A Tale of Two Yarns

My absolute favourite yarn is Noro. Noro Kureyon, Noro Silk Garden, Noro Sock... any Noro at all! I love the colours and colour changes in each skein, you never know what you are going to get!
silk garden CU

Some people think that the yarn is rough. Well, it certainly isn't soft. And it can break easily. Sometimes there is a knot tying together two completely random colours. And sometimes there is just one ugly or weird colour among other gorgeous colours. But all of these faults is part of Noro's charm!

I've used it in quite a few different projects: socks, the booga bag, Rosedale sweater (99% completed, just need to put in the zipper, doh!) and a scarf. I just love knitting with it!

There hasn't really been a yarn that I've hated. Most yarn has a purpose, or a use somewhere, and it is up to us to find out how it would best be used. Sometimes the project we have in mind isn't right for the yarn, but there is something out there that is. Even cheapy acrylic looks good in afghans!

The only yarn I have sad feelings toward is this Rowan Summer Tweed:
Summer tweed

I received it in a swap and absolutely loved it. Loved the colours, loved the feel and texture (it is a silk/cotton mix) but could just not find a project for it. I did a few swatches, but nothing was quite right. This was in the days before Ravelry, maybe now I would find something (actually I daren't look!). Anyway, in the end, after holding onto it for a few years, I moved from England to Australia, and I gave it to one of the girls in my knitting group (I gave away a lot of my small stash, just couldn't justify sending across to the other side of the world).  I hope she made something beautiful with it.

7 comments:

Chrissy said...

I have the same problem with Summer Tweed. I knit a whole tunic and it was AWFUL. Admittedly it was my first time knitting continental style and I did design the tunic myself and my gauge varied so wildly it came out huge. I do have hopes that one day I will frog said awful tunic and try again, cos it is lovely stuff.

josiekitten said...

Ha! I posted about Noro being the yarn I want to love, but can't quite!!

Anonymous said...

I chose Noro, too, for one of my faves :-)

It's so nice to find so many blogs through blog week.

Alexandra said...

Those are both yarns that I want to try! I love the Noro colors and I love how Summer Tweed looks.

Stefanie said...

I like how you stand by your Noro and smart idea about giving that Rowan Tweed away to someone who'll make better use of it so money's not wasted. I haven't used Noro but the colors are awesome. It's a bit rough for me.

pdxknitterati/MicheleLB said...

Noro: a love/hate relationship! I love the colors, but not the feel, and not the sudden "oops, ran out of yarn, tied on a new piece in a completely different part of the color sequence!" But it's so pretty, we're willing to put up with a lot.

keri said...

I do love Noro. It's so much fun.