I know, I know…alert the press. I found a Noro yarn I dislike. Not earth-shattering for most, but surprising for me.

A Noro Yarn I Dislike – Kureopatura

There, I’ve said it.

One of my favorite things about Noro yarns is that there are a lot of people who don’t like it and so it shows up in clearance at yarn stores a lot. And I have to admit, there are some issues with it:

1. Knots – I would estimate at least one out of every 3 balls of Noro yarn has a knot in it. Way more than most yarns.
2. Abrupt Color Change Knots – With yarns with long color striping, many of the knots have an abrupt color change that looks terrible in the resulting knitting fabric.
3. Barnyard Debris – Some Noro yarns have quite a bit of hay, burrs and or other vegetation in it. I often have to pick out quite a bit of it from yarns like Kureyon.
4. Inconsistent Yarn Thickness – I can’t think of one Noro yarn that is known for its uniformity of thickness. Many of their yarns are thick then thin, have over-twist or have big slubs of fiber.
5. Tensile Weakness – Some of their yarns are loosely spun and activities like casting on or sewing up using the yarn can unply it enough to have it pull apart.

Despite all these flaws, I love Noro yarns. Their interesting, unique and (I think) beautiful colorways make up for all of the flaws. Usually.

Failed Noro Project

I have had the large ball of Noro Kureopatora in the feature photo in my stash for a long time. I think it might be colorway 1024.

Over the years, I have attempted to use this yarn. At least twice in the past, I have ripped out items I didn’t like using it. Recently, I made this hat

I worked in single-helical stripes with one strand of the Kureopatora and one strand of black Woolease. It came out okay. I honestly wasn’t thrilled with the color progression of Kureopatora and the stripiness of it. I had hoped it would blend better. But the smoothness of the Woolease yarn along with the slubby unevenness of the Noro yarn didn’t really work that well together. But it was acceptable.

So I decided to try using it to make a two-color thermal crochet beanie. One half of the hat was to be Kureopatora from the inside of the ball the other half from the outside.

What a shit-show. I hated the color composition. I hated the join between color sections. And most of all, I hated working thermal crochet using this yarn.

I will be ripping this out and giving my Noro yarn a stern talking-to before putting it away to try with something else.

Current Knitting

Given how much work I put into the failed project, I didn’t quite finish my current Melt the ICE hat.

Once I get past the ribbing, it’s all easy after that. So I will finish this up quickly.

Believe it or not, I will probably pick up my last ball of Noro Kureyon to start another hat. I still love Noro.