Puna by Amano

I am in love – it’s official.  I have fallen head over heels with the most delicious yarn I have had my fingers on in a long time.  The name is Puna by Amano yarns and it is a full-blooded, 100% baby alpaca beauty in DK.

Not since the wonderful alpaca yarns that Artesano used to import have I enjoyed a camelid yarn as much. Amano means ‘by hand’ and Puna means Andes mountain in Quechua, the native language of the Incas – very evocative.

There are lots of solid colour alpaca yarns around, but its the heathered or melange yarns that I really love. Inside it’s petite and restrained colour palette Puna has some amazing shades inspired by the landscape in the Andes.

When knitted the fabric has a wonderful drape but is robust enough to work well in Fair Isle so I worked up this new hat design, called Chaska (or star) in  the shades Andean Sunrise and Alpamayo.   I have included a horizontal travelling stitch to make it more fun, almost like a braid. The generous 100g hanks mean I have enough to make another with the colours reversed.  His and hers maybe?

In my reviews I do try to have a con to go with my pros, but this yarn has me stumped.  I simply don’t have a bad word to say about it and I hope you get the chance to try it soon.

You can find the Chaska pattern here.