kits

breed specific swatch pair packs

$ 32.00

Want to learn about different breeds of sheep and how their wool looks, feels and performs differently? The best way is to experiencing them first hand: knit, test and record.

In each swatch pair pack you will get two 80 yard skeins of yarn selected for contrast to provide an experience for your hands and build your knitter’s cache of knowledge. Each pair pack is numbered so that if you try one and get hooked...you can look for another that will give you an experience of two other yarns for a new experience.

You will be able to make two swatches from each skein: One 6" x 6" Stockinette stitch swatch surrounded by a Garter stitch border and a second swatch approximately 8" x 8" with your choice of stitch patterns.

Keeping a record of your experiences will pay dividends in future projects. There are two SWATCH NOTES in each pack. Fill them starting even before winding into a ball and after you're done, keep them with your swatches.

Soap box pitch:

Spinners are able to do breed studies fairly readily now. Their interest and support encourages more shepherds/farms and companies to pay attention to fleece and breeds. The result is a greater variety of fleece and roving available (which supports a greater diversity of sheep!).

Knitters have a harder time. There are more breed-specific yarns now than there were a decade ago, and if knitters are looking for more variety in their yarns and get interested and excited about them, companies will seek out and make more.

Knitting, like eating, is an agricultural act! We applaud your interest in breed-specific yarns and hope you will begin to ask your yarn stores, manufacturers and on social media that you want them.

Thank ewe!

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intersections hat kit with Llama-rama! yarn

$ 33.00

description
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about this wool

designed by Pamela Wynne. A tartan hat is classic, but you don’t always want the thick fabric of stranded color work. This simple hat is worked in horizontal stripes in the round, with columns of rib stitches where the vertical contrast stripes will go. After finishing the knitting, the vertical stripes are added as easy crocheted slip stitches.
kit includes: two contrasting colors of llama-rams! yarn in center pull balls and pattern.
finished size: Adult XS (S, M, L, XL) Circumference: 16.5 (18, 19.5, 21, 22.5)" / 42 (46, 50, 53, 57) cm, unstretched. Two length options: fitted beanie or slouchy beanie
needles (not included in kit): size 2.5 (US) / 2.75 mm circular knitting needle in 16" / 41 cm length or size to obtain gauge; size 2.5 (US) / 2.75 mm double pointed needles; size D (US) / 3.25 mm crochet hook
fiber source: hand selected llama fleeces from "The Farm" (our friends from Endless Summer Harvest's other farm where they raise llamas) and Downey Ridge Farm in Luray, Virginia. Romney from Solitude and Weather lea in Loudoun County, Virginia.
fiber content: 50% llama and 50% Romney wooll.
Llama is a camalid fiber, actually more like hair than sheep wool which has crimp. Llamas natural colors are different than sheep and we love the ecru, brown and bittersweet brown in this yarn which are not dyed at all. The strong and drapey nature of this yarn lend itself to both crochet and weaving as well as knitting.

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Solitude Dots hat kit with yarn and pattern

$ 39.00

description
details
about this wool

"we love dots! knit in a true woolen spun yarn from the last mule-spinner in the U.S., Montadale Woolen is a light-weight worsted yarn that will keep you warm & cozy without any itchiness — and the random color dots will warm your mood even on cold gray winter days check solitudewool.com for kits for this hat."
kit includes: one skein of Montadale true woolen in center pull ball, 7 colors of Romney semi-worsted spun yarn in small center pull balls for the dots and pattern.
finished size: Circumference 18.25" (20.5, 22.75)"/465 (520, 575) mm, unstretched Length 9.5" (10, 11)" / 240 (255, 280) mm
needles (not included in kit): 6 (US)/4 mm* double pointed needles 8 (US) / 5mm* double pointed needles *size needed to get gauge
notions: locking open stitch markers gauge: 14 sts and 24 rows = 4"/10cm in stockinette stitch on larger needles, blocked
skills: Knitting in the round, purling, duplicate stitch, reading charts
fiber source: Montadale: hand selected fleeces from Saffer's Montadales in Warwick, Maryland on the Eastern Shore. Romney: hand selected fleeces from Weather Lea Farm and Solitude (partner Gretchen Frederick's farm) both in Loudoun County, Virginia
fiber content: 100% Montadale wool and 100% Romney wool
Montadale is a modern US breed developed in the 1930's in the mid-west from Cheviot rams with Columbia ewes. These sheep are raised for both meat and their exceptionally white wool which is in the "medium" range. Medium is right in the middle of all the types of wool and makes an excellent knitting yarn that is fairly soft and yet still fairly strong. Romney is a longwool breed originally from the RomneyMarsh area of southeast England. on the softer end of the Longwool spectrum, it still has excellent strength, shine and drape. The fleece for our yarn comes from both white and natural colored sheep.