Yarns

In American yarn, few names evoke as much history as "Germantown." While there hasn't been a Germantown yarn in years, Courtney Kelley long dreamed

If there's one thing I love more than a delicate, crunchy woolen-spun wool, it's the idea of a delicate, crunchy woolen-spun wool to which

Already the driest continent on earth, Australia is in the grips of a severe drought that many farmers claim is the worst in living

"Textures are the new speckles." With those words, Malia Mae Joseph and Stephen West, of the Amsterdam yarn store Stephen & Penelope, kick off their

Are these unassuming little pucks of 55% Merino lambswool and 45% cotton the perfect solution for knitters in warm climates?

This yarn is a surprising reminder of what's possible when you use more modern, novelty spinning methods on pure natural fibers. And what better

Have you ever noticed that some machine-washable wools behave differently than others? It's not your imagination. We have multiple ways to shrink-proof wool, and

First things first: mYak is pronounced "my yak." I learned this only after an embarrassing volley where I kept saying "em-yak" and the other

The Outer Hebrides may be better known as the home of legends Harris Tweed and Alice Starmore. But now you can add the island

What's in a name? Say "Donegal" and most knitters think of that robust, hearty stuff from County Donegal, spun on a spinning mule and peppered

Every region leaves its mark on those who live there, whether they're animals or humans. While the cashmere most of us know best comes

As a proud resident of a state whose temperatures can stay below freezing for up to half the year, I am very well-versed in

First came Shelter, launched in 2010—and then Loft the following year. Quarry completed the trilogy. All three of the core Brooklyn Tweed yarns shared a

I'm a sucker for cashmere and cute packaging. But there's something more to these kits, which actually don't look like kits at all—they look like

Once the backbone of the British empire, wool has declined in value so much that it's being buried or burned by farmers who pay

I first heard about the Exmoor Blueface sheep from John Arbon back in 2010 when I was in London for Knit Nation. This relatively new breed

Any time I see cashmere with an unusual twist, I get excited. This fine, short-stapled fiber is all about delicate tenderness in a normal plied-yarn

A few years ago at Interweave Knitting Lab in Manchester, New Hampshire, I ventured into the North Light Fibers booth. I met Sven, who,

We've reached that point in summer where even I, the ardent wearer of wool, am switching to cooler cottons and linens—even in my swatching. A

It takes guts for an American to move to Australia and start a sheep farm—especially if she is a woman with no prior farming

Hand-dyers are painters who use yarn as their canvas. Some work their magic on commonly available base yarns, while others seek out the truly

It all began with a picture on Instagram. Someone shared a gorgeous shot of a yarn I'd never seen before. It looked rugged, crunchy,

Imagine if all the wine in the world—red and white alike—were mixed together and sold as generic "wine." Think of how many centuries of

To evolve from handspinner to yarn manufacturer is like switching from an upright piano to a pipe organ. Everything is bigger, more powerful and

When your grandmother's maiden name is Woolfolk, it's almost guaranteed that you'll go into the textiles business. Kristin Ford took the hint and has

For generations, farmers in Texas have raised some extraordinary wool and mohair. We don't hear much about it because the fibers tend to be

Erika Knight is the consummate knitwear designer. Teacher, lecturer, and author of countless books, she's been a fixture in the much-vaunted Rowan designer

At the 2010 Knit Nation market in London, the British yarn scene was just beginning to expand from big brands to smaller, more local producers. John

Earlier this year, I started receiving mysterious postcards from someone named Mrs. Crosby. The first was sent from Buenos Aires, then Paris, and finally

It's time to create a "heritage yarn" classification. The notion of "heritage" anything, whether animal breed or seed variety, is best appreciated through a

The skein lies furry and limp, a bit like you'd shaved a cat and forgotten to clean it up. Like Gertrude Stein said about

Maybe it's just January talking, but as soon as I spotted this yarn I thought "cowl." In fact, I could almost imagine a line

With online shopping more prevalent than ever, yarn stores are in a bit of a pickle. They need inventory that covers all the bases—yarns

For several years, knitwear designer Anne Hanson has been sourcing and shipping yarns for her Knitspot club. They tended to come from prominent hand-dyers,

Even without knowing what's in it, you instinctively know this yarn is something special. The skein sits in your hands like a hummingbird nest,

Even mill owners like to experiment now and then. Colorflow is the playtime project of Anne Bosch, the owner of Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill.

Kristine Vejar wants to revitalize the California wool industry, and this yarn represents her first step. Vejar is the creative force behind the Oakland

What is the best yarn for lace? And what is lace, anyway? Your basic knitted fabric—stockinette, garter, ribbing, and the likes—is all about filling space

Consider the Arctic muskox, a majestic mammal that lives in extreme conditions. To stay warm in the dead of winter, it produces one of

A few years ago, Jill Draper escaped New York City to pursue a quieter, more fiber-filled life. She chose the Hudson Valley partly because

The UK has a vibrant textiles history. Most argue that the fortunes of the British empire were, in fact, based on the wool trade.

In the 1960s, Meg Swansen spent a month in Reykjavik and fell in love with unusual "plates" of unspun Icelandic wool—which literally translate as

Lopi and I go way back. Growing up, I was always clothed in thick, rugged Icelandic sweaters knit by my maternal grandma. The sweaters

Shepherd Worsted has all the elements of a perfect comfort food. It's soft and easy, comes in large servings, and always satisfies. The Shepherd label

If you're a knitter, you already know that we do strange things when admiring a new skein of yarn. We might squeeze it, rub

Most yarn companies like to launch with a full fleet of products in varying weights and textures. Ewe Ewe Yarns took the complete opposite

Few yarns have been around long enough to be considered landmarks, and Tahki's Donegal Tweed is certainly one of them. This earthy yarn is

[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

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

Whenever you take a single strand of continuous fibers and apply twist, you get something innately vulnerable and unbalanced. We have all sorts of

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

The global cashmere market has had its share of booms and busts. Some of the most significant changes came within the past two decades

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,

If you ever decide to drive up the Maine coast to Bar Harbor (and I think you should), your journey will take you past

A plied yarn is greater than the sum of its parts. The mere act of twisting strands of spun fiber together produces a material

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.

Letting a designer create his or her own yarn from scratch is like giving a child the keys to a candy store. It's easy

Pam Allen has worn many hats in the knitting world. She was a knitwear designer, she wrote Knitting for Dummies, she edited Interweave Knits magazine, and she

Superior has long been one of my favorite yarns. It's an airy confection of cashmere fibers that are held together by a luminous silk core

Just 60 miles north of New York is a 100-acre farm populated with some extraordinary sheep. These animals are all direct descendants of five

In October 2014, Sweet Grass Wool was purchased by Kristine Vejar of A Verb for Keeping Warm. This review has been kept up here

A great and often heated debate exists between those knitters who like acrylic blends and those who don't. Much of that debate has actually

Blue Sky Alpacas (now Blue Sky Fibers) was the belle of the ball at the most recent TNNA. The company cleverly did an end-run

If butter could be spun into yarn, that yarn would be Malabrigo. As a company, Malabrigo actually offers several different kinds of yarn—including a perky

We have an insatiable appetite for new and novel fibers. We've created yarns made from corn and bamboo. We've seen yarns dusted with jade,

Riihivilla is a happy yarn discovery. It comes from a small family business in Finland and is available to a global market thanks to

Dream in Color is run by friends Veronica and Nancy. The magic begins when the yarns are hand-dyed using a process Veronica calls "veil dyeing."

A fixture in Denmark's knitting scene for more than 30 years, Marianne Isager is finally—and fittingly—entering the U.S. market. She dipped her toes in our waters

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

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

Most cashmere yarn is good, and some is even really good. But very, very rarely do you encounter extraordinary cashmere. This is the yarn

Until now, Green Mountain Spinnery yarns were primarily in the DK- to worsted-weight range, with yarns like Mountain Mohair and Weekend Wool. These yarns are great for

Many people reserve the term "novelty yarn" for fluffy synthetic concoctions. But Silk Rhapsody proves that you can have a novelty effect with entirely

Habu Cashmere represents all the things I love about yarn. On the skein, it looks and feels like one thing. But if you have

For months, knitters everywhere have waxed poetic about a new miracle yarn made from seaweed. Years of being pitched the latest "revolutionary" new products

I first set eyes on this yarn during a visit to La Lana Wools, the famous fiber shop in Taos, New Mexico, now gone. La Lana

I still remember my first mail-order yarn purchase. It was from a mythical warehouse-sized place in Western Massachusetts where people pushed around entire shopping

For all the progress we've made over the centuries—the gadgets, the inventions, the miracle potions and cures—there are still some things upon which we

For the last 10+ years, Barbara Parry and her husband have been establishing a flock of Cormo and Border Leicester sheep at their 220-acre

I have a confession to make. When I'm feeling low and have already eaten all the chocolate in the house, I take myself to

One of my very favorite Merino yarns, Aurora 8, has a large and loyal following. It has the sponginess of a well-yeasted bread dough, paired

We've seen yarns that shift from color to color, and even from texture to texture—slubby to smooth, bouclé to bumpy. But Noro has just

Put on a sweater made from Sylvan Spirit and you'll immediately become a tree hugger—not because you love trees, but because you're wearing one.   First introduced in

We've seen yarn that mimics nearly every surface texture, from sequined fur to terrycloth, and denim. It was only a matter of time before

For more than 140 years, sheep have grazed along the Columbia Plateau in north central Oregon. Many of them were brought there by rancher

Occupying 3,000 acres along Montana's Rocky Mountain Front, Beaverslide Dry Goods is a family ranch whose Rambouillet/Merino sheep produce the yarns you see here. When

Restaurants sometimes offer a house wine that's of decent quality, reasonably priced, and available by the glass. Some yarn shops offer the knitterly equivalent,

Few companies can produce consistently beautiful hand-dyed yarns in quantities sufficient enough for large-scale distribution. Lorna's Laces is one. The color combinations range from brilliant to

Kidsilk Haze belongs on that short list of exquisite, special-occasion yarns. It combines two delicate strands of silk with the very finest mohair fibers

Whenever I visit yarn shops, I always ask the staff about their personal favorites. When the folks at San Francisco's Atelier Yarns and Little Rock's Handworks Gallery both