NORO Ito 44 “Shimonoseki” - 200g - 100% Wool- Aran / 10 ply (8 wpi)

Noro Ito is a brilliant cake of their self-striping wool. With over 400yds per cake, Ito is ideal for sweaters and accessories alike! Loosely plied colors masterfully fade from one tonal shade to the next creating gorgeous colorwork in your projects. Ito is great for felting too!

Fiber Content: 100% Wool
Weight: Worsted
Gauge: 4-5 sts = 1" on 4.5mm - 5.5 mm needles
Weight/Yardage: 200g/437yds
Care: Dry Clean or hand wash and dry in shade
Country Of Origin: Japan

Colour 44 - Shimonoseki

All animal fibers used to create Noro yarns come from certified organic farms, including producers in Australia, the Falkland Islands and South Africa—the best the world has to offer. Noro himself personally maintains the integrity of the production process, visiting farms, checking the type of equipment used to spin the fiber, and monitoring the dyeing process as well.

One of the most prominent qualities of Noro yarn is its handspun, loosely processed quality. This, too, is an essential part of Noro's vision of creating yarns that remain true to their natural heritage. Keeping processing to a minimum and eschewing the use of harsh chemical treatments is critical to this vision. Friction created by agitation and heat during processing can weaken natural fibers; by shortening this process, Noro reduces the damage done to fibers and to the environment. Minimizing the amount of machine handling also preserves the original qualities of the fibers. Noro uses only one roller on the carding machine instead of the usual three, uses a shorter bed, and gently hand feeds fiber into the carder. The yarns receive less twist in the spinning process, which creates the variances in thickness along the length of the yarn.

Occasionally, those new to Noro yarns are unfamiliar with their unique texture and unprocessed hand. Don't be put off by these qualities. Variations and slight unevenness in the yarn's texture is not a mistake but rather a deliberate choice so that knitters may feel closer to nature. As Noro observes, "If we make wool yarn, we use various lengths and thicknesses of wool fiber: We want to reproduce the sheep itself in our yarn." Indeed, this willingness to embrace the imperfections and variations is a hallmark of Noro yarns. Eisaku Noro sees this as a cultural phenomenon: "From ancient times, Japanese have accepted, enjoyed and been charmed by the ununiformity, unevenness and occasionally the coarseness of nature. It may be the base of us, and not only the basic philosophy for Noro yarns."