Yarn Review: Drops Nepal

A versatile, durable yarn

Hi guys! Welcome to my yarn review. I like to write these to discuss specific yarns that I’ve worked with in the past and discuss what I love about them, what they might not be the best fit for, and what kind of knitted items they work best in. For my more yarn reviews, and to get notified when I write a new one, sign up for my newsletter!

Today I’m reviewing Drops Nepal - a wonderfully warm and soft natural fiber yarn that I’ve used for a variety of sweaters - my own designs and others’ patterns. It’s a very affordable Aran-weight yarn that’s designed to be knit up on 5mm needles and is composed of 65% wool and 35% alpaca.

It’s a fairly dense yarn, at 75 meters per 50 gram skein, and comes in a wide range of colors - 40 shades total.

Good for:

- Outdoor sweaters. Drops Nepal is my go-to yarn for turgensers - or outdoor hiking/skiing/camping sweaters - on a budget. I’ve knit a couple of these, and they are wonderful at keeping you warm even on some of the coldest hiking days (think many many degrees below freezing). Yet, probably due to the wool/alpaca balance in the yarn, they are still breathable and if you’re not sprinting, they don’t feel stifling.
- Cables and structural knits. Drops Nepal has great stitch definition and is a good choice to make cables really pop on traditional Aran fisherman sweaters and structured knitwear with different stitch patterns. Be warned with cables though - because more yarn goes into them, these sweaters do tend to get a bit heavy (especially when compared with cable sweaters made from a blow yarn like Drops Air).
- Colorwork. Because of how many different color options there are for Drops Nepal, this is a great choice for colorwork sweaters. You can even choose between solid tonals and heathered yarns for the perfect mix-and-match.

Not great for:

- Lacework. Lace-knitting usually calls for a more delicate yarn that opens up with blocking, and Drops Nepal is not ideal for this because it’s a bit denser. Drops Air might be a better fit for this.
- Drapey knits. Because this yarn is so dense, there’s not much drape and sweaters will fall a bit “stiffer”.

Recommended patterns in Drops Nepal:

- The Liscannor sweater
- The Arrakis Pullover by Knitwear by Joan
- The Riddari Sweater by Védis Jónsdóttir
- Totorogenseren by Anna-Sofia Vintersol (free pattern!)