It’s Here!
My Sister Knits’ Mitchell Wool Co. shipment has arrived!! We are so excited to carry this yarn!
Our American Fiber yarn from Mitchell Wool Co. is so importantl because it was basically rescued from a mill that was closing down. It was being auctioned off and the highest bidder was from outside of the US. After reading Clara Parkes’ book, Vanishing Fleece, Sherry Mitchell was not going to let this wool leave the country. She and her sister had 3 computers going and were bidding like crazy and Sherry ended up with this unprocessed wool that filled a semi!
Rambouillet DK Piglet, Dandelion, and Tractor
She had it scoured in Canada, just over the border from her farm. Then it was spun in a mill 40 miles from her farm. Her sister Cindy does the dyeing, mostly with plants grown on the farm. Sherry is passionate about helping the US fiber industry to thrive and taking care of the land and the animals on it.
Rambouillet fingering in Lemon Macaron, Natural, and Barn
Reading Vanishing Fleece was the catalyst to Mitchell Wool Co. becoming a reality. Sherry felt that she needed to do something with her 58 acres in Michigan. Now she has 170+ sheep on it! She also wants to help the farmers who have fleeces to sell. Wool co-ops pay very little for these fleeces, usually less than the cost to raise the sheep. After hearing their stories at fiber festivals, Sherry intends to become an equitable resource for their fleece, buying them for more than the wool co-ops. The only requirement is that the farmers treat their animals as well as Sherry does hers which she found isn’t a problem because they do!
BFL fingering Barn, Dandelion, and Pistachio Macaron
Back to our yarn, we have both Rambouillet and Blue-Faced Leicester, commonly referred to as BFL. Wait until you feel the Rambouillet! It’s so very soft and bouncy. We have it in worsted, dk, and fingering weight. We have the BFL in worsted and fingering. The colors in the BFL are wonderfully vibrant and it’s absolutely fantastic for colorwork! You can have longer floats because of the ‘stickiness’ of the yarn.
Be sure to feel both of them and check out the different ways the yarns take the dye. When you buy this yarn, read the information on the inside of the label to find out more about it!
Macaron colorways: Pistachio in fingering weight, Strawberry, Lemon, and Papaya in worsted weight
Sherry and Cindy have developed a special group of colors, the Macaron colorways. In case you didn’t know, the difference between a macaron and a macaroon is that macarons are meringue based colored sandwich cookies and a macaroon is a coconut drop cookie. I’m obsessed with these colors and am having fun thinking about what to make with them.
The sock yarn is Rambouillet blended with Tencel. Tencel is made with wood pulp from Eucalyptus trees. There is nothing that isn’t produced by nature in Sherry’s yarns! The other good thing about Tencel is that it’s produced using a closed water loop, meaning that the water recirculates, and creates a low environmental impact.
Rambouillet/Tencel sock yarn Strawberry Macaron and Sky
American Fiber yarn is woolen spun, meaning that it is lightweight, airy, and warm. The fibers are not combed to be straight before they’re spun, as in worsted spun yarn, and are allowed to be all jumbled up which creates space for the air to make it warm. It isn’t as dense as worsted spun yarns and it has a softer stitch definition. Hold a skein of each in your hands and notice the differences between the two! One isn’t better than the other, they’re just different and can be used for different purposes.
We invite you to come into the shop so we can show off our new yarn!
Happy knitting,
