Brazilian Yarn Style and My Lace Adventure

Have you heard anything about Brazilian yarns? I didn’t know anything about them before I got a fantastic kit of yarns from Circulo. The manufactor contacted me and asked to test their yarns and give my opinion. I was delighted by this proposal and the parcel has finally arrived to Brno. From Brazil!

I should say I am very conservative in what concerns yarns for my projects and designs. And I usually prefer to choose the same brands I have already tried because I can easily predict the result and I am always satisfied with it. I even used to have the only one hook! I could adjust the gauge for every yarn - from fingering to worsted. But I should also admit I was very intrigued to get the yarns from Brazil. I have never traveled to that part of the world and it was very exciting to see their products and their crochet style.

I mainly work with mix-wool and cotton yarn and I am on my way to design with cotton only. And I was very happy to find many samples of cotton yarn in a parcel from Brazil. I wanted to try all of the yarns at once, but before doing this I needed to order four additional hooks of different sizes. And that was also a new challenge for me as I’ve never worked with small hooks before… Ok, maybe I did… when I was a child. But I don’t remember it anyway.

Before giving you my (subjective) review of cotton line from Circulo here are some facts about this company which can be interesting for you:

• Circulo Company of Brazil was established in 1938. And by now they have a long history and huge experience in developing and manufacturing yarns.
• Circulo yarns meet the ISO 9002 Standard, they are safe for making infant's and children's products.
• They are free from the use of lead, flalats, sulphur and Azo on the the dyeing process.
• The future of Circulo is formalized in their mission: "To be a reference in fashion and decor and provide solutions that will stimulate creativity and provide satisfaction and beauty." And I can agree with it. Their web-pages look very trendy and fresh. I got a chance to look through their magazines and patterns and I really loved the dresses. Crocheted and modern!

I have been thinking of trying my skill in designing a doily and the yarn Anne from Circulo has finally given me this chance. It’s a fingering 100% Mercerised Soft Cotton yarn and I used 1.75mm hook to create my doily. I mixed beige and the color Marsala which was chosen as the color for the year 2015! What do you think?

My doily turned out to be 55 cm (22 inches) large and I am thinking of writing a pattern down. I would like to use Barroco cotton yarn in natural color to make a rug.

When I first saw these balls I became wordless for a few minutes. I was just standing and looking at them. I have never seen such big balls of yarn in all my life. And it was also great to know the yarn is pure cotton. I would like to draw your attention that each skein of Circulo yarn is individually wrapped so there is no chance it will be dusted in transit. I guess this is really important when you order yarn in light shades.

There are different lines of Barroco yarns and they also come in different yardages. The biggest balls are 700 g and 791 m. I couldn’t find the definition of weight but I guess it is a worsted yarn as 4-4.5mm hook is recommended. The yarn looks like a firm cord but it is very soft in real life. It is very pleasant and not hard at all to crochet with it. I was afraid my hand would hurt after a while but it didn’t. Just a pleasure! It is formed very well and the stitches look neat. I just can’t wait to try it on a large rug. I know for sure it will look great.

And here are two more examples from Barocco line: Barroco Decore and Barroco Soft. Both are very textured and soft mix cotton yarns. I think they will work great for knitted scarfs and cowls. But if you also check the links you will see how these yarns can be combined with "classical" and what great effects it can bring!

The Brazilian trends in home décor are very interesting. For example such table runners are used very often. They are made of flower motifs joined together. The one you see in the picture is made of Duna - Sport 100% Mercerised soft cotton yarn.

But what I liked a lot is yarn Charme. I used it to design my Macaron Pin Cushion (by the way it’s free pattern is exclusively available to all subscribers of my blog). To my great regret this Sport weight cotton yarn is produced in only 10 shades. But on the other hand it can be well combined with cotton yarns of the same weight by other producers.

And here is the thinnest cotton yarn I got. It’s called Clea. I haven’t tried it yet, because I don’t have an appropriate size of the hook. This is a thread weight yarn similar to #10 count crochet cotton and it comes in three different yardages: 125m (137 yards), 500m (547 yards), 1000m (1094 yards). The scale of shades is very wide and you can choose from solid colors and melange.

I have a few ideas on how to use these yarns. And I've already prepared a small gift for you. I will not reveal the secret but you will see it in my next post. ;-)

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