This autumn we wanted to do something a little different to celebrate the coming of cooler weather. These past few weeks you might have seen some yarns with a slightly different flavour showing up on instagram; instead of having our photography inspire the yarn, we’ve brought real, natural items into the dye station with us and used them to direct our dyeing process. Each item was part of a carefully curated collection of living things.

When the yarn was done, we staged photography of the finished yarns with their living inspirations. The result is a collection of  7 gentle yarns, all of which will launch in our online store on September 15th.

First up; Wine Grapes.
These grapes were gifted to us from Frogpond Organic Vineyard in Niagara on the Lake. The colour is a deep, slightly variegated blue. Not too saturated, not too navy, just rich blue with black flecked throughout.

Birch
Birch was pure delight to work with; this colour is so subtle and yet so nuanced. Beige doesn’t seem to cover it, there are black flecks, shades of warm grey and an almost rusty/peach tone to cover the oxidized areas of the branch where to bark has come away. Anything but boring, this neutral was made for sweaters and accessories.

Succulent
This one could get confusing because we also have a tonal named succulent, and indeed we did try this colour as a tonal as well. As lovely as that tonal was, the gradient won the day. Softer than our usual gradients this gentle colour will shine on shawls! Succulent plants are such a wide world, we really enjoyed seeking out the right plants for our shoot.

Quill
Quill is the most variegated of the lot and a personal favourite. The feathers are from a turkey and the yarn attempts to evoke all the shades of brown, beige, deep almost blue-black and pale, warm grey while remaining wearable and workable.  The result is a rustic yarn that’s anything but shy.

Cabbage
“Do you really want to name your yarn after a vegetable no one likes?”. Such were the words of a close friend when she saw this photo. She raises a valid point, but once I saw these small ornamental cabbages in the nursery I knew I had to do something with them! Slightly bluer than grass-green, flecked with brown, blue and gold throughout, this will hopefully redefine how you feel about green yarn, and maybe even about cabbages, too.

Flora
Pink is not normally my jam. As another close friend said, The Blue Brick has a “look” and these light, floral tones don’t normally fall within my zone. However, once we were done we stepped back and thought “here’s a pink I can wear”. Gentle and nuanced with purple and coral, this semi solid yarn would be great by itself or in a fade.

Nest
Nest was the yarn that started us on this journey. My dear friend Kim (of Kim’s Barn!) gave us these lovely farm-fresh eggs. I marvelled at the variation of colour that her chickens could produce and the gentle egghshell vibe I got from them. This colour could also be expressed as something I have yet to do; a fade set. The eggs beg to be made into a palette for a larger project, do they not? Perhaps I’ll try.

This collection will launch September 15th. Whether it’s a pop up or a permanent addition remains to be seen; we’ve been over our heads lately (as you know if you’ve been waiting for yarn) and I want to keep it manageable for us. If it becomes permanent it will be at the cost of other colours which will have to retire. Its a tough decision and not one I’m ready to make right now, so for the moment I’ll pile up on these colours for the upcoming Kitchener-Waterloo festival and prepare them for online sales come mid-month. You’ll be able to order any quantity you like, in any base, when the colours launch.

We enjoyed this series and the challenges that came with it; subtle colours, nuanced tones, softer, gentler changes than we’re used to. The results are so wearable, lovely and versatile. I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as we do.