A Knitter’s Haven, Downeast
So, dearfriends, I have been chatting with the fabulous Jackie over at Swan’s Island Yarns (www.swansislandblankets.com), and she invited me up for a tour of their dyehouse. In typical Alicia fashion, I excitedly accepted prior to, oh, mapquesting it or planning it much. The drive was about 2 hours and 45 minutes up the coast! (with both girls in tow)…but so worth it!
Tucked away from the hustle and touristry of Camden lies Northport–and the Swan’s Island Dyehouse. Everything happens right here: the hand weaving of those goorrrrrgeous blankets (oh, you have no idea how I COVET one!)
The all natural dyeing of the skeins, (all organic dyes! Indigo, cochineal, madder…)
Their colorways are all so timeless, and remind me of home. I love the beautiful stillness that the colors embody. I used their natural blends in fingering weight for an upcoming pattern, Ahull:
Jackie was telling me how everything here is done by hand, pretty much. The skeining, boxing, and even selecting of skeins to fill orders. If the yarn doesn’t make the cut, it gets sold at a discount out front as “reject yarn”
And now–there’s so much beauty here,I’m just going to BARRAGE you with pictures. Becauseinallhonestymyspacebaronlyworksifyouslamit, andmyfingershurt.
Look for this lovely-Swan’s organic handdyed skein in Sky Blue in some kind of giveaway soon…it just looks so lovely in a blueberry bush, yes?
ThelovelyJackie&I 🙂
All that yarn looks gorgeous! Thanks for posting these photos – what a great behind the scenes peak at Swan’s Island.
It was SO fun! And the yarn is well worth the money 🙂
I saw some fingering merino in an LYS here (near Madison WI) once, and nearly bought some. It really is lovely!
Looking forward to that hat pattern 🙂
You should try it–the yardage is endless–I so want to design a fingering weight sweater out of the Pure Blends!!!
gorgeous photos – their yarn is beautiful. also love that hat…..
Reading your post and seeing those photos gave me such a sense of peace and joy! Ahhh….
Just being near the ocean does that for me…it’s magical, and it completely makes me in awe of this world God has made!!!
Looks like a lovely trip! I’ve never used their yarns before, but I have a few in my stash that are looking for the perfect project. I’m really impressed by the yardage on their fingering weight!
Isn’t the yardage awesome? I SO stray from bigger fingering weight projects, but the hand on their pureblends is begging me to do something. Perhaps in spring!