October Knits

Just like the rough minerals a rockhound might find in the wilderness of Ontario, this yarn was found at the back of a mill’s warehouse. A box of uncut gems waiting to be noticed, brought home, cleaned up, and cherished.

I can’t tell you the exact contents of this yarn. I know it’s wool. I know there is some amount of bast fibre content. Bast fibre comes from the stem or inner bark of a plant. Common examples are linen, h**p, ramie and nettle. After working with it, I suspect the plant fibre content to be around 10-15%, and most likely linen or nettle. The knit fabric has a lofty and crisp hand, with a hard to describe texture. Lightweight but rustic. It sits right on the edge of my personal criteria for next-to-skin soft, but we all have different skin!

The wool itself needed several rounds of washing and scouring. It started out a dark charcoal and lightened in colour to a heathered ash grey, with mixed midtones, peppered with strands of jet black. And since plant fibres don’t take acid dyes, the resulting colours in this yarn are beautifully heathered with an enormous range and depth of shade. It is a woollen spun 2-ply with a good amount of stick-togetherness for stranded colourwork.

I named the colourways in this collection after the amazing diversity of beautiful mineral specimens found in the province. Ontario has some of the most unique and diverse geology on the planet and is home to some of the oldest rock on earth. It’s honestly a rockhounds paradise out here! Each colour is named after a gemstone or mineral that comes from Ontario.

This yarn is a sport weight or heavy fi*****ng. My swatch measures 4x4in with 20sts and 32rows on 4mm needles in stockinette. 330m/360yds per 100g skein.

Come see me in Kemptville this Saturday!

And that’s a wrap on Twist 2026! Had an amazing time vending here for the first time after attending so many years. Thank you to everyone who came by and geeked out with us. Thank you to all of the other vendors who are so supportive and encouraging and inspiring. My cup is so filled!! Three cheers to Jaye Crawford (he/him) for all his amazing help and collaboration with my booth. We would absolutely love to come back next year!

Putting the final touches on the booth for TWIST this werkend. It’s looking so good. I have some very special new goodies to share. Come see us!!

New labels hot off the press from Coba Studios !! They went above and beyond getting these done for me on short notice, and even ordered extra paper samples for me to choose from. Chris is a really down to earth guy and was super fun to collaborate with. If you need printing done anywhere in the Merrickville area, you should hire him and tell him I sent you!

And remember- print shops and graphic designers are small businesses. The in-person touch can’t be beat.

I’m coming to Quebec! Second weekend of August I will be at Festival Twist! Friday August 7th through Sunday the 9th. Can’t wait to see you!

I’m thrilled to be vending at the Almonte Fibrefest this September! I feel so lucky that such an incredible fibre event happens in my neck of the woods every year. And this will be my first time vending after attending for so long 🥹

Tour de Fleece day one! This year for TDF I am busting through a bunch of my stash, starting with this mill-blend brown that I am blending with red Rambouillet that I felted in the rinse bucket. Sometimes you put 500g of beautiful luscious premium combed top in a dye pot and everything goes catastrophically wrong. The red didn’t strike so I added more cotric acid, cranked the temperature and boiled it 🫠 then the red was bleeding in the rinse as if I hadn’t cooked it at all so I put it back in the dyepot and tried again but by then it was thoroughly felted. Not up to my standard for my products AT ALL! So I am salvaging it bit by bit with my hand cards and it’s turning into a nice tweedy blend of red flecked brown singles. Spinning these rolags long-draw with my ashford espinner and they draft like a dream.

WIP Wednesday- working on this test knit for Chase Harpole | Knitting Patterns & Instructor ‘s Cabana Cardigan. First sleeve done, onto the next!

Yarn is a deadstock mystery wool/linen blend that I picked up from a British mill’s warehouse sale. They had no extra info for me so my best guess is a 10-15% linen content. Just enough to give it that slightly crisp hand of a plant fibre. It’s a very woolly wool too, almost feels like a rustic felted tweed type yarn. It arrived on cones in a deep charcoal grey and had a lot of lanolin to scour out. Then I had a lot of fun overdying it for this heathered effect.

I think this is going to be my new favorite summer piece! And the fact that it’s deadstock yarn in sustainable materials makes it that much more special.

Are you going to the Ontario Handspinning Seminar this June? SO AM I!! I'm bringing all my spinnable goodies for sale Friday and then staying for the whole weekend to attend the rest of the event. I am so excited to hang out with other spinners and level up my skills!

If you are coming and have any requests, let me know! I don't plan on bringing any hand dyed yarn for sale otherwise. And if you are hoping for a specific colour of combed top and I have that base in stock, I can dye it for you! Just shoot me a message. Combed top needs time to dry so please get your orders in before June 1st. This is going to be SO MUCH FUN!!