I can remember several years ago at the start of my knitting obsession coming across a skein of Noro at a local yarn shop.  I do not remember which Noro line it was from.  I was enthralled by the colors but when I touched it I can not say I was thrilled by the hand.  Looking back I can put it into better perspective.  I freely admit, at that time, my fiber knowledge was limited.  My "hand" was very inexperienced when it came to various fiber types.  Up until then I had only worked with big box store acrylic yarns and did not have a pool of fiber types and quality yarns to compare to or an understanding of what various fibers feel like.  I only knew the hearsay of acrylics are soft/smooth and wools are itchy.  Fast forward several years.  This time when I picked up the Kibou I could really put a greater perspective to my past, inexperienced evaluation.  

I now know all wool yarns do not feel the same, just as all acrylics do not feel the same.  Simply because something has wool in it does not mean it is going to itch like mad.  Nor does it mean it will feel coarse.  I have a better understanding of just how important formulation is when it comes to the final hand of a fiber.  Of course that goes out of the window if you have an allergy or sensitivity to wool/animal fibers.  Fortunately, I do not have an allergy or sensitivity.  

Kibou (Pronounced:  Key-Bo) is the Japanese word for hope.  I think it was quite fitting this was the Noro yarn I picked from the group of four I was provided for review.  Visually, I was enamored with the colors and the range of the hues.  There is real artistry present in the crafting of the colorways.  The hand, I found quite pleasant.  The main fiber is cotton which really adds a beautiful lightness to the yarn.  I honestly found myself imagining all of the projects I could make with this fiber.  I was truly inspired by the possibilities and could not wait to dive in.

For the Knit Swatch:  The knit swatch was a real treat to make.  This yarn required no adjusting on my part.  It moved well, gave when I needed it to and held fast when it needed to.  I even found the variation in thickness, of which there are true extremes in this yarn, complimented each other nicely and I am generally not someone who likes my yarn to vary in thickness.  The constant shifting in color hue and striping made me only want to keep knitting more and more.  How often does that happen when you're making a swatch?  Normally it is more of "Is this swatch done yet?"  This time I had to say to myself "Ok, bind off so you can move on to the project."

For the Crochet Swatch:  I found this yarn worked equally well in the crochet swatch.  The definition the yarn provided to each stitch was lovely.  There was firmness with a really pleasant give to each of the finished stitches.  I normally find crochet stitches quite dense and this yarn really countered that well.  

When it came to the Abuse Olympics I must give Kibou kudos.  No matter how many times I ripped the little Olympics swatch apart the yarn bounced back.  After 8 frogs and virtually no hint of distortion to the yarn I did not see any point to continually knitting and undoing.  When it came to unknitting the yarn was a dream.  It came apart as easily as it went together.

Since there were no free patterns specifically for Kibou I went to www.Ravelry.com for a free pattern search.  I came across the Topographical Scarf by Kristin Hansen which I thought would be a great fit for this beautiful yarn.  A note on the pattern, it was a great easy knit.  It made really smart use of wrap and turns and the pick up rows to create a visually dynamic piece.

The more I knit with this yarn the more I felt I was knitting a Monet painting.  The play of colors within themselves and against each other showed the artistry inherent to the yarn.  I do not consider myself an artistic person when it comes to colors, yet the more I progressed in the scarf the more artistic I felt.  I began to better appreciate this brand of yarn which I had summarily written off years ago based on a single, inexperienced, 15 second experience.  There was a simplicity to working with this yarn.  Kibou moved through my fingers and around my needles effortlessly.  It did not matter whether I was using stainless steel or bamboo the yarn moved equally well.  The balance to this blend of fibers is exceptional.  I even found the contrast within the colorway incredibly interesting.  The reserved vibrancy of the hues in this particular colorway constantly drew my interest. Just when I thought a color was about to become too vibrant it transitioned away from the precipice and the same is true when the color seemed about to go too dark.  

All in all, if you have not already guessed, I enjoyed my experience with Kibou.  Considering how well the yarn worked, the visual play of the colors and the yardage (approx 297 yds) the price of $19.95 is quite reasonable.  The bang for your buck is there.  I would absolutely use this yarn again and if I found it on sale I would not hesitate to stock up enough to make myself an afghan.  Notice I said myself.  I think we have all used yarns and thought "This would be great to make myself something with."  Then we find we don't get around to it.  Not in this case.  I would absolutely make myself something with this yarn before making something for anyone else.

The visual, textural and tactile interplay when working with Kibou is a real testament to the the artistry of Noro.

Copyright William Souza 2014

When I first looked at this yarn two thoughts went through my mind.  My first, honest thought was"Ooh no it's a super bulky weight."  Bulky and Super Bulky I have a tendency to avoid because they are too thick and dense/heavy for my personal tastes.  Then I stopped and said "Open mind Bill.  Open Mind."  The second thought I had after I picked up the skein was this is INCREDIBLY light and squishy.  The density issues that I find in super bulky yarns was not there.  I was absolutely amazed with how light it was.  As I touched, squished and wound the yarn I found myself looking forward to working with it.  I loved  the color and how it conjured images squishy blue clouds.  Another thing I liked about the yarn is that it is braided so it really held form well.  By the time I was done winding it into a center pull ball by hand it really did look like I had a big ball of cotton candy that was just begging to be enjoyed.

This yarn knit up quite well.  I have to admit I did lighten up my tension when I was working with it which did lend to a little bit of guttering in the stockinette swatch.  My own fault there.  The yarn has such a nice squish-able nature to it I did not want to chance stretching the yarn and losing that lovely quality.  I do think I went a little too gentle with it on my purl side rows and it would have stood up to greater tension without any issues.  The yarn was so nice to swatch with I began imagining a myriad of used from squishy baby items to adult garments.  For someone who does not like super bulky yarns this yarn won me over.  The one detraction I found working with this yarn was that if you hit it with your needle wrong it will cause a pull that is a challenge to work back into place.  With that said it wouldn't keep me from working with the yarn again.  That's one of the reasons I do swatches; not just for gauge but to see how I need to approach a yarn for the best results.  The other positives qualities to it definitely outweigh that one single issue.  The yarn even survived the Abuse Olympics without any issues.  When it came to tinking (un-knitting) there were absolutely zero issues.  The yarn did not stick to itself in any way shape or form.  It came apart just as easily as it went together.  No fraying, breaking or distorting.  There was a little halo effect going on after knitting and ripping apart about a dozen times, which in my book to go a dozen frogs and have minimal haloing is impressive, and what little there was was nothing that couldn't be dealt with by giving the finished item a good soak.

Since this yarn did not have any patterns specifically for it my next venture was to go through the Ravelry pattern database to find something that would work for this yarn.  I really was enamored with it I wanted to find something that would really work well with one skein.  I ended up finding a patterns called Darn Knit Rasta Hat which is a free pattern.  The pattern calls for 70 to 90 yards so I figured it would do fine and it sure did.  Once I started casting on I really had a new appreciation for this yarn.  It worked so quickly and easily.  I worked the entire hat using size 15 16" stainless steel circular needles and then changed the cord to a 40" cord to magic loop the crown since I did not have any size 15 double points.  I also extended the hat by two additional rows of the last pattern repeat since it was a little short for my liking.  By the time it was done I could easily see using this yarn for adult hats and chunky sweaters.  I could also see myself using it to make a super squishy baby blanked or stuffed animal.  The colorway, stitch definition, easy of use are all excellent.  The only reservation I had for larger projects was the MSRP for this yarn of $19.95.  But if I saw the yarn on sale for $15 a skein I'd jump on it in a heart beat.

The yarn definitely needs a hand wash with a laundering product.  Once you put the yarn to soak in water for the blocking process you know it's wool.  The smell is unmistakable.  You definitely can not just wet it and forget it.  I added a little mild detergent to some cold water, gave it some gentle shakes, let it rest, went back, shook it up, let it rest, rinsed it a few times; then followed it up with a rinse with some fabric softener and it the wool smell was gone.

All in all I could easily see myself using this yarn again.  I would definitely look for a sale if I were looking to make a larger sized item.  When it comes to single skein projects buying two skeins would most likely get you two adult hats of the one above and a child size which is not bad.  When you start getting into adult size sweaters the overall investment goes up exponentially.   Despite price, Mirasol's Ushya Suya is definitely worth trying out.   Based on how well the yarn worked up, stitch definition, the fact that I actually liked working with a bulky weight yarn for once, all in all I give this yarn a four and a half stitch markers.   If this yarn was a few dollars less in price I would gladly give this yarn  five stitch marker review.  

Copyright William Souza 2014

I arrived home from my work day at the local yarn shop Wednesday and what was sitting on the side stairs waiting for me? A nice big box.  Now, I was expecting a few deliveries containing yarns from a few major distributors to do reviews on but I wasn't really expecting anything that would be coming in a big parcel.   

Imagine my surprise when this big box was from Knitting Fever!  When I sent my inquiry asking if they would be open to sending me some yarns to review on the web page and they replied they were happy to do so I was figuring I'd get four or five yarns since the website was so new.  Don't get me wrong I was truly hoping for ten to fifteen different yarns, and wishfully hoping for more, so I could have plenty of review material but I didn't want to get my hopes up.  I was not, in a million years, expecting such a big box.  I kid you not I could not get into the house fast enough to open this mystery box so I could see (and touch) the wonders it contained. When I opened the box from Knitting Fever you would have thought Publisher's Clearing House had knocked on my front door.  There were  twenty five skeins of yarns from various lines for review! 

Once I managed to get past the giddiness of so much fiber in front of me I had to see exactly what beauties I was going to get the chance work with so I could start doing my homework.  There were a few in there that I have worked with before and you will see them featured in upcoming reviews however there were also many yarns I had not gotten to use, mainly due to financial restraints preventing me from buying for the sake of trying something out.  As much as I would like to spend the funds for the light bill on new yarn the electric company always seems to threaten to turn the lights off if I do. 

I hope you are all as excited as I am about the upcoming reviews.  I definitely have my work (and fun) cut out for me in putting these yarns through their paces over the weeks to come!  The first review of these yarns will be Mirasol's Ushya Suya.