Meet My New Friends

Get ready for some beautiful yarn shots, brought to you by me and Butternut Woolens, Shelly Whitman's yarn line. I first found out about Butternut Woolens in summer of 2007 and finally got to meet Shelly at Madrona in February 2008 where she had a booth selling her yarns. At the time, she had a farm in Oregon and grew her own sheep and rabbits, having the fiber spun into yarn and dying it herself. At Madrona, I had the good favor of purchasing three little batches of her various yarns. The rest of that year got pretty crazy for me so some chunks of time actually got blanked out (another story for another day)--so much so that in the meantime, Shelly had a complete change of events that led her to give up her farm and her business, move to Montana, and oh happy day for those of us who love what she does, re-open her business. Yes, Shelly is up and running again and you can buy her gorgeous yarns! Let me just show you some of the fun I've been having with them.

First of all, I used a hank of her Homegrown worsted in Beargrass to make a mini version of my Cabled Tam (Vogue Knitting Holiday 2008). Then I whipped up a sample for my new Fundamental Watch Cap with the same yarn in her Many Glacier colorway. Then on the needles you see I have started a free-form long-cuff glove with some of Shelly's Blue-Faced Leicester 4-ply sock weight in Fox Ears. I enjoyed every stitch of this. Beautiful, rich colors and excellent quality yarn.

Here's a basket of the Homegrown awaiting a Fair Isle felting project.

And another batch of Homegrown already caked up and ready to make a cardigan I have planned just for this. I know you love the colors as much as I do!

The last thing I want to show you, though, is unfortunately something you can't get anymore. I know it's cruel, but such is life! I have been hanging onto a couple of skeins of Shelly's precious Meadowspun Rabbit in Prairieaster that I bought from her back in 2008. When I found out that she had closed her business and might not be producing any more yarn, I couldn't think of anything special enough to make with that yarn. Boy, was I overjoyed when she got back running again. That meant I could make these.

Grace Note Mitts made with Meadowspun Rabbit 2-ply fingering (85% angora/15% merino) on size 3 needles.

Go and visit Shelly. You won't be able to resist. And if enough of us buy her yarn she will be able to build another bunny building for some bunnies and make more of this lovely yarn. I won't even try to describe it. Just ask me next time you see me, because I'll probably have these mitts with me showing them off. See ya then!