joy, and taiyo

first, a reminder that tonight is open crafting night! come on in, craft the evening away, fondle yarns, drink tea, fix the world’s problems…

with spring rearing its sunny head once in a while, thoughts turn to lighter-weight knitting. tank-tops and tee-shirts have become popular knitted items in recent years. and, sure, socks are always a sure bet – even in a warm fiber, socks are small enough to work on year-round. but sometimes you want something else. something in the middle. that, i firmly believe, is why eisaku noro created taiyo. taiyo is a worsted-weight cotton-silk-wool-nylon blend that has the appearance of kureyon with a softness not often seen in noro’s yarns. it comes in a 100-gram ball, which gives you almost 220 yards of yarn to play around with.

there is also a new book to complement the taiyo. jane ellison has come up with a bunch of new patterns to highlight the new noro yarns (how does she do it?!?!!?). there are some uber-cute taiyo sweaters (that may just have to be knit by me at some point this spring), and patterns using the kureyon sock and the silk garden lite yarns.