New Yarn Club, TdF, new yarn bases

It's an exciting - and changeable - time!

This newsletter has a lot of news…here’s a Table of Contents:

• Summer Yarn Club

• Walk With Us yarn or club preorder

• Tour de Fleece packs…and mystery fiber

• New Yarn Bases - what do you think?

• Bonus Goat

Ready? Let’s start with Summer Yarn Club!

We’re just about to finish up Choose Your Own Sheepventure, volume 1! It has been so much fun sharing a silly little story and having club members pick their path and yarn for the month. We can’t wait to do it again! (Volume 2 will start in January).

We would do this format forever, but our farmers’ market starts in June, and the logistics of the Sheepventure will have to yield to bread and bagels. But we’re excited to announce the new yarn club theme for the summer: Nature’s Interwoven Threads.

This yarn club will explore the relationships between plants, animals, and terrain in some of the most fascinating ecosystems on earth. For example, a colorway on a desert habitat might include stripes for a colorful chameleon, the iridescent beetles she eats, the flowering cactus she sits under, and the warm sun that heats her cold-blooded body. The yarns will be about the connections and flows of life and landscape.

We will be covering both “earthy” and vibrant ecosystems over the 3 months of club. Yarn will ship June 10, July 10, and August 10. You can choose to pay monthly, or all at once (all the details are here). Please note this is a special event of our regular yarn club, so if you are signed up for that, you are automatically included.

I hope you’ll join us!

Walk With Us yarn or club preorder! It is also time for our Quarterly Walk With Us club colorway! The yarn is based on spring ephemerals and is called Wildflower Walks. It includes stripes for Trillium, Dutchman’s Breeches, and Trout Lily.

You can preorder this yarn as a single skein or join us for the quarterly club. It is a “no surprises” club, which means you get a preview of the yarn and can choose to receive it or skip that quarter. Club members also receive a newsletter with photos and a story about the inspiration behind the yarn. We’d love to have you Walk With Us.

Tour de Fleece Packs! To me, summer means TdF! I love creating packs of mini batts for you to spin during the tour. Preorders are now open for the 2025 Tour de Fleece packs. The theme is Seaside and an ocean of blues, greens and sandy tans will be highlighted with the sun-bleached tones of beach houses and flora.

This year’s pack features 21 mini batts (0.25 oz each - for a total of 5.25 oz), and will ship by June 20. The Tour starts July 5!

I also have some unique fiber available! I was given bags of fiber from a spinner who purchased local fleeces and had them processed into roving. I’ve listed some of it in the shop to help you stock up for TdF! You can choose between Baby Alpaca, Llama, and A Mystery Fiber That is Likely Llama Or Maybe Alpaca Or Maybe Extraterrestrial.

30% of the purchase price of all this fiber will be donated to Wool-Aid, an organization that collects warm handknit clothing and distributes it to vulnerable children around the world.

It’s all really soft and clean, and I think you’ll enjoy working with it!

Finally, we arrive at New Yarn Bases - what do you think? I recently posted on Instagram about a supply crunch in the yarn world. The domestic mill that produces my Targhee and Merino bases shut down a few months ago and is not yet milling wool again. They have now run out of their previous inventory of yarn. This was a shock and surprise, as no one from the mill told the dyers this was happening. It also has put pressure on the Corriedale yarn I get from another source, as a whole sea of Targhee dyers look for alternatives.

So, I am suddenly unable to source my standard yarn bases. In the next few months, the yarns we offer are going to start to look different and I would love to hear your opinions on the available alternatives.

I will soon be testing a SW Merino/Nylon/Tencel base (75/15/10). We like the stats on this because the yardage is similar to Targhee Fingering - that is, we’ll retain some of the plumpness of the yarn. Tencel is made from bamboo and is shiny like silk. I have so little experience with it, so if you have thoughts, I’d be so glad to hear them. This yarn is also a comparable price to Targhee.

The two other options we’re looking at are a SW BFL/nylon (75/25), and a SW Merino/Cashmere/Nylon (80/10/10). Both of these would be at a slight increase in cost ($36 instead of our standard $34), but we’re excited about them! The BFL is an excellent sock-worthy, non-merino option (these are oh so hard to find!). The MCN is a favorite for Bill who LOVES cranking it on his Circular Sock Machine. He gets so excited when you send it with your stash cranking orders. We think it makes a great, dense fabric for socks.

Please let me know what you think of these options! And thank you for your patience as we navigate this unexpected road bump (“massive pot hole” would be a more appropriate colloquialism, I think).

Ok. Lots of news. Here’s a goat for sticking with me to the end of the newsletter!

Pebblesnatch, with a mouth full of honeysuckle. She looks quite pleased. She doesn’t have to worry about yarn availability.

Thank you so much for your interest in our tiny shop!! We’re so grateful for your support and encouragement. You’re the best!!