We’re starting the new year off with a very special announcement: the second installment in our Wool People series is all polished up and ready to take flight from the BT Nest!

We were humbled by the response to our first issue’s release in August, and have had a blast putting together a sequel to that collection. The new issue features work from 14 diverse talents from our industry – all of whom have been an honor to collaborate with.

As with our first volume, we shot for a balance of project types and skill levels in hopes of curating a group of patterns that is accessible to a wide range of knitters. We’re also thrilled that our roster of designers spans such an inspiring range: from long-time industry celebs to exciting break-out talent.

It was our first really cold photoshoot of the year, but it’s always worth braving the chill in the name of the pearlescent light that only Winter can deliver. Having woolen knitwear as your subject matter is certainly helpful, and our models were glad for it!

We invite you to sit down with a mug of something warm and flip through the pages of the Look Book to get to know the new collection. You can view it from right within your browser by clicking “Expand” below, or download the PDF version for on-the-go viewing later.

The patterns are all available as digital downloads through our website – with a portion of every pattern sale going directly to the designer for the lifetime of each design. 

We thought this was a great way to kick off the beginning of a new year, and hope you find something to keep your fingers contented as we head deeper into Winter.

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RESOURCES: Patterns from Wool People Volume 2 are available here. Yarns for each project are available here. View the Look Book on our website, or download the PDF version to your computer, tablet or mobile device.

I love New Years. To me there’s always a strong feeling of the collective whole taking stock of where we’re at. It’s a time of gratitude and looking forward. It feels great.

It’s been another whirlwind year for us as our little company continues to grow and refine itself. Today we’re slowing down and enjoying the quiet.

We’re so looking forward to another year of new ideas, projects and challenges. A sincere thanks to all for reading, commenting, and supporting what we do here – we’re so grateful!

November 1st has been marked with a giant red circle on our calendar at BT HQ for what seems like an eternity – we’ve just been dying for this day to finally come! Why? Because today we get to introduce you to our little darling: LOFT.

She is the newest member of our US-grown yarn family, and we simply love her.

From the very first time I laid my hands on Shelter, in early 2009 – months before its public debut – I couldn’t stop thinking about how perfect it would be to create a companion yarn in fingering weight. A light woolen-spun 2-ply is such a dreamy medium for lace and colorwork, especially for Wool Hounds like us (and likely, you too).

We weren’t surprised, either, to hear a steady stream of similar requests after Shelter’s official launch for that exact thing. We knew this yarn had potential to be a real stunner, so we took things slow, proceeding with caution and care (the way we like to do things around here). This one had to be just right.

Fast forward to today – 11 months since we began our first serious planning meeting with the mill in Harrisville – and it’s finally here. And what a journey it has been!

So what is Loft all about? From the outset we sought to design an ideal lightweight wool yarn for handknitters that looked and felt special. A yarn whose gently-spun nature mimicked the lightness and loft of handspun, and created stunning lace or stranded fabrics. We also dreamed of a substantial palette of stunning heathers worthy of serious Colorwork.

Our new color lineup boasts 32 carefully crafted dyed-in-the-wool shades – the original 17 from the Shelter palette, plus 15 newbies. The added colors were selected with our existing palette in mind; because each blend draws from the same 11 dyed solids, there is a cross-range coherence that makes the old colors pulse with new life.

Loft requires a slightly gentler touch than other yarns, but we think the results are so worth it. The lace fabrics it makes are so fluffy and light, they just beg to be cuddled, and the airy nature of the construction allows for a notable range of possible gauges. Loft can fluidly shift from dense fingering weight gauges like 9 spi in colorwork, on up to traditional sport weight gauges of 6 spi without losing fabric integrity – one of the hallmarks of true woolen-spun yarns, and as a design team, one of our favorite features (fabric variety!).

Each 50g hank packs a generous 275 yards, too – an added bonus for those of us who hate weaving in ends.

In celebration of Loft’s public release, our design team has put together an original collection to help introduce our shiny new treasures. We really indulged ourselves in lace (once you see the yarn, you’ll know why), but also threw in some colorwork and textured accessories, and even a pullover for good measure.

The best way to experience the collection and the new yarn is by viewing the Look Book – our biggest yet – which is bursting with  lush, Autumn-flavored photos, and plenty of info about the new undertaking. Just click on the cover below to view it in your browser. The patterns themselves are all available now for download.

I’d like to also take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support – it is the single reason that we are able to continue developing yarns and projects that truly inspire us, and bring us such joy in sharing.

Happy Lofting!

Very sincerely,
Jared and the BT Team

Resources: Loft yarn can be purchased online here. See The Loft Collection Look Book here. View all the designs from the collection on our website –including all pattern-specific information – here. See a list of our Flagship Retail Locations, each of which has the full palette of Loft in stock today.

I have new hat designs in a couple of Fall publications that were recently released. Designing for books has such a long timeline – both of these hats were designed over a year ago – so it’s always a funny thing ‘releasing’ them to you, when they feel like such distant memories already!

The Wanderer Cap is part of a new hat collection that was curated by my friends Cecily Glowik MacDonald and Melissa LaBarre called Weekend Hats. Interweave hasn’t officially released this title yet, but it is available for pre-order.

The hat was knit with Shelter in our Hayloft heather. It’s funny looking back on this after having just released Rosebud… I never seem to tire of using Garter Stitch as a backdrop for smaller, cabled details. The base of the ribbing utilized a crisp 1×1 tubular cast-on. A good tubular cast-on always delights me with its charm – such a clean, perfect way to start a new piece of fabric.

The second design is in the same color family. I guess I was really feeling the pull of golden, heathered yarns, eh? Tilden is a stranded hat for children, worked with 2 colors of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift. (I think every child should have a colorwork hat made with real Shetland wool!)

This hat design is included in a wonderful new book by Larissa Brown called My Grandmother’s Knitting. I’m always so excited when I see a knitting book that thinks outside of the box and brings something really unique to the crowded bookshelf. Larissa’s books always have that quality, and this one is no exception.

Larissa is interested in stories. With this work, she set about interviewing well-known designers in our industry to learn more about their family histories, and who it was that deeply effected their early growth and development as a Creative. Many designers share sweet stories about who it was that shaped their appreciation for our craft, and/or their artistic practice in general.

I speak a little about the creative influence that both my father and mother had on me while growing up.

Aside from some great handknitting patterns, the reading material is fantastic. (Side Bonus: baby photos of some of your favorite designers!)

The Tilden hat has a simple 2×2 ribbed brim and is constructed with 6 wedge-shapes that are staggered as they are shaped for the crown. It’s a non-traditional type of shaping that creates the subtlest bit of pointiness at the top of the crown (easily steamed flat, if desired). It’s a bit of geometric whimsy, playing with vertical lines and 45-degree angles throughout.

I hope you’ll enjoy either design, if you do choose to add either of these books to your libraries. For more info about either title, click the cover images below.

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Resources: The Wanderer Cap pattern can be found on Ravelry here; Tilden’s Ravelry page can be found here. Yarn for Wanderer is available here. Yarn for Tilden is available here. For links to either book mentioned in this post, please click the cover images above. The first four images in this post are original photographs and not featured in either publication.

Yesterday I walked out the front door of my apartment building and got about five steps before I stopped suddenly and realized…. I needed a scarf! For the first time since early Spring, I had an urge to don knits out of necessity. What a wonderful day it was! The second time I walked out the front door I savored the chill and ended up spending much more time out in the city than I have in quite some time.

The arrival of Fall this week (not on the calendar, but in feel) seemed like the perfect timing too, since we’ve been working hard behind the curtain to bring you a collection of designs inspired by this time of year. I’m happy to share with you BT FALL 11, a collection of 16 handknitting patterns.

This season I’m joined by designers Leila Raabe and Michele Wang (you’ve seen work from both of them in our first issue of Wool People). About 6 months ago, I approached each of these women to see if they’d be interested in coming together with me to form an official In-House Design Team at BT. To my great delight, they each accepted and the three of us have been happily collaborating on knitwear ever since!

Though we’ve been at it for a while now, we’re thrilled to be releasing our first group of designs as a team, just in time for the changing of the leaves. As with Wool People, we’ve put together a Look Book for the collection in hopes of giving you a pleasurable aesthetic introduction to the work. You can view it in the space below (click “expand” to view the full-screen version) or on our web site. If you’d like to download a free PDF copy to take along with you on your laptop, tablet, or device, you can get that here.

We were wooed by all sorts of surface texture as we were designing these patterns. We also wanted to make use of Shelter’s rich palette of Autumn, and create projects of all sizes and time-commitments. We hope there’s something in it for everyone to enjoy – happy Fall!

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RESOURCES: All the patterns in BT FALL 11 are available now for digital download here. Shelter US wool yarn is available here.

Though the garden is sprouting and Spring has arrived, work for Fall is well underway here in the studio.

I often think of swatches as post-it notes. They help me visualize a larger group of work and remind me of design details or color combinations in a more tangible way than sketches alone can.

Happy Monday to all — hope you had a wonderful weekend! Time to turn our hands to our work…

There has been a good deal of hat knitting going on over here lately. I’m not sure why exactly, although hat ideas always seem to arrive in herds for me. One concept feeding another. Today’s hat has been knit several times, by me and others at BT, and we think that it’s a great go-to when running out the door.

Fortnight was inspired by a child’s hat that my nephew wore all winter. It had a deep garter brim with a checkerboard (knit-purl) patterned crown. I was immediately drawn to the proportion of garter-to-pattern and wanted to make something similar. From that, this hat was born.

As I worked the first version, I started thinking about design-specific variations and ended up with two versions. The plain version, shown here in Embers (orange), has a standard brim with no additional shaping. The ‘earflap’ version (not full-on flaps, but subtle ones), shown in Soot (grey), uses short rows in the garter stitch to create a gently shaped brim that covers the ear and back neck. It’s subtle, but I really love that about it.

The shaped variety also utilizes an alternate color for the cast on, which adds a simple but effective accent to the simple brim. The hat knits up fast, and is one I found myself casting on for again (and again). But you know how it is.

The crown features some nice slipped-stitch cables, paired to make little horseshoes.

The hat comes in 3 sizes, each of which have invisible shaping within the brim for a nice fit. Happy gartering!

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Resources: The Fortnight Pattern is available here at BT or on Ravelry. SHELTER Yarn is available here — colors shown in samples are Embers, Soot, and Hayloft (accent color).

I’m spending the day packing up for a mammoth journey west to Madrona Fiber Arts – an amazing West Coast fiber event that is held annually in Tacoma, Washington (my home turf!).  It’s been fun pulling out this heap of samples and trying to maximize my suitcase real estate.

We will have mountains of Shelter available at the show in all of our colors – if you’re attending and want to get your hands on some, or fondle knitted samples, please stop by Churchmouse‘s booth to get your fix. I’ll be teaching workshops most of the weekend, but will be at the booth on Friday afternoon as well as doing a book signing in the Rotunda on Saturday evening at 5PM.

Madrona is widely respected as a class act among fiber festivals; I’m thrilled to be a part of it and looking forward to what is sure to be a whirlwind of inspiration.

It’s been quite an extreme winter seemingly everywhere, and the city here has been no exception. Several blizzards and ice storms have walloped us, leaving large snow deposits virtually everywhere the eye can see. From an observer’s perspective, I’ve really enjoyed witnessing the different types of snow as it falls, as well as how it behaves on the ground in the days (or weeks) following. There are currently glassy layers of ice covering oddly shaped mounds. Some are still white, thankfully.

The inevitable Quieting Of Things that snow heralds has been really great for me. I’ve been slowly but surely finding my way back to balance after a a very crazy period following Shelter’s launch, and feel my creativity restoring as a result.  I’ve used a good deal of this snowed-in interlude to work on new projects and get back to basics with a healthy amount of swatching – one of my favorite pastimes.

I’ve also been spending some serious time reading (or, re-reading) Sharon Miller’s work, and continue to marvel at the amazing tradition of Shetland Lace. Her new book – Love Darg Shetland Shawls – is fantastic.  Above is a swatch of one of my very favorite Shetland Edgings that I’ve been playing with.  I’m so taken by soft, wool garter stitch lace and have a few pieces on my needles.  Knitted lace worked in garter with fine-gauge wool creates fabric with such vitality.

Color has been a focus as well.  I think it’s a good idea to seek color inspiration outside of my yarn stash every so often. Last week I dumped the whole of my thread collection out and organized it in palette order to get the creative juices flowing. All this color creates a welcome contrast to the grey days.

Speaking of Shetland, I’ve been deeply enjoying the use of one of my most treasured souvenirs from the islands.  I brought back this large woven blanket from my trip and really adore it.  Jamieson & Smith sells these beauties in a number of different designs, all woven from hand-sorted, undyed Shetland fleece. For me, this is pure luxury. I could’ve taken the whole pile home! Each limited edition blanket comes complete with a tag identifying the specific Croft from which the sheep were sourced — mine originated at the Kirkhouse Voe Croft.

I’m sure the weather is helping you remember and enjoy your own special luxuries too.  Stay warm and keep the wool coming!

Back in September when I sent my first ever shop-bound shipment of Shelter, it was headed for Austin, TX. When I heard back from Suzanne, the owner of Hill Country Weavers, a few weeks later that she wanted to commission an Austin-inspired knitwear collection with the wool I was surprised and delighted, and more than thrilled to give them the green light.

I had the pleasure of making my first trip to Austin two years ago and was immediately charmed by the city and found an incredible amount of style inspiration there myself. I was excited to see what some Austin handknitters (and weavers!) would do when given the task of using their city as a muse.

On Christmas night, HCW debuted their collection to the world and I’m thrilled to be able to share some of the images with you here, all of which were shot on-site in Austin this winter by Meg Rice.

This hand woven blanket is a stunner!

This hat is knit in one piece, seamlessly -- I love it.

You’ll find full details on the collection in its entirety on HCW’s web site — some of the designs are also available on Ravelry.

A big thank you to HCW and their design team for putting this all together!