New Yarns and Books!

Forgive me, please. I was just gazing out our windows at the view and breathed a deep sigh of, Ahhhhhhh! It's Sunday! When I suddenly realized that I hadn't posted yesterday as planned. So I'll be back again in a couple of days with another post...

In the meantime, I want to tell you about some new yarns at Kiwi! I love it when new yarns come in, it is such a pleasure to pet them all and ooh and ahh over the colors and textures. This yarn caught my eye right away as I went past it, and now of course in the back of my mind I am cooking up a pot of 'What can I do with that?' I know something will come out the other side, but not sure what it is just yet. That is half of the fun!

This new yarn is from Noro, as you may have already guessed by looking at it, and is called Furisode. The colors are as rich and as saturated as you would expect from Noro, beautiful blends that really look gorgeous! The fiber content is 45% silk, 40% cotton, and 15% wool. At 100 grams per skein it measures out at approximately 163.5 yds.





Also from Noro, we have Taiyo. Think of a cotton version of Kureyon or Silk Garden. The fiber content is 40% cotton, 30% silk, 15% wool and 15% nylon. The yardage is 218. As you can see, we have a whole bouquet of colors and they are really lovely.

Kiwi also has a book of patterns for the new Noro yarns, called Flowers. There are some gorgeous sweater patterns worked in different directions to show off Noro's characteristic long color changes and subtle transitions.



And lest you crocheters think that you are forgotten, Lynn has also gotten in a beautiful crochet cotton called Garden from Nazli Gelin. The colors are wonderful, very lush and lustrous. The fiber content of this yarn is 100% Giza cotton, and the yardage per ball is 306.2 yards per 50 grams. There is also a beautiful book of crochet patterns that goes with this yarn. The book (as well as the yarn) has been flying out of the shop, and as of Friday afternoon Lynn had one book left in stock, but I know she is planning to order more asap.



It occurred to me back there as I was figuring yardage for the Noro yarns, that a number of you might be scratching your collective heads and wondering why Noro comes up with such odd yardage numbers. Noro, like many non-American yarn companies, measure their yarns in meters rather than in yards. How can you know what kind of yardage to expect to get from a ball of yarn when only the meterage is noted on the ball band, and your pattern calls for yards, or vice versa? There is a very simple formula for that, and in these days when we all carry cell phones, and our phones can do everything short of packing our lunch, it is easy to whip out your phone and turn on the calculator function. To convert meters to yards, simply multiply meters by 1.09 to get your yardage. Therefore, Noro Furisode's 150 meters comes out to be 163.5 yards.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Mine is just starting...