Fiber Trek

by upton in


I have always been a fairly solitary person, and a fairly solitary knitter, so one of my favorite things about this whole “starting a yarn business” adventure is discovering the wider community of knitters, and the myriad of ways they engage with their craft. Sarah Hunt, in addition to starting and hosting a yarn retreat (at which I will be vending and perhaps even teaching this fall) is filming a travel show about the larger fiber community, showcasing every aspect of fiber production and use, from farmers to owners of small spinning mills to designers and knitters.  At the moment she is focusing on the fiber scene in Maine, though I suspect as her project grows she will branch out to other states (though the Maine fiber scene is large and varied, so it may take a while).  Check out her buzzreal here, and her blog here.  I am very much looking forward to getting back to the land of fast internet so that I can catch up on her latest posts!


Yarn! Lots of New Yarn (and now I am back on a boat).

by upton in , ,


My time at home was lovely and cold and way too short.  It was also very productive (on the yarn front, though not on the blogging front…). I returned home to find the fleeces I sent off to the mill in the fall returned to me in the form of lovely yarn on cones.  A storm of dyeing ensued.  Yarn took over every available surface in the house, the bathtub was pressed into service for drip-drying, and a giant drying rack took up the prime space in front of the woodstove (much to Nell’s annoyance).

I experimented with new colors and dyed new lots of older colors (which sometimes resulted in new colors).

Pinks and Reds

Sky Blue, Medium Blue, and Indigo

 

Tans

Above, “Light Butternut”, “Rosewood”, and “70% Cacao”.   70% Cacao is actually a fleece from one of Liberty Wool Farm’s Romney rams (he is or will be responsible for the “Romney” portion of the “Cotswold x Romney” yarn).  I had his fleece spun to the same weight as my other 3-Ply fingering weight yarn.

This is “Aspen”, a lovely, lively green, but not quite the “Cress” that I was aiming for. (Natural Dyeing is not an exact science).

Aspen

I am back at my “day job” on the boat.  Last night we finished our transit of the Panama Canal and currently we are bound for Isla Iguana for a bit of snorkeling.  As my very slow internet connection allows I will be updating the “yarn” section of this site to reflect the work of the last few weeks.  In the meantime, if you would like to order any yarn, please email me at uptonyarns (at) gmail.com.  My internet connection is sometimes a bit spotty on the boat, but I can usually check it at least once a day.  Yarn is being shipped out in my absence.