It's finally happening: a collection that features matching crochet hooks and yarn (along with candles and soap!). I actually had plans to create a collection that followed a specific colour palette last February, however life had other plans...so here we are one year later. Can't rush into these things, right?
This collection is inspired by the view out my back window, and seeks to invoke the feeling that comes with stepping out into the crisp February air just as dusk settles in. Frost covered evergreen branches glistening as snowflakes drift lazily through the quiet air, snow crunching underfoot, the day's last light casting shades of pink and blue over the crisp landscape. Deep navy blues and forest greens, soft greys, pale pinks and lavenders.
Once I had the colour palette picked out, it was time to decide which woods Scott and I were going to include in the crochet hooks. We opted for aromatic cedar, cherry and purpleheart for the pinks and purples, limba for the shades of grey, and blue and green spectraply (which is a dyed birch) for those pops of colour that don't come naturally.
Scott did his thing, as he always does, and conjured up some pretty spectacular hook designs. I wasn't sure how I felt about incorporating so much spectraply, since I'm usually drawn to more natural colours and neutrals, but dang. The blues and greens really do add a wow factor!
I am of course excited about the crochet hooks, but the level off happy dancing I'm at for the debut of YARN is off the charts. All fibre will be sold under the label of Annapolis Fibre Co, a venture I'm thrilled to be on with my good friend Sara that I met when I started a casual part time position at a local fibre mill in the summer of 2021. Sara still manages the mini mill (where she processes fibre for the mill's owner, along with custom processing for local sheep owners), and has been holding down the Annapolis Fibre Co fort while I flounder around finding my footing as a new parent. So you have her to thank for the GORGEOUS Midwinter yarn - it's a special kind of talent to take a palette someone thrusts at you and bring those colours to life in the form of a skein, and I couldn't be happier with how these five colourways turned out.
Each skein is a 2-ply fingering weight, 370 yards per 100 grams (well, they have at least 370 yards...many of them have more so you're welcome!). The fibre is 100% Canadian Rambouillet, which is a type of merino. The wool is untreated (meaning it's non-superwash), and it's soft + springy. The special way it's processed gives a heathered look that is basically to die for. As it's milled on a very small scale, you'll find bits of vegetable matter and slight "imperfections" like floofs and slubs, though I hate to call them anything other than unique characteristics of small batch locally spun yarns. The bumps and twists give these skeins an almost hand spun look, don't you think? CHEF'S KISS.
And no, your eyes do not deceive you...that's a soy wax candle! Scott and I have been dabbling in candles with concrete vessels since late 2021 (they were supposed to be part of this collection when it launched in February 2022...ha...ha...). It has been refreshing to try a totally new craft that isn't related to knitting / crocheting / wood, especially because candle making is much easier on your hands than woodworking is. We've done several local markets with our candles, but this is the first time we've offered them online (with your choice of pink or grey vessels) - we hope you love them.
The final addition to our Midwinter collection is a delicious-smelling goat's milk soap, which is made by a dear friend of ours. It's not just any soap either...it's soap on a ROPE, which makes it easy to hang up in your bathing area and prevents a mushy bar (meaning it'll last much longer than a typical bar that sits on a surface slowly washing away). These soaps come in three colours (pink, grey, cream) that match our palette.
And that's that. I hope this is the first of many themed collections. We've got our spring palette picked already, so Scott and I are choosing woods while Sara and I plot our next batch of beautiful yarn - I cannot wait to see what this year has in store for all of us!