Remembering Eisaku Noro

Eisaku Noro, the creator and founder of Noro Yarns, has died. Noro was immensely creative and developed his namesake yarns with luscious color combinations that are often imitated but it’s still possible to pick out a garment made with Noro yarns from a crowd.

An announcement posted on Knitting Fever’s Facebook page said:

With regard to quality or artistic expression, Noro-san did not compromise. This was reflected in all he did, from the unique, eco-friendly and painstaking production methods, to the thoughtful selection of fibers from farms where animal stock is treated humanely. Noro’s vision for creating yarns was that they should inspire joy while remaining true to their natural heritage.

Knitting Fever has distributed Noro yarns since the 1980s. The post described him as “tall, regal, with a sense of humor and full of passion, here was a true artist who painted with fibers to create yarns unlike any on the market at the time.”

Noro’s eye for color and texture has inspired countless knitwear and crochet designers, including me. When I was working on my book Colorwork Knitting I knew it was time to finally knit a sweater that had been on my mind for years. Shown above, it’s called the Color Belt Sweater in the book, and is worked starting with the linen stitch waistband, then the bodice is knit onto one side and the bottom of the sweater on the other. I knew Noro Silk Garden was the only yarn to bring this vision to life and it remains one of my favorite sweaters (you can check it out on Ravelry.)

Noro’s creative spirit lives on in his company, which is in the good hands of his son, Takuo Noro.

A few years ago I wrote a post that was full of patterns for knit mushrooms, but I don’t think I ever did a post that was knitting patterns with mushrooms on them, so today’s the day.

I love the Fungi Beanie from Jacki Bean, which calls for worsted weight yarn and uses duplicate stitch to add the mushrooms and other details. I think the colors she used for the design are tonal/multicolor so it doesn’t use as many colors as it looks like, but you can use whatever red, green, brown and white yarn you have in your stash for those details.

How about some mushroom socks? The Magic Toadstool sock form Stone Knits includes a ring of mushrooms around the leg, contrasting heel and toe and a little more colorwork at the toe for extra cuteness. As shown it uses four colors and comes in three sizes.

Or there’s the Fairy Ring Socks from Katie Green, which have mushrooms of two sizes on the legs, plus a bit of wavy grass. They have a contrasting cuff, heel and toe and some colorwork flecks in the body of the sock as well. This one is available in eight sizes to fit everyone from a baby to an XL adult.

This trippy cowl from Hunt Hand Knits looks like a lot of fun to knit. The Fungus Among Us Cowl is shown using four colors of DK weight yarn, though you can do it with as few as two if you’d rather.

Stitch some mushroom mittens with this cute pattern from Holly C Watson. This design uses three colors, and it’s shown with a self-striping yarn on the mushroom caps, which makes the colors change without you having to do any work. The pattern is charted but it’s a pretty easy repeat. The mittens are one size.

If you don’t feel like knitting mushrooms but still want to give your project a touch of the forest, the Toadstools Cardigan from Julie Taylor may be what you’re looking for. It’s stitched as a plain cardigan worked in DK weight yarn and sized for newborns up to 4 years old. The mushrooms are added with embroidery and the pattern includes the design, which you can trace onto water soluble stabilizer to stitch the mushrooms onto your sweater. Or anything else you want. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

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