Do you love tweed like I do? Really? Cause I am immediately drawn to it in the stores. All those little flecks of color, the rustic look of the yarn. There's simply nothing else like it. But I don't actually knit with a lot of tweed. It's too often scratchy and the flecks and texture tend to overwhelm any interesting patterning. Take the babycable vintage cardigan I'm working on right now. I originally started the sweater in another yarn, a tweed. Because... I love tweed. I had some Rowan felted tweed in my stash that has been long awaiting a perfect project. I thought I'd found it.

compare this with the silky wool

Love the yarn, but not in this pattern. You can't see the little baby cables at all. Drat! I ended up choosing Lavold Silky Wool because it had a similar character - rustic with slubs of color - but was more truly a solid and therefore better able to show off the details of the sweater. And so the felted tweed went back into the stash.

What's got me thinking about tweed is Nancy Thomas' new book, Tweed: More Than 20 Contemporary Designs to Knit.

I was so excited when I heard about this book. I loved the look of it. I was fascinated by the idea of it. I couldn't wait to get my hands in it. (Is this sounding familiar?) But I think what I was expecting was something like Clara Parkes' The Knitter's Book of Yarn just all about tweed yarns. Oh, how we've been spoiled by Clara's book! It's incredibly informative, it's interesting and practical, and the patterns are great. I can't decide if the Tweed book just pales a little in comparison or if, perhaps, I don't, in fact, like tweed as much as I thought I do. I could almost sense it right as I sat down and started in with the book; this is what happens to me with tweed yarn. I can't keep myself away from it in the yarn store, but when I sit down to knit with it, I end up wanting it to be less tweedy and more like some cashmerino yarn that's always perfectly smooth and lovely.

The Tweed book begins well, with an opening chapter on the history of tweed yarns, where we learn that "the formation of tweed...is a story about woven fabric, not knit fabric." Interesting. There's a description of the rustic, homespun fabrics originally made in the countrysides of the British Isles and worn to resist the harsh weather. Thomas explains that so-called "tweed" yarn was spun for these fabrics but eventually took the name itself. And the flecks, we discover in a blurb accompanying a photograph, were first created by accident! This is a nice little introduction, but it's over in a page. The end. Wait, I want to hear more! But Thomas moves on to briefly describe how the wool is made and how to handle it. If you've read The Knitter's Book of Yarn, there won't be anything new here, except maybe a nice page on felting, something that would be done with tweed yarns more than other yarns. Funnily enough, just when I started to get annoyed about not hearing more about the history or the production process, another beautiful picture of gorgeous tweeds would always appear. Drool. What were you saying?

Next, Thomas gives us a chapter full of stitch patterns to use with tweed yarn or to produce a tweedy effect. Even she seems to agree that tweed is a difficult animal. She includes several tips for working with tweed to keep it from getting too stiff or hiding your stitch patterns or getting out of shape. Finally, here, we get the full story of the nepps or flecks so typical of tweed yarns. And then we get to the patterns. Lots of tweedy patterns, just like you'd expect.

stunning scarves

big, textured sweaters

and some stylish tweed as well

There's some standard patterns thrown in amongst the rest just like there's some disjointed info thrown in amongst the rest in the beginning. I think what it comes down to is that if you really like Tweed (real tweed), you're probably a pretty traditional knitter and you'll find plenty of patterns here to suit you. I'm realizing that I tend to go in for the newer breed of tweeds, those that are blends with sophisticated color choices: Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweeds, Rowan felted tweed, Jaeger's luxury tweed. Maybe they're faux tweeds. Nancy Thomas actually includes many yarns in the book that aren't real tweeds, including some variegated yarns and others with plies of different colors. She's broadening the definition of tweed, I think, to include a lot of the tweed wannabes out there like me. And there's just enough interesting information, pretty pictures, and contemporary designs to satisfy us posers too.

So, reading this book, I learned a little bit about tweed and a little bit more about myself as a knitter. Conclusion: it isn't easy being tweed.