Rowan Tapestry is a lovely double knitting weight knitting yarn which is part of the Rowan Yarns range. It comes in a range of six softly shaded colourways which are quite beautiful to look at when knitted up. There is a book of patterns available from Rowan Yarns which conforms to their usual high standards of design and pattern instruction.

I found this yarn lovely to knit with as it is very soft and the colours are so pretty. It is a blend of 70% wool and 30% soybean and is very lightly spun, producing a rolled fibre similar to non spun rovings rather than a fully spun and plied yarn.

I don't think it is suitable for a first project for a beginner because of this factor. I was using Knitpicks Options needles which usually work very well with any yarn because of their lovely fine points. However it is very easy to split the stitches when knitting up the yarn and you have to be very careful to make sure that the needle has gone right through the stitch and hasn't caught up some of the fibres as you pull the yarn through. It's Hand Wash Only so I wouldn't recommend it for an item which is going to face a lot of use, such as a pair of socks or a regular use sweater or a cushion cover or bag. It would make gorgeous soft cardigans and lightweight jackets, scarves, shawls, afghans and more. I would also recommend choosing a fairly textured stitch for it. I am currently knitting a scarf in garter stitch with mine and it shows up every blemish in your knitting like a sore thumb! Readers might like to know also that it's Made In China.

I still am enjoying knitting with it, I have yet to get bored with my garter stitch scarf because the colours are so pretty. I did however drop a stitch and didn't realise right away because the yarn had caught part of the way through it and it was almost invisible in the knitting. The only reason I spotted it was that at the point of the dropped stitch an unsightly loop formed at the point where the yarn had caught the stitch.

I have used Rowan Yarns on and off for quite a number of years and have always found them to be good quality. This yarn is no exception and despite the problems with splitting stitches and hand washing I still like it very much indeed.