What We Love About Moonglow

What We Love About Moonglow

Moonglow is one of our newer yarns, introduced at the beginning of 2020. It's a laceweight blend of fine kid mohair and silk. The silk is strong and shiny, holding the floaty mohair fibers in to create a beautiful halo.

Mohair comes from the long, silky, lustrous fleece of the angora goat. This fiber has an undeserved reputation for being difficult; it's often considered "sticky", itchy, and tough to use. While that may be true we think it's more of an unsung hero among fibers. It takes color beautifully, has a nice natural shine, and because this yarn uses kid mohair, it is considerably softer than some mohair yarns that you may have used in the past.

Four cylindrical yarn cakes of mohair-silk blend yarn, in red, purple, green, and yellow

 

Pattern Suggestions for Moonglow

When you think of mohair-silk laceweight, shawls are the first type of project that come to mind. The yarn is delicate and when knit in a lace pattern, it looks so ethereal. My Softer Side (by Jennifer Weissman) and Churchmouse Yarns' Mohair Bias Loop, and 100 Diamonds (from Sachiko Uemura) all bring out the 'floaty' quality of this yarn. Similarly, sweaters knit solely in Moonglow such as the Polly Pullover (Strikdet Sofie Bovbjerg) or the Pangea Cardigan (Elisabeth F. Parker) look as though they might just float away!

A woman is wearing a white t-shirt topped with a handknit lace shawl in very light blue around her shoulders.

 a woman is wearing a sheer handknit shawl around her shoulders.A woman is standing with her back to the camera. She's wearing a white button up shirt and is holding a handknit lace shawl across her shoulders.

(top to bottom: My Softer Side; Mohair Bias Loop, 100 Diamonds)
a handknit striped sweater is hanging on a hanger in front of a white door. A woman is leaning against a light colored wall, wearing a sheer handknit mohair knee-length cardigan
(top to bottom: Polly Pullover, Pangea Cardigan)

 

But we really think the magic happens when you combine Moonglow with another yarn. Doing so adds a slight halo to what may be a plumper or more defined yarn. It's also an easy way to add a hint of color, some warmth, or even increase the gauge of skinnier yarns. Mohair + another yarn seem to be on trend this fall, as evidenced by the sheer number of newly launched projects.  

Designers are using mohair by either alternating it with a second yarn or holding the two yarns together. Autumn Mist (from Lisa K. Ross in our Fall 2020 collection) does the former--alternating bands of Moonglow with a Yummy 2-Ply Gradient Set. The Moonglow adds a halo, and the Yummy 2-Ply Toes give the entire project some weight and drape. Likewise, the Hampton Avenue cowl (Adventure Du Jour Designs) uses a beautiful sock yarn to anchor the Moonglow around your neck.  

A woman is standing with her hands on her hips, wearing a handknit shawl in varying shades of blue/green.
(top to bottom: Autumn Mist, Hampton Avenue

 

Arguably though, one of the best uses of Moonglow is to hold it double with another light weight yarn which results typically a worsted or aran weight gauge (and quicker project).  Some of our favorite accessories using this technique are Col Dunes (Emilie Luis), Pillowy Cowl (Jennifer Krause), and Bonjour Hi (Espace Tricot).  

a woman wearing a white handknit fuzzy lace cowl

a woman wearing a red and purple marled cowl. She is holding the neck of the cowl up over the side of her face.

a red handknit poncho with a high turtleneck

(top to bottom: Col Dunes, Pillowy Cowl, Bonjour Hi)

 

This technique works particularly nicely for sweaters as well.  Take a peek at Love Note (Tin Can Knits), Magnolia Chunky Cardigan (Camilla Vad), and Calliope (Espace Tricot)--each combines one strand of mohair with either a lace or dk weight wool, but is knit at a much chunkier gauge.  You'll have your sweater done in no time! 

a tawny colored chunky cardigan with lace detail around the sweater body is hanging on a hanger in front of a white door.
a peach colored sweater with a textured yoke is hanging in front of a white backdrop
(top to bottom: Love Note, Magnolia Chunky Cardigan, Calliope)

 

Staff Projects in Moonglow

Babs played with color and stripes in her Space Elevator scarf, knit in three colorways of Moonglow. It's a free pattern!

Veronica liked her first Love Note so much that she's working on a second one - just the sleeves to go now!

A fuzzy purple sweater in progress hangs on the wall. The body is done but it's missing the sleeves.

Helen has designed a beautiful heirloom lace stole in Moonglow (pattern coming soon!)

Jennifer is also weaving with Moonglow, using it to add texture. The warp is Yummy 2-Ply in Rock Sparrow, and the weft is Pegasus Moonglow.

Partially completed weaving on a rigid heddle loom with cream and brown yarns 

We've compiled a bundle of projects on Ravelry as well as a selection of projects in our Project Gallery that would work beautifully with Moonglow and any of our other yarns, and we hope to see your Moonglow makes soon! 

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