When talking about yarns, tweeds seem to call to mind a “rustic” air. But there is nothing rustic about KnitPicks’ new City Tweed HW. This new tweed offers both traditional and contemporary knitters a soft, reliable workhorse yarn suitable for a variety of projects.

Offered in 14 new colors, City Tweed HW is just as rich in person as on-screen, if not more so. The rich red I received, “Romance,” was a nice brick hue, with abundant nepps of black, brown, and tan. The nepps are well-integrated into the 2-ply yarn, unlike some other tweed yarns where they seem like an out-of-proportion afterthought, prone to detach or flake off.

City Tweed HW is also softer than other comparable tweed yarns I have worked with in the past, probably due to the superfine alpaca content. Unlike many 100% wool yarns, this would be something I could stand to have against my skin. Despite the high alpaca content (25%), the 2-ply yarn holds its shape quite well, making it a good choice for traditional tweed designs like cables and other textured stitch patterns.

As I am not the world’s best cabler, I was worried that frogging the yarn might distort or felt it, but I was relieved that this was not the case. After 2-3 frogs, it does show a tiny bit of wear, but the plies help the yarn keep its definition even after 5 or 6 unravelings (and yes, I unfortunately unraveled one swatch that many times…).

The price seems a little higher than KnitPicks’ standard price point, but not so high as to not be a good value, because of the yarn’s qualities but also the high yardage per skein. At 164 yards, the skein seems to go on forever. After 4 swatches and a neckwarmer, I still had about 5 yards of yarn left over.

In addition to the traditional aran jumpers, fishermen’s sweaters, and cabled scarves, I think City Tweed would be great for a Chanel-inspired jacket, such as Deborah Newton’s Chanel Jacket or classy clutch handbag like Janine Le Cras’ CoCo (originally from MagKnits November 2006, now available through Ravelry. Or if you want to look forward for inspiration instead of to the past, plenty of designers have incorporated tweed into their Fall/Winter 2009 designs. In addition to the tried-and-true favorites, take a look at collections by designers like Isabel Marant, Frederico Sangalli, Caroline Charles for some truly innovative tweed pieces.

 

55% Merino Wool, 25% Superfine Alpaca, 20% Donegal Tweed

164 yards/100 grams

Heavy Worsted Weight

4-4.75 sts=1” on #7-9 needles

Swatches knit on US8 needles

Color # C103 (“Romance”) lot # 3860

 

 

Editor's note: We've always loved Knit Picks here at MPMK, so I can genuinely say that this review is not more biased just because the yarn was free. And hey, if you run a yarn company and want to send us free yarn, we'll review yours too.

--Robin