Bass Ranch Wool

Posted on 07/17/2013 by maureen15

The front of the skein.

Recently a family friend gifted me a lovely hand dyed skein of luxury yarn. This yarn hails from Fishtail, MT from the Muddy Lamb Studio. It is 209 yards of merino wool that has been plied with a strand of silk. The colorway is called Muddy Sky and the main color is a light teal with a chocolate accent.

Thanks to the silk and the top quality Merino wool this yarn is so soft to the touch. I have no idea of what it wants to be yet but I have been searching through my Ravelry favorites for something suitable.

The back side of the skein.

In between hunting for a pattern I have been researching the production line of this yarn and what I have found is really pleasing to a wanna-be-eco-conscious crafter. The wool used in all of the Muddy Lamb Studio yarns are produced at Bass Ranch in Montana. Carol Bass owns both the studio and the ranch. The ranch is home to over a hundred sheep and a few llamas and goats.

The fiber produced on the ranch is then sent to two mills that pride themselves in producing fine quality processed fiber with an emphasis on sustainability. These two mills are Mountain Meadow Wool Mill and Thirteen Mile Lamb & Wool. Mountain Meadow Wool prides itself in using “citrus based detergents; recycling our wash water and using natural dyes.” The Thirteen Mile Lamb & Wool Company’s mill is solar powered and refuses to use chemical based detergents when washing raw fleece. Both mills produce their own high quality lines of fiber products that are worth taking a look at.

I’m happy to be supporting small companies doing the right thing by knitting with this thoughtfully produced yarn. I plan on purchasing from the Muddy Lamb Studio and directly from the mills very soon for myself.

Buying Materials Responsibly

Posted on 06/11/2013 by maureen15

Sourcing materials for my upcoming projects has become somewhat of a hobby on its own. As I continue to study knitting, crocheting, and spinning I realize that the materials my item is crafted from is more important than the item itself. Using quality materials when crafting is a challenge for two reasons: the market for high end materials is very small so items cannot be purchased at regular chain stores and better materials are much more expensive than something you can pick up at a super store. For both of these reasons I have been looking to independent producers to fill my needs.

I do not own this photo, no copyright infringement intended.

Independent producers are accommodating when it comes to getting their product to you and they are carrying on handmade traditions far before it gets to their customers. The extra price that comes along with this is worth it when you think about what you would be fueling if you had spent that money elsewhere on ten skeins of economy produced acrylic yarn rather than two skeins of hand processed wool yarn.

The key to buying from independent producers is knowing what you are looking for. Knowing what you want and how you want it can make all the difference when shopping from an independent. It is also a great idea to feel as close to your materials as possible as a creator. Knowing what wool came from what sheep, where it was grown, what its name was will make whatever you are making that much more timeless.

To find the right materials from the right people I use Etsy and have found tons of incredible producers and creators from around the world using this site. I have also begun to use Local Harvest after watching the Know Your Wool course on Craftsy. This site allows you to buy whatever you need directly from the farm. The selection is delightfully limited to 100% homegrown products. This is as close to your materials as you can get without having your own farm.

I still buy from commercial websites as well but not without doing a little research into the individual products I am buying first. I have found that Paradise Fibers offers plenty of commercially processed items without them being completely homogenized by big business. Webs of course is another great place to look for variety.

As I continue to search for sustainable and productive ways to source my materials I will always keep in mind the need to support small businesses who are doing the right thing for the economy and planet.

Where do you prefer to source your materials from? If Etsy, let me know which stores I’d love to find new places that are doing great things!

Behaving Naturally

Posted on 05/22/2013 by maureen15

I have been studying natural dyeing techniques and spinning yarn in my free time since I have been done with school. Though my interests in all things textile related have always been present the need for all natural textiles and fiber products has not.

I have been spinning yarn on my new drop spindle and I love it. I love watching the fluffy fiber take shape as I determine the thickness and twist of each bit of yarn. I have yet to fill up my spindle but I am really close. I cannot wait to get it off the spindle and practice plying and natural dye techniques.

Since I have been home from college I have had the time to catch up on my reading, both English major-y stuff and studying of dye and fibers.

I received The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes from my local library and have been marveling at the exquisite photography throughout it since then. This book contains recipes for a wide spectrum of naturally colored dyes made from plenty of accessible ingredients. The book also gives you some tips on creating your own garden of plants for dyeing as well as how to grow them indoors as well. After perusing the book I am really excited to try out dyeing with blackberries and turmeric. I plan on investing in my own copy to have as a reference.

The other book that I have been making my way through is The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook. This book is all about the animals that produce usable fiber. The intro is informative and even gives definitions of the technical terms used to describe and grade different fibers. As a newbie to choosing the right fiber to spin I have found this book to be incredibly informative. If I was to teach a course on fiber types, this would be the textbook.

Among these crafty things I have also read, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz and Post Office by Charles Bukowski. I am currently reading Cloudbreak, California: A Memoir by Kelly Daniels. Kelly Daniels was once my creative writing professor at a writer’s workshop/retreat when I was in high school. His memoir is full of drama and I cannot recommend it enough to those looking for a good summer read.

The Stash

Posted on 03/18/2013 by maureen15

The stash. All knitters have one. Surprisingly what they have in it and the size of it, can tell you a lot about the knitter themselves. I have seen a lot of bloggers posting photos of their current stashes and I was shocked at how small a lot of them were. I thought I would post some pictures of my stash to make the other prolific yarn buyers feel less guilty about accumulating a large hoard of fiber. There is nothing wrong with wanting options, at least this is what I tell myself when I have to buy a new Rubbermaid container to house my latest finds.

Currently my stash takes up one jumbo container and one medium sized container with a little left over. That little bit left over is usually set aside for my next project. I like to leave it out so I can get to know the color and how it looks in all different lighting. This blue Eco-Ways yarn fills this position in my stash. Perhaps it will be a sweater, perhaps it will be a baby blanket.

These are all of my full, untouched skeins of yarn. They await the perfect project and have been waiting for quite some time. A lot of these were impulse buys that I purchased with no project in mind. The orange Bernat and tan SMC Northern Wool were leftover from a blanket for my brother and a sweater for my boyfriend respectively.

This is my tub of balls. Yeah, I said it. I prefer to work with yarn when it is wrapped in a ball rather than straight from the skein. So, all of these balls are left over from previous projects or full skeins from frogged projects. Just so you know, this is the jumbo container. It is absolutely brimming with half skeins of yarn.

Lastly I have my bits/half done projects box. The one half contains all of those little bits of yarn that are only good for granny squares and color work. I used to have them in the jumbo container but it got way too chaotic when I was trying to find a certain color (aka a tangled mess). The other half holds a few projects that I have completely lost interest in working on but I haven’t decided if I will keep them or rip them out and salvage the yarn.

I feel like I have just told everyone a huge secret. If you feel guilty about the size of your fiber collection just think about the absolute ridiculousness of mine to help you feel better about it.

In Defense of Red Heart

Posted on 02/12/2013 by maureen15

Red Heart yarn has a questionable reputation among the new wave generation of knitters, crocheters, and fiber enthusiasts. Red Heart products are known as low quality, extremely low price, and are often only thought of as ‘practice yarn’ for children and those new to their chosen yarn craft. Though these claims are true in some respects about the Classic, and Super Saver lines of yarn, they do not extend to their other product lines.

Red Heart has recently made a very obvious effort to catch up with the knitting community as it shifts and changes from prolific grandmothers looking for a good value to calculated artists looking for quality. With approximately 40 different lines of yarn now, Red Heart is able to offer their basic yarns in hundreds of colors as well as newer innovations that allow creators more variety.

My two personal favorite yarn collections offered by Red Heart are relatively new to their lines called Eco Ways and Debbie Stoller. The Eco Ways group is made of three different yarns, the Bamboo Wool blend made of 55% bamboo and 45% wool, the Eco-Cotton blend made of 75% recycled cotton and 25% acrylic, and Eco-Ways made of 70% acrylic and 30% recycled polyester. These eco-friendly yarns use environmentally conscious fibers and print all of their labels on recycled paper. This sort of sustainable thinking is necessary in any setting and being able to maintain it when crafting is a huge bonus. All three of these yarns are very soft and easy to work with. They also all come in a very unique variety of colors that are specific to the dye-ability of each of the fibers used.

The Debbie Stoller collection is composed of four types of yarn that are all centered around the inclusion of natural fibers. These four yarns are Alpaca Love made of 80% wool and 20% alpaca, Bamboo Ewe made of 55% bamboo and 45% wool, Full O’ Sheep made of 100% wool, and Washable Ewe made of 100% superwash wool. Of course, in true Red Heart fashion all four of these types of yarn are offered in a huge variety of colors with a focus on bright jewel tones.

These yarns can be bought in most chain craft stores as well, so there is no need to hunt online for a mass distributor. Red Heart has made quality craft materials accessible to everyone with the introduction of the Eco Ways and Debbie Stoller collections thanks to their always low prices.

Which Red Heart products have you tried and liked/hated? Let me know in a comment so we can compare notes.

Neoteric Wool

Exploration of the modern world of wool creations

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