I’ve been enamored with the design brains of Sachiko and Kiyomi Burgin for years now. So the moment I saw they’d partnered with amirisu to create a new book of patterns, I was super excited. I just got my copy of Cosmology DARUMA, so let’s take a look!
Inside Cosmology DARUMA
There are eight knitting patterns: three pullovers, two cardigans, one pair of socks, one hat, and one cowl. The garments have a good range of sizes, ranging from 33″ chest circumference to at least 67″ (most go to 70″). Each of the garments is shown in two colors and two sizes.
My only critique of the photography is that they don’t show different size models. That said, I also kind of like that the models are roughly the same size, wearing different size garments. The pattern notes don’t list suggested or intended ease, so it’s very much “choose your ow adventure” (my favorite). Showing two different sizes on similar body types allows you to get an idea of how much ease you might want in your own garment.
Since they have multiple samples for each project, if you’re a knitter who gets stuck choosing colors, you have lots of examples to preview! This is also a nice way to see the color ranges of the different DARUMA yarns that are used in the collection
A Look at the Yarn Choices
I haven’t knit with any DARUMA yarns yet, but they sure do look lovely in this book. Cassini and Ozone are both knit with the Wool Mohair blend. Compare that fuzzy halo to the Silk Mohair used in Dusking, and held alongside Falkland Wool in Gale. Pairing the neutral shades of Falkland Wool with the colors of Silk Mohair yields a beautiful marled look that probably feels fantastic.
DARUMA Geek achieves a marled look more “naturally.” It’s a blown-in yarn, meaning a tube of a sturdy fiber (in this case, polyester/nylon) is one color and the more lofty fibers (wool and alpaca) that are blown into the tube are a different color. I generally love working with these types of yarns, and I’m mentally picking out the color I want to use for Regolith.
The last yarn in the collection is Genmou. This is a classic mohair yarn with plied-unplied construction. This yarn type has great texture and bounce. It’s used in conjunction with Wool Mohair in the Uchujin hat pattern.
Final thoughts
Once again, Kiyomi and Sachiko are killing it. I only chose photos of my top four from this collection, but all the patterns are fantastic. They’re very wearable, and look enjoyable to knit. I also really want to explore these yarns from DARUMA, but I am really trying to work from stash, so it will be a little while before I do that.
