Julie has chosen a marvelous new yarn for My Sister Knits! Leading Men Fiber Arts caught her attention at Interweave Yarn Fest. After talking to Steve and Andy, two of the nicest men in the yarn industry, she snapped some up and ordered more!

With their hand-dyed colorways inspired by the theatre, pop culture, and nature, partners Steve and Andy truly are the Leading Men in the world of COLOR. Established in August 2013, their dye studio and store front is located in Clinton, Illinois, from which they travel the country attending shows and festivals. Their products can also be found in stores across the world. They specialize in semi-solid, variegated, speckled, and gradient yarn dyeing techniques. When auditioning projects for a starring role, make sure to cast the Leading Men!!!

There is so much that is intriguing about their yarn. First, we now have Spotlight, a fingering weight yarn that is a blend of 80% Blue Faced Leicester and 20% nylon. BFL, as it is commonly known, is part of the English Longwool family.

Blue Faced Leicester sheep © heritagesheepreproduction.com

Some historians surmise that the three central Leicester longwool breeds, Leicester Longwool, Border Leicester, and BFL, descended from sheep brought to England by the Romans! BFL is the fiber you want next to your skin. The long staple length creates a fiber with little to no ‘itch factor’. Deb Robson, author of The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook, says that BFL “is an incredibly versatile wool: fine enough not to be scratchy; durable enough to wear well; shiny enough the dyes produce shimmering colors”.

BFL is an obliging fiber as it is ideal for projects that need to be soft but also stand up to hard wear such as socks, sweaters, mittens, and hats. Keep in mind that it softens immensely when it is washed! Give your finished project a spa treatment with lovely wool soap, let it soak in its bath, wrap it in a nice towel, perhaps let it listen to some relaxing music and you can even light a candle! I like to think of giving my projects a spa treatment. I haven’t gone so far as to play music or light a candle but now that I think of it, why not? It makes wet blocking fun!

Speaking of producing colors that glisten, when you see this yarn you’ll notice the gorgeous array of colorways that Steve and Andy create! From solids to variegated, the Spotlight colors are impressive!

Spotlight is the only Blue Faced Leicester yarn we have in the shop, which makes it even more special.

Sparkle Sock, notice how well the Lurex shows up in the dark yarn on the far right

While you are perusing Spotlight, you will no doubt see their fingering weight Sparkle Sock. This is a blend of 75% Superwash Merino and 25% Nylon with an additional 5% Lurex. Steve and Andy use Lurex instead of Stellina for their touch of sparkle because it is softer, with no pokey ends, as Julie says! Lurex differs from Stellina in that it contains actual metal. Hence the warning on their website not to microwave it! If you have never used yarn with a bit of sparkle, the loveliness of these skeins will have you casting on your first project!

Thickmas Socks designed by Summer Lee, knit with Sparkle Sock. Look carefully at each sock to identify the difference between the two!

Lastly, we have Show Stopper Intermission which is 50 gram skeins of 75% Superwash Merino and 25% Nylon. These small skeins are perfect to use as contrast colors in your project. Plus, they are the cutest packaged half-skeins!

We can’t wait to hear your reactions to these unique yarns and see what you choose to make with them!

Happy knitting,

Leading Men Fiber Arts

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