I’ve recently been having a lot of fun experimenting with Noro.  Sure using the yarn with the traditional large striping is lovely, however I have found that using it a little differently can produce beautiful results.  I just completed a jacket using an interesting pattern from Knitwhits, in which the two sides and shawl collar are knit (cabled throughout) in one long strip.  The back and sleeves are picked up and knit from the appropriate places.  No seaming and I was able to try it on as I went for the perfect fit!  I used the same colorway of Noro silk garden, however, I alternated from two skeins every two rows.  This gave the overall effect as fine stripes and it gave a base color of black which I found very pleasing!  I also put a skein of Noro Iro and alternated this with Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed for a fabulously looking hat (thank you Stacey for being the knitter and hat designer!).  Expanding on this theme was pairing Noro Yuzon with Elzbeth Lavold Silky Wool for an amazing shawl which appears as if dozens of colors were used to create discrete, narrow stripes.  See what you think with the samples below….