don't like and rejoin the yarn and continue on. I save the color I snipped out to use for the other daughter (if the colors works) or to use in my amigurumi projects. The yarn has a soft feel but has a good twist and substance considering its weight. I've used two different color skeins thus far and have not run into a knot. I fully expect to do so as even the most expensive hand-dyed yarns I own have knots in them from time to time. What I did find was that one of the yarns (Warlock) is more of a heathered yarn than the other one (Phoenix). As I have found with other heather yarn, sometimes the “heathering” is inconsistent with tiny knobs of it showing up thicker from time to time. I keep my sharp embroidery scissors handy and carefully snip off the excess heather “fuzz” when that happens. I'm looking forward to when this yarn is available in quantities once again. I am planning a variety of projects which will utilize the lovely color changes and hope that Lion Brand will come out with more color choices, including some which remain in a color family. I will add photos of the scarves that I finish as I go along and will update this review if I come across any issues.

I absolutely love this yarn!!! It's soft, and I love the multiple colors! It's become my favorite brand! I made a purse out of it! It is very stretchy yarn so it's great for shawls or beanies, I lined my purse with fabric so it would stretch so bad, this bag took a whole skein, so great amount for the price

Fun color! Great for blankets! Nice and warm.

Mandala Lion Brand is always so very nice. Gorgeous colors, and a quality budget yarn with a nice feel.

Overall, pretty happy with this yarn. This is the second time using it. I like that there was only 1 tied knot so far in the almost 600 yards. I was using another yarn that had many places where yarn was tied together with under 300 yards in that skein. I love the colors and the subtle color changes. I would give this 5 stars if the yarn was more uniform in size and softness within the skein, in some places, yarn is thinner and some colors are stiffer than other colors as it changes throughout. Would probably purchase again though, it works up nicely when making a blanket and has a nice drape to it.

Beautiful yarn very soft and easy to work with.

This made the prettiest baby blanket! It is soft and thin! Love it!

I love this yarn! The colors are beautiful and the yarn doesn’t fray. It’s easy to work with and if you can find the starter at the center of the skein, the yarn comes out nicely.

Bin sehr zufrieden mit dem Bobbel. Zum Stricken des Nipote Tuchs habe ich Nadelstärke 4 benutzt. Zwischen zwei Farben ist mindestens 1 Zwischenfarbe. Das Weiß ganz am Ende mit dem Hellblau bildet da noch knapp die Ausnahme. Das war beim erneuten Hellblau auch die einzige Stelle im ganzen Bobbel, wo zwei Enden verknotet worden sind, vermutlich, weil sich ab dort das Farbmuster dann wiederholt. Sehr angenehm, so musste ich am Ende nur den Anfangsfaden, den Endfaden und die zwei Enden der Farbwiederholung beim Hellblau verstricken und das bei so einem großen Tuch (Spannweite ca. 1,70 ungespannt)

Se teje muy bien, tiene una cantidad razonable y no es muy cara. Para un chal normal alcanza. Los colores se combinan y acomodan bien en el tejido.

This ball of yarn is enough to make a narrow long scarf. Normally I buy my yarn elsewhere but his colour was not available from my 2 main yarn shops, and was very please with it when it arrived. It is soft enough for scarves, you could buy multiple ones for a blanket - I would say about 4 for a baby blanket. it washes well but does get a bit fluffy ( I have bought this yarn in different colours before and used it and washed the final products , some of them many times. The colour transition for this mandala yarn is clunkky, no gentle changes like with the scheepjes yarn, just bang another colour, sort of like getting multiple balls of different colour yarn in one roll. it is a good DK size thread, that is easy to work with - I use the ball from the inside out ( start with the end in the middle) this keeps it from bouncing around the place. Beware - the colours are not always ( in fact rarely) as shown in the photo from the manufacturer. The colours are intrinsically the same, but the order varies all the time, for example the photo shows the inside of the ball being light cream moving to light pink, getting darker with the darkest on the edge. Mine arrived with only light pink in the middle, moving to darker, and hten the cream and some more light pink on the edge. So essentially the same yarn, but the order it comes in varies as to where on the roll it was cut for your ball. For one ball, using the whole thing, not a big issue, but if you are using more than one, well, let me tell you, it gets super annoying, you end up having to unravel half the ball, cut it, start there, and then rejoin and work backwards through the remaining yarn to keep the colour progression going through multiple balls in one project. hope this helps.

It specifically says that you get 1 pack of 3 cakes for the cost and I only received 1 cake. This is a rip off!!!! I should have received 3 cakes of yarn. I will not recommend this to anyone

Der Farbverlauf ist wirklich schön und die Wolle lässt sich gut verarbeiten. Für einen Sommer-Loop-Schal ideal. Für den Winter ein bisschen dünn, aber super weich.