knittingmag.comPascuali Filati Naturali has joined forces
with designer Melanie Berg to release
Balayage, a blend of 80% baby alpaca and
20% extra-ine organic and mulesing-free
Merino wool.
The yarn comes in 20 shades grouped
into ive colour groups. Brand owner
Paul Pascuali says: “We wanted to create
colours that provide unlimited creative
options and low harmoniously into one
another, almost as if dyed by hand.
“Melanie Berg, who is known as
Mairlynd, contributed to the development
of this yarn concept from the beginning.
We have combined her instinct for
colours and talent for creating appealing
colour worlds and our expertise in
producing high-quality and exclusive
yarns in one yarn: Balayage.”
Undyed, the yarn has a natural mottled
efect which creates soft and varied
colours. The name Balayage comes from
hairdressing, where it refers to a freehand
hair-dyeing technique that can give a
natural look and a particular gradient.
Balayage is a French word meaning to
sweep or paint.
Paul explains: “This colour gradient
principle embodies the colours of Balayage.
Groups of four colours are designed to
work together and can be combined with
shades from the other groups to achieve a
contrast.” The colours are inspired by and
named after places in Peru.
He is keen to stress the yarn’s
sustainable credentials, a key factor
in all Pascuali’s yarns. The Peruvian
alpacas whose leece goes into the yarn
MELANIE BERG AND PASCUALI TEAM UP
IN A COLOURFUL CREATIVE COMBINATION
NEWS
WE CATCH UP ON THE LATEST YARNS
are allowed to roam freely and shorn
with modern machines to keep stress
to a minimum. Working conditions
are fair and the company recycles as
much as possible in a bid to protect the
environment. “For example, the mud that
is created when the ibres are washed is
used to fertilise the pastures,” Paul says.
Melanie Berg has released two shawl
designs for the yarn: The Big Easy and
Rock My Shawl.
She says: “With Balayage, I wanted
to ofer two diferent things to knitters:
irst, freedom of choice! Our goal was to
provide you with a colour palette that’s
large, beautiful and cohesive, giving you
countless options to combine and to enjoy.
“At the same time, from teaching many
workshops on colourwork and design,
I know that for some knitters it can
sometimes feel daunting to have too many
options. So secondly, I wanted to ofer
a bit of guidance, and that’s why we’ve
made groups of colourways, each from
one colour family. That way, it’s really easy
to create a colour gradient if that’s what
you like. With Balayage, you can really go
either way: Rely on the colour groups, or
mix wildly. Everything is possible.”
Other designers creating patterns for
the new yarn include Åsa Söderman
(Asatricosa on Instagram), Viktoria Maria
Strickdesign, Julia Maria Hegenbart
(Feinmotorik) and Asita Krebs (Sidispinnt),
and patterns are available on Ravelry.
Balayage comes in 50g balls of 175m
and is recommended to knit on
3.25mm needles.Rock My ShawlThe Big EasyPERFECT DPN SETS
FROM PONY
Pony has added two sets of double-
pointed needles to its Perfect range
of pins. The needles are made from a
fusion of three natural woods, making
them strong and lexible. They are
made without any artiicial dyes or
pigments. Both sets are priced at £
and include ive sets of ive dpns: one
set includes 15mm long needles ranging
from 2.25-3.5mm while the other set is
20cm long and ranges from 2.5-4mm.MERRY STRIPES
FROM KING COLE
King Cole has released Stripe DK, a
100% acrylic yarn that comes in six self-
striping shades. The machine-washable
yarn will knit to any King Cole DK
pattern but the brand has also launched
a collection of patterns specially for
the new yarn, including garments and
accessories for women and children.HATS FOR THE HOMELESS
Knitters and crocheters turned out in
droves to craft more than 1,000 hats
for homeless people late last year. The
campaign was organised by UK Hand
Knitting, which donated the hats to
The Salvation Army in Leeds, The
Big Issue for Manchester, Leeds and
Sheield and Crisis for those in and
around London. The UKHKA hopes to
run the campaign again next winter.