Bamboo

Fleuris is a beautiful yarn created by Louisa Harding in a gorgeous blend of 70% bamboo and 30% wool. This combination has been spun into a chunky yarn that is shiny, drapey and fluid with a lovely twist for great stitch definition. There are lots of rich, warm colours plus faded shades for a dramatic contrast. Louisa has created a fabulous collection of designs using Fleuris, and its sister yarn Aimee, called Chinoiserie. The designs are super-stylish with an oriental twist taking inspiration from motifs and shapes seen throughout the Far East. Knit a tension square first if you'd like to knit this yarn to other chunky patterns.

Flirt is a fabulous new double knitting yarn by Sirdar, which to the keen-eyed amongst you is identical to Baby Bamboo. It has the same lovely blend of 80% bamboo and 20% wool creating a soft, gleaming yarn. The shades are deep, rich and bright shades along with some gorgeous metallic and shimmering colours. The designs within the pattern booklet are sophisticated and glamorous creating a gorgeous collection of designs. Why not mix and match Flirt with Baby Bamboo - it's exactly the same yarn, so a great opportunity to play around with colour combinations.

The success of the Mirasol Project has lead to three gorgeous new fairly traded yarns being added to the range and Q'ina is one. It is a beautiful aran weight knitting yarn spun from a gorgeous combination of 80% baby alpaca and 20% bamboo. The range of colours is small, but perfectly formed in soft, dusky tones. Knit to most aran patterns, but knit a tension square first or choose from the lovely patterns within the Mirasol Pattern books. Each season new colours are added as current shades are discontinued - these are marked with **.

Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo in my humble opinion is not a very good name for this gorgeous yarn. Babies love the soft feel and gentle lustre, but so do us grown-ups! It's a DK, spun from 80% bamboo and 20% wool making it perfect as a summery yarn to knit into tops and wraps, with the wool providing that bit of warmth on a chilly evening. It has a lovely drape and a lustre similar to that of a mercerised cotton. The range of colours is ever-increasing to now include rich, bright shades that would suit all the family.