Mebuki.
In Japanese, the word means bud — or sprout. The exact moment before something opens. It's a name that makes sense when you hold this yarn in your hands, because Mebuki is very much a yarn in the process of becoming something.
I've been swatching it for a week, and there are a few things I want to tell you before you cast on.
The Fiber Composition: A Study in Balance
First, the fiber. Forty percent silk, thirty percent wool, thirty percent viscose. The silk is running the show here — at nearly half the content, it's not a footnote or a marketing detail. It's the reason this yarn is as soft, luminous, and quietly special as it is.
The wool will surprise you. It surprised me for sure. It doesn't feel woolly. Until I rechecked the label, I'd have sworn it was a silk cotton blend. But silk has a way of civilizing everything it touches, and at this percentage it smooths the wool into something almost unrecognizable — present enough to give the yarn structure and memory, invisible enough that you'd never call this a wool yarn.
The viscose is doing something specific here. The raw silk Noro uses has a subtle grip, and a more texture than silk does after the sericin is removed. Viscose, on the other hand, is cool and smooth, more liquid. It enhances the silk's luster and gives it more drape, to create a fabric that I think will be wonderful to wear. Together, they produce a fabric that flows in a way that's genuinely its own thing. The wool gives these two inelastic fiber a little bounce -- just enough to keep the knitting nice and comfortable.
The Thick and Thin: Intentional Texture
Now. The thick and thin.
You'll notice it as you knit — areas where the single ply is softer, less spun, more relaxed than others. Despite what detractors will say, this is not a flaw. This is Noro being Noro. Intentional. Those sections behave differently in the fabric. They're puffier, a texture in your fabric. And the opposing fine sections? They make the fabric translucent--give it a little more drape. There's a subtle variation moving through your knitting giving the finished fabric more complexity and interest.
It's also, by the way, why I preferred slightly less sharp needles with this yarn. I found my super sharp Flight needles poked into those puffy less spun sections. But everyone is different. But try it and see what works best for you. I liked my Lykkes.
Color Shifts and Width
The colors in Mebuki shift more cleanly than some other Noro yarns. Less marling at the change for crisper transitions. At lease in the sample I had. On my narrow swatch, it was color blocks.
In my wider fabric it reads like wide stripes. At garment width, you get narrow stripes, and if you're working in the round, you almost lose the stripe. The transitions overlap. What your swatch shows you and what your finished sweater will look like are genuinely different things, which is why I always recommend thinking about how you want the colors to go and really look at what they'll do in the sweater in the construction method you're considering. Best to know this before you cast on.
The Mystery of Gauge and the Woolen Spun Bloom
Speaking of swatching — I always run up against this with Noro, and it's very confusing.
Mebuki recommends a US 6 (4mm). If you're swatching and thinking that looks loose, you're right. It does look loose. And then you block it.
Here's what's happening. Mebuki, like almost all Noro yarn, is woolen spun. As we've talked about, for worsted spun yarn, the fibers are combed in a single direction and spun in a way to maintain that orientation. For a woolen spun yarn, the fibers are not combed but simply carded and then spun. The fibers go in every direction. They're full of air. And full of potential. When you put block your fabric, the fibers absorb the water, relax, and open up, or bloom outward into all the space between them. The fabric gets fuller and plushier.
What looks almost sparse on your needles becomes a completely different fabric after blocking. You are knitting toward something that doesn't exist yet. This is why the gauge recommendation isn't a loose suggestion — it's accounting for what this yarn actually becomes in the finishing. You can knit it tighter, but, as always, try it and see.
When's Mebuki coming???
The good news is that he giant boxes of Mebuki are here now. I'm shocked to have already sold a bunch before this blog post. It went on line, and boom. We even sent some to Latvia!
The Magazine is here, and the trunk show arrives a bit before May 18th and runs through May 31st. As soon as it arrives we open the box and paw through garments and try them all on. I love this totally unguarded first impression. That will be the video for the week of May 21st.
If you're a try it on quietly kind of girl, I get it--come see the show any time. But if you want to be in the video, let me know. It's going to be loads of fun!
Would love to see you either way.
~Ellen