Skip to content

New and pretty exciting things!

Hey everyone!

Yes, it’s been awhile!

I’ve had a bit of a shit hitting the fan kinda month. So much drama from a late April snow storm (feet of snow and now power), a propane leak, and electrical short (in same building at the same time), a clog in the septic system, and a few other less stop in tracks issues.  I know… it was a whole lot. At this moment in time though all are dealt with and  I am moving on. My hope is that it’s all out of the way at once but I know that the powers that be have one wicked and dark sense of humor so we’ll see.

Okay straight onto the exciting part of life. You know how I have been hinting at this exciting new yarn venture for almost a year now?  I tell you it’s coming soon and then it doesn’t and then it is but then it doesn’t?  Thank you powers that be!  I am also a firm believer in waiting for that right time and this happens to be that time. Also these things take time especially during a pandemic!

IMG_1225

 

 

 

 

 

See this? Isn’t it stunning?

Meet Aspen! Our first wonderfully woolen step into a more planet loving, community-building, yarn future. You are so going to love this!

Aspen comes in both Worsted and Sport (for now): it’s is a wonderfully soft and lofty 3-ply tweedy yarn! It’s made from a very special high quality luscious Merino (from Shaniko Wool Co. and Jeanne Carver), which is ranched and processed all here in the US. It’s completely traceable from ranch to dyer (Blue Moon) and compliant with the Responsible Wool Standards developed by the Textile Exchange. The Responsible Wool Standard ensures animal welfare, preserving land health, and ensures traceability. Blue Moon will be working on many more new yarns in partnership with Jeanne and Shaniko. Aspen also uses mostly black and brown repurposed acrylic/rayon nubs to create that lovely tweed effect. See? it’s worth wait right?

IMG_0865

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Aspen yarns are the beginning of Blue Moon’s CSY Community Supported Yarn launch. It’s our goal to continue to supply high quality, well made, beautiful yarns for us all to create with while also supporting our beautiful planet and all the hard working souls along the wool chain that are invested in creating such wonderful yarn for us. I’ll be sending out a newsletter tomorrow with more details on how we see this all rolling out.

The initial plan was to be start out all of this goodness in a Master Class which we are going to offer. I felt like it would be more inclusive to make it accessible to you at different levels of involvement.  We are all different and some of us like all of the engagement and education and some of us want to be supportive and have yarn to hold, smell and knit! So we are doing both levels (both of which include yarn) within a Community Supported Yarn paradigm.

Why Community Supported? Because honestly in my experience the hand knit part of the textile industry already leans in that direction. I am big on community, ALL INCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES that support and build to a greater good for everyone. The textile industry needs to make changes so that it supports everyone involved with a living wage, has animal welfare at it’s forefront, and addressed land health and restoration and affordability, to name just a few aspects. The Master Class part of this venture will include all the ways we should be thinking about our yarn purchases along with what is involved in the process so we are more informed and can make better choices for ourselves and the planet. We will have all kinds of fun and will share the yarn-making adventure with you ~ we will be creating at least two bases together!! Honestly this has been a dream of mine for quite awhile so I am over the moon excited to share all of this with you!

IMG_7871

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One element of the CSY is we will be offering these yarns as pre-sales only, at least in the beginning. Stocks are limited with this first offering since it s new base and this will be true for most of these offerings.

We will be shipping from this first batch starting  June 10th. I am offering the color a special pallet for these lovelies. I might add a few more but this is what we are starting with. I have chosen lighter colors to highlight the tweedy aspect of Aspen.  I will tell you that right now besides the Winter Blue one and the Sage I think I am pretty smitten with the Natural one. It’s seriously stunning and so very lofty and soft. It feels a bit like cotton.

IMG_7866

IMG_7865

IMG_7868

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karen knit us this beautiful sample. She knit size 41-1/2 and it used 8 skeins. Called for 1600 yds.

The pattern is: Uniform Cardigan  by Carrie Bostick Hoge the book “Uniform”.  Available as a single download from Lovecraft.

I love this cardigan!! It comes in a worsted  and fingering weight version. It fits so well and looks great on all kinds of shapes and sizes!!! Way to go Carrie! Thank you for such a lovely design and a great pattern to follow. If you do not have this pattern already you are going to want it!

Oh I almost forgot! We will be naming all of these bases after trees as a bit of a homage to all plant life that keep our planet healthy despite us!

I will be sending out a newsletter in the next day or so with a lot more specifics about Aspen and our Master class which I will have up for sale by this weekend. Cross my twisted little heart!

To those of you that are part of the Socks that RockSTAR Sponsorship they are shipping this week!! Thank you so very much for you undyeing support! You are the best! All of you.

Thank you for listening!  I know things are hard and a bit scary right now but we need to keep on keeping on. Be that light for each other!  Thank you for being mine!!

IMG_1242