[caption id="attachment_7401" align="alignleft" width="400"] OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA[/caption] The Sincere Sheep was launched by Brooke Sinnes in 2011. Based in Northern California, Brooke focuses on carefully sourced natural fibers—in both yarn and roving form—to which she applies color using only natural dyes. Her taste in fibers is exquisite, a
Let's cut to the chase: Loft is pretty much perfect. If I had all 32 colors at my disposal, I could easily see myself knitting with nothing but this yarn for the rest of my life. Well, that might be an exaggeration—but only slight. After all,
If festivals were friends, the New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, New York, would be among my oldest and dearest. The more years I go, the more familiar each part of the event becomes. Attending is as much about tradition and ritual as it
What prompts someone to go into the knitting needle business anyway? It made perfect sense for Knitter's Pride. The Indian manufacturer got its start making paintbrushes, which also require durable wooden handles and a well-fitting metal join that holds smooth, flexible fibers. After gaining prominence as
Are you new to socks? Did you finish the How To Knit Socks tutorial and are you ready for your next pair? For new, reluctant, or recently returned sock knitters, I've designed a simple beginner unisex sock pattern called Stepping Stones. It's the first pattern you'll find
Socks buffer us from life's hard edges. Whether knit by hand or produced by machine, socks serve as a good set of tires for our feet. They grab the road and get us to our destination in maximum comfort with minimal slippage. They are, in
Whenever you take a single strand of continuous fibers and apply twist, you get something innately vulnerable and unbalanced. We have all sorts of tricks for beefing up the fibers, adding secret plies and twists and whatnot. But ultimately, such a yarn is so ill-suited
About 6,000 people—roughly the population of Harvard, Massachusetts—knitters all, attended this year's Sock Summit. It took place at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon, from July 28th to the 31st. When you create an atmosphere of glee, and people feel sheer excitement at being present,
Blocking is to knitting what baking is to bread. It's the final act that turns a series of random stitches into beautiful, cohesive fabric. Some view blocking as drudgery, others find it daunting. Regardless of how you feel, blocking is essential for a truly finished look. Proper
Please note: As of October, 2018, Classic Elite Yarns has closed its doors. I'm leaving the review up here for reference in case you're lucky enough to discover some of this yarn for sale. Classic Elite Yarns has introduced a new undyed, natural-colors-only yarn collection called Mountaintop.
"A pattern, no matter how many sizes it includes, is unlikely to fit you perfectly without any changes," writes Ysolda. Size was a key motivator for this book. Ysolda wanted to show a collection of knitted garments designed for, and modeled by, real people of
Here's a novel approach to picking well-fitting garments. Instead of studying gussets and darts and short-rows, measuring every inch of your body and calculating your shape down to the last stitch and row, just choose something you know will look good. Easier said than done. But it
The global cashmere market has had its share of booms and busts. Some of the most significant changes came within the past two decades as our thirst for inexpensive cashmere led to overgrazing and, ultimately, the desertification of Mongolia. While the bulk of the world's cashmere
On November 30, 1999, Elizabeth Zimmermann passed away at the age of 89. In her newsletters, books, and DVDs, she left behind a legacy that has launched and sustained generations of knitters. As we're beginning to discover, Elizabeth also left behind another legacy: decades of sketches
Back in 2000 when I began Knitter's Review, I assumed it'd be easy to find out where the fibers in my yarn came from—and, in the case of wool, which sheep breed had been used. Slowly the reality sank in. Fibers tend to be sourced from
If you ever decide to drive up the Maine coast to Bar Harbor (and I think you should), your journey will take you past the coastal town of Belfast. Stay on Route 1 and you'll see only the commercial outskirts of what is, at the center,
How much attention do you pay to the needles you use? Are you fussy, or will you knit with pretty much anything? Have you even paid that much attention to your needles lately? For fussy and oblivious knitters alike, a few minutes with these needles will
Charts. Some knitters will tell you they're the greatest thing since sliced bread. Others will start hyperventilating and ask you to change the subject. Charts are a graphic representation of a knitted pattern. They're usually presented in a graph format where each square represents a stitch.
A plied yarn is greater than the sum of its parts. The mere act of twisting strands of spun fiber together produces a material that occupies more space than would those strands if they were simply held together without twist. Blue Sky Fibers (formerly Blue
If we used nothing but ultrasoft Merino all our lives, we'd miss out on no end of spice and nuance in our fiber diet. And Foxen Sheep yarn, made from the wool of the Coburg Fox sheep, is all about spice and nuance. Only some 4,000
