A few months ago I was contacted by the folks over at Stitchcraft Marketing to see if I would be interested in knitting something out of Manos del Uruguay Marina.  Marina is a superwash merino laceweight single that comes in 874 yard/100g skeins. I went pattern surfing and couldn’t find a shawl I was dying to knit, but had a harebrained idea for a lightweight summer cardigan.  Fairmount Fibers was absolutely lovely and sent me two skeins in the colorway of my choice, which happened to be Arboretum.  I chose the Frost at Midnight pattern by Kate Davies.

The yarn arrived and was gorgeous!  The color was an amazing mix of greens, from mint to olive to a dark forest green.  I swatched and got gauge and cast on.

Frost at Midnight is a yoked cardigan. It is knit from the bottom up and the yoke features delicate beading in the pattern of trees. I chose to use Dyna-Mite Matsuno 8/0 seed beads in the Pastel White colorway. I thought the pearl-like beads worked well with the greens. I wasn’t sure if the yarn would be too variegated for a sweater, but it knit up beautifully. I think the variegation adds texture and interest without distracting from the beadwork and the delicate picot edging.

I loved knitting with this yarn. It is super soft and fluffy. I was originally a little worried about the wisdom of using singles in a sweater, but the yarn really held up well. I had to rip a few times and other than being a bit sticky to tink back, it looked brand new when I needed to reknit it.  Blocking made it even softer (if that is possible) and the yarn bloomed nicely. I think this is going to be the perfect fabric for the summer in the air conditioning.

A special thank you to Stitchcraft Marketing and the folks at Fairmount Fibers who sent me the yarn (retail: $56.00) for free. I received no other compensation for this review. All opinions and photos are my own.