Shropshire Swatch

This yarn came from a nice lady called Pippa. It's from her own Shropshire sheep. I want to start knitting with natural yarn, but I'm afraid this isn't the one for me. I emailed the farm and Pippa sent a sample straight away, but I couldn't get gauge. This is supposed to be double knitting, but although the number of stitches to an inch is right, it has too many rows by far. The yarn looked quite thick so I tried a tiny Aran swatch with the left over yarn, and the rows were bob on, but the stitches were too few. So, I can't use it for double knit patterns or for Aran.

Also, I have to say that I wasn't keen on the texture. it is quite fuzzy and dense, almost felted. Andy picked up my swatch and said: 'Did you wash this in hot water?'

What a shame. I wanted this to work!