from the dyepot: for you and for me

Please meet Infinite Twist's newest yarn - Helix! 

Helix is a hand-dyed mill spun wool that's suitable for garments. Held double, it knits up really nicely on size 4 - 6 (3.5 - 4 mm) needles. 

So why a mill-spun yarn from a hand-spun company? The short answer is "sweaters."

The long answer is that  (1) I have yet to make a sweater out of hand-spun that really rocks my block - too bulky, too warm, not enough shaping, pilling under the arms, etc - and (2) sweaters made from variegated or multi-tonal yarn often lead to heartbreak - pooling, weird breaks between hanks, and on and on. 

I decided to try to solve both problems with one yarn. Helix is meant to be held double when knitted (12 wpi on its own), and putting two strands next to each other evens out the brighter and deeper colors so you get an over-all random and subtle color effect. 

It knits up in the "goldilocks" range - big enough to not drive me bonkers by taking forever, and small enough to deliver a tailored fit - i.e. not too bulky.

I've been swatching this week with an eye towards a sweater vest - more on this next week... and subsequent weeks as well, no doubt.

The other big project this week was creating sampler sets for designer collaborations. I can't tell you who yet, but steamer baskets full of samples are headed out to designers I've admired for a long time but have been too chicken to contact before now.

If all goes according to plan, I'll be some amazing new patterns and projects for Helix and all the hand-spun yarns in the coming months.