I’ll say this up front: three of the most experienced knitters at Knit Picks have all been working with the new Provincial Tweed yarn and we all adore it. There’s plenty love, from the bright and lovely colors to the surprisingly soft hand, and even Superwash convenience (the 100g putup is also a bonus). Anyone with a soft spot for tweed (like me) will certainly want to get it on their needles, and it knits up so easily and so beautifully it might just win over some tweed-skeptics.

What makes or breaks any tweed yarn is always the slubs. As much as I love tweed, I’ve seen plenty of deliciously tweedy yarns that I couldn’t stand because a single color of slubs just threw off the whole color aesthetic. I prefer a subtler look, which is one reason Provincial Tweed works for me so well. Brown slubs add more texture than color, yellow slubs contrast nicely with the darker and cooler bases, while purple slubs contrast with warmer and lighter bases. That’s it. They add just the right amount of color and visual texture without overwhelming, exactly what I look for in a tweed.

It’s also interesting how the tone on tone marl knits up. The resulting fabric has a surprisingly uniform look, but with the depth of color that you usually only get with a heathered fiber. Add the slubs in, and you get a rich fabric with lots of visual interest that manages to stay just the right side of busy.

Provincial Tweed is also remarkably soft for its fiber content. Made from a Fine Highland wool of a slightly more refined grade than Wool of the Andes, this Tweed has a distinctly softer feel and drapier hand right out of the hank. I won’t go so far as to say that it’s sure to win over even the firmly wool-averse, but I honestly think it feels softer even than some Merino wool yarns that I’ve encountered. If you’re looking just for softness, you’re probably better off with our City Tweed or Swish, both of which are softer, but Provincial Tweed has a lot more structure than either of those and cables wonderfully. You can see the definition I’m getting in my basic cable and post vest WIP, and this is before blocking!

Altogether, if you love tasteful tweeds, bright colors, soft wools, or any yarn that begs for cables, you’ll love Provincial Tweed. Plenty of us here at Knit Picks already do.