My November pattern, the Aldred Mittens, used Canadian yarn from two sister companies: Fleece Artist and Handmaiden Fine Yarn. It’s not really a surprise to me that I had appropriate yarn from them in my stash to knit with!
These wonderful companies and the yarns they dye are familiar to many knitters in Canada and around the world. They are very dear to me from my early forays into knitting and designing. I’ve used their yarn to make socks, shawls, and gloves. Some items were for me but many were gifts. It was inevitable that I should use yarn from these companies in my designs as well.
I used Handmaiden Fine Yarns Sea Silk for the large version of my Chrysler Crown Shawl. I remember how happy I was to find two matched skeins of this yarn and it seemed like the perfect yarn to use in my very first paid pattern.
I used Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 and Angel Hair for my first third-party submission to Knitcircus. Tudor Ruffles was a textured scarf, and the idea for it had come from the beautiful yarn from Fleece Artist. I really wanted to use as much of the yarn as possible because I was in love with the colours. My goal was to show off the matching lace weight and fingering weight yarns. This is what I came up with:
I also made a golden version that used Fleece Artist Opaca for the lace weight yarn:
When I was working on my Summer in Provence series of patterns I used Handmaiden Fine Yarn Ottawa for my large Poppy Field Shawl. I just wore this cozy shawl a couple of days ago and I still love it!
Childeric’s Bees was a great excuse to play with Handmaiden Fine Yarn’s Mini Maiden.
Not only have I knit with yarn from these companies, I’ve also spun fiber! My recent Giftable Cowl was knit with lovely 4 ply yarn that I made from Fleece Artist Merino that I got for my birthday.
Fleece Artist and Handmaiden Fine Yarns make many different yarns and I’ve used quite a few. In fact you could almost say that Fleece Artist yarns are at least partially responsible for me being in a position to write this blog post. Back in 2005 when I was very pregnant with my first child I was getting ready to go to my husband’s work party. I was huge and I didn’t have anything appropriate to wear. I wore a silk shawl I’d made and a plain t-shirt I’d bought to wear with it. A fellow knitter approached me in the bathroom to chat about the shawl, and as a result I started going to a sit & knit afternoon at my LYS. The friends I’ve made and the skills and ideas I’ve gleaned from those sessions have helped to turn me into the knitter that I am today. Thanks!
