Rowan Felted Tweed is 24 years old

The first collection in Rowan Magazine 74 is My Way, a celebration of the 24th birthday of their most popular core yarn, Rowan Felted Tweed

Wait, what??   24 years?  

Most yarn companies turn their line over every few years.  With very few exceptions, the yarns in a line will be gone in a few seasons.  Rowan is different in that they maintain a range of core yarns that their customers have come to know and love - and expect to see – all the time.  

But even for a company like Rowan, 24 years is a long time to keep a yarn around.  What is it about Felted Tweed that gives it this kind of staying power?  

Let’s look at what makes Felted Tweed so special and beloved that it has earned its place in the Rowan line year after year for nearly a quarter of a century.

Let’s talk Felted Tweed Texture

Felted Tweed has an interesting texture created by lightly felting the wool and alpaca fiber together and tossing in a handful of tweed bits. The alpaca makes it soft to the touch, and the wool gives it structure.  Felted Tweed creates a beautifully textured fabric that is both rustic and refined with a depth and sophistication no other yarn can create.  

The subtle colors in each skein 

Unlike the flat or overly bright colors you may find in some yarns, Felted Tweed offers a blend of hues within each skein.  It’s subtle without being boring and interesting without being showy. You have to look closely to see the different colors - at a distance they just create a wonderfully blended color that creates visually rich fabric. It’s like having a painter's palette but in yarn form.  You feel like an artist even if you’re only using one color. 

The Felted Tweed Palette is amazing

Speaking of the palette, the range of colors offered by Rowan in their Felted Tweed line is both expansive and refined. There are currently 56 different colors of Felted Tweed, not including the popular Felted Tweed Colours.  Just within the solids, there are rich earthy tones, wearable neutrals, and more vibrant shades for that perfect pop of color.  Some of the colors are similar, but this wide selection lets you get exactly the right version of the color you need to bring your vision to life. 

Felted Tweed is perfect for colorwork

Felted Tweed is the perfect yarn for colorwork projects. The wide range of  nuanced colors effortlessly blend into each other, creating seamless transitions and beautiful gradients. Its texture makes the strands cling to each other a bit, so you have this wonderfully cohesive fabric in which the colors mingle like flowers in a garden.  Whether you're working on Fair Isle, intarsia, or simply striping colors, Felted Tweed makes it fun. 

Felted Tweed can be almost any gauge

One of the most practical aspects of Felted Tweed is its ability to be exactly the gauge you need it to be.  I have swatched this yarn at a gauge of 20 stitches to 4 inches all the way to 26 stitches per 4 inches.  While the texture is different at these gauges, after blocking, it blooms into a fabric that is lovely and cohesive at both ends of the gauge spectrum. Felted Tweed is great on its own, but it has a friend that it plays especially well with, and that is Kidsilk Haze.  I don’t know exactly why, but the combination is magical.  They are just perfect together creating a cozy fabric with a soft halo that begs to be touched.  

Great Yardage and light weight

Felted Tweed has great yardage - nearly 200 yards per skein. I wouldn’t call Felted Tweed a budget yarn but it kinda is. I want to point out that those nearly 200 yards only weigh 50 g. A full sized cabled sweater would still be super light to wear. It would weigh less than a pound.  That’s why it’s so perfect from fall through spring.  Warmth without bulk or weight.  

Felted Tweed is durable

Last but not least, this yarn is built to last. While Felted Tweed creates a delicate and sophisticated fabric, that fabric does not pill. I think it must be in the construction and the felting of those fibers together, but whatever the reason, things made from Felted Tweed will stand the test of time. Your projects will look great for years.

So, I am thrilled to see so many designs for Rowan Felted Tweed in Magazine 74.  What about you? 

Have you used Felted Tweed?  Are you curious?  What would you knit with Felted Tweed? Tell me in the comments.