As we mentioned in yesterday’s post, besides the gorgeous sweater designed by Hannah Fettig in Organik, both Kate and Courtney have designs in the 5th Anniversary issue of Knitscene that feature the Fibre Company yarns. Oscilloscope Shawl. Photograph by Joe Coca + © Knitscene Kate’s design, the Oscilloscope Shawl, named after the sawtooth waves made…
Knitscene Fall 2010!
As always, when we were presented with the opportunity to work with Lisa Shroyer for the Fall 2010 issue of Knitscene, we jumped at the chance! The 5th anniversary issue is packed with a wide variety of projects covering a broad spectrum of techniques, styles and yarns. One of the unique and interesting aspects of…
Hello, old friend!
We are very happy to announce the reintroduction of a beloved Fibre Company favorite, Savannah DK. Originally introduced in January of 2007, Savannah went on a hiatus when we took over the distribution of The Fibre Company yarns. Although available for such a short time, Savannah quickly became one of The Fibre Company’s most beloved…
Fall Cardigan Collection Preview
For your viewing pleasure, and in an effort to continue the cardigan theme from the last post, we thought we would share with you images from our second for sale pattern collection. We’re shooting for an end of July ‘availability’ date and they will be wholesaled to shops + for sale on the site in…
New Design! Vogue Early Fall 2010: #19
The new Vogue Early Fall 2010 preview is up and we are excited to announce that Kate has a sweater she designed and knit out of Terra featured in “The Weekenders”, a collection of cardigans (her favorite!) The sweater is designed with a longer body, deep cable rib cuffs and hem and seed stitch body…
Finished Project – crooked paths by Melissa LaBarre
Kate finally – and we mean fi-na-lly! – took some photos today of her finished crooked paths hat, designed by Melissa LaBarre of knitting school dropout. The minute Kate saw the pattern, she wanted to knit it out of Organik in Crater Lake. It only took her a few days to knit up (back in,…
Kelbourne Woolens at Knitty City
Just a quick note to let you know we will be giving a little talk at Knitty City in NYC tomorrow (Thursday) night from 6-8 pm! We will have a trunk show, wholesale patterns for sale and open skeins of all of our yarns for you to swatch with. There will be door prizes and…
An Interview with: Hannah Fettig of Knitbot
Hannah Fettig of Knitbot was one of the first people we were SO lucky to meet when we first started the Kelbourne Woolens/Fibre Company process in 2008. She has always been a huge supporter and lover of the Fibre Company yarns, and we love reading her blog, seeing her in person and finding her name…
Hat patterns now available online!
We are pleased to announce that our first collection of ‘for sale’ patterns is now available as individual downloads online for your knitting enjoyment! We have set up the patterns to be purchased as direct .pdf downloads using Payloadz. From the main wholesale patterns page, just select the hat you wish to purchase, and click…
On the Road Again…
We just returned from a very successful extended weekend in lovely Boston, and Kate is heading out tomorrow for her long overdue honeymoon. As soon as she returns we hit the road again and head back to Massachussetts, Sturbridge this time, for the New England Needlework Association Convention. Are you a stockist or yarn shop…
Advertising that Works!
We spend a good amount of our time fielding calls and emails from the knitting public who are looking to purchase The Fibre Company yarns. After a lot of brainstorming sessions we have decided to offer our stockists the opportunity to advertise, at no cost, on our blog as an additional means of providing knitters…
Finished Project: Conifer Shawl
When Kate posted about the Conifer Shawl (rav link) about a month ago, she was well into her “redux” and chugging along. Like most (well, lets be honest, all) of her knitting projects, the final result took a wee bit longer than expected, but she is delighted with the finished result! Her version, as previously…
A Name is a Name is a Name
Do you ever dream about having the job where you get to name the colors of the t-shirts in the J.Crew catalog? Irish Moss, Sepia, Shadow….Well, in a smaller way, this is one of the things we do whenever we introduce new yarns, colors and patterns. Sometimes the name of a pattern is obvious, “Striped…
New Free Pattern! Poplar Cowl
We are delighted to be offering a new free pattern for you, the Poplar Cowl! Our free pattern selection in Organik was looking pretty sad, so we are doubly excited to be adding this one to the Kelbourne Woolens collection. The Poplar Cowl, is – you guessed it! – a cowl knit using a knit…
Wholesale Patterns Available Now!
En Blekksprut by Kate Gagnon Osborn Whew! Frukttradgard by Melissa Labarre We are very excited to announce that our first wholesale patterns, a collection of six individual hat patterns, are available now! It took a little bit longer than we originally intended to get them ready for production, but we really wanted to make sure…
Behind the Scenes
The weather in Philadelphia today has been really gorgeous, so we took the opportunity to take some photos of some new Kelbourne Woolens/Fibre Company patterns in the works. Here’s some sneak peeks! Cowl in Organik An updated Petal Tank in Terra Plaid Hat in Road to China Light All three pattern should be available soon,…
Knitscene Winter Spring 2010 – Conifer Shawl
Although we’re a little late to the show (can you tell March is “catch-up” month?), we’re really happy to announce Kate’s newest published pattern in Knitscene, the Conifer Shawl (rav link). The inspiration for this shawl came when Kate was on vacation with her family in Maine. Every summer, they leave the hot, humid city…
An Interview with: Anne Kuo Lukito
This post is a long time coming, and we’re so glad to have found the time to finally put it up! We met Anne, of Crafty Diversions and the Handicraft Cafe at our first TNNA in January of 2009. She has always been a huge fan and supporter of the Fibre Company and our yarns. …
Fiddlehead Continued…
Sorry for the loooong pause in the tale of this sweater. We have been furiously knitting for our book deadlines (more on that soon!) and we have finally come up for a breath of air. Courtney has actually not even touched this poor lonely Canopy Worsted sweater in almost 2 months, and is so excited…
Haitian Relief Auction – a joint auction with Kristen Rengren
Like all of you, we were devastated to hear of the tragic earthquake in Haiti last week. Many knitters immediately joined a fund-raising effort in order to support the aid to this country and it has been wonderful to see and hear of the tens of thousands of dollars that have been donated so far. …
Spotlight on: Organik
We continue our yarn spotlight this week with Organik, a single ply worsted weight yarn that we feel, sadly, does not get its fair share of accolades! Organik began its life as a single ply 70% Organic New Zealand Wool, 15% Alpaca, and 15% Silk and had a different “hand” than most other Fibre Co….
Canopy Worsted Revisited
A few weeks ago while noodling around on Ravelry we came across this amazing sweater, knit out of Canopy Worsted. It was, coincidentally, knit by Sonali (knittingowl on ravelry) who used to live in Philadelphia and bought the Canopy Worsted to make this sweater at the local yarn store we also frequent. Small world! Sonali…
Spotlight on: Canopy Worsted
We’re continuing with our Canopy theme this week with a spotlight on Canopy Worsted, the (aptly named) worsted weight cousin to Canopy Fingering. Many of the same properties apply when talking about the Worsted and Fingering — it is the same wonderful blend of 50% Baby Alpaca, 30% Merino, and 20% Bamboo. It has a…
Fiddlehead Pullover on The Purl Bee
We are very excited to share a Purl Bee exclusive, the Fiddlehead Pullover with you! I designed this sweet pullover for infants 0-6 or 6-12 months and it was featured last week on the Purl Bee website. The Fiddlehead Pullover uses Canopy Fingering, just 2 or 3 skeins. For more information on Canopy Fingering, check…
Spotlight on: Canopy Fingering
Whew. Sorry for the radio silence there. Where were we? Ah, yes. Yarn Spotlights. We have had Canopy Fingering next on the list to feature, and it turns out to be perfect timing! While we usually are particularly in love with whichever yarn we are knitting with at that moment (and as this is being…
An Interview with: Anne Hanson
We are happy to interrupt our yarn spotlight postings with an interview with Anne Hanson, the talented and lovely designer! We meet Anne at our very first TNNA in January and were delighted to be able to put a few skeins of yarn into her hands. As the time went by and we became busier…
Spotlight On: Terra
As we continue with our yarn spotlight, it seemed fitting to focus on a classic Fibre Co. yarn, Terra. Terra has been a favorite of fans of the Fibre Co. for years, and if you have ever seen or knit with it, you will know why! Terra is a blend of 40% Baby Alpaca, 40% Merino,…
Spotlight on: Road to China Worsted
As we dive deeper and deeper into our knitting for future patterns, the ability to share what we’ve been up to has decreased even more dramatically than before. (More on that in a bit). We both know that is no fun for a blog, especially one that is supposed to be about knitting, so we…
Vogue Knitting Fall 2009 – #13 Lace Beret
Kate was delighted when Tanis Gray approached her to submit a hat design for this Fall’s issue of Vogue Knitting. Not only was Tanis wonderful to work with, but it is a well-known fact that Kate loves designing slightly slouchy hats. For her inspiration, Kate thought about late summer and early fall knitting and what…
Interweave Knits Fall 2009: Freyja Hat and Sweater
It should be pretty clear at this point that a lot of our design inspiration comes from classic techniques, applications or colors to which we add a quirky or modern twist. The beautiful Freyja Sweater (bonus photos!) and hat designed by Courtney and featured in this Fall’s Interweave Knits is no exception. Knit in the…
In the beginning…
…there’s always a swatch. Or, I suppose I ought to say there should always be. I always swatched…a little bit. But honestly, after the 5th time ripping and re-knitting one starts to see the obvious advantages to taking a few days extra to perfect the swatch. I have become a painstaking swatcher – a relatively…
Hollywood Herringbone Sweater
Some of you may have found a sneak peek of my new design for Knitscene Magazine featured in Knitting Daily at the beginning of the month in your inbox. The full preview for the issue is now up on Knitscene.com, and the magazine is now available in your local yarn shops! The Hollywood Herringbone uses…
Artisan Yarns: a note
With so many lovely hand-dyed yarns out there most of us have gotten used to dealing with the variegated yarns pooling, striping and other anomalies. As a result we all have different ways of coping with the shift from skein to skein in a hand-dyed multi and take precautions when knitting something that takes multiple…
New Free Pattern, Mi’raj Shrug
Mi’raj means ladder in arabic, and that is the effect that the simple stitch pattern gives to this simple to knit garment. It is worked from cuff to cuff, first in the round, then back and forth for the opening then in the round again with an easy double yarn over stitch pattern. There are…
Kindred Knits
Our lovely friend Hannah at Knitbot has published a new pattern using Road to China Worsted, the Ribbed Pullover Vest. It uses 4 (4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9) skeins of The Fibre Co. Road to China WW in Garnet for finished bust sizes of 23 (25, 27, 28, 30, 32,…
Ysolda visits Kelbourne Woolens!
Philadelphia was lucky enough to be one of the stops on Ysolda’s whirlwind United States tour. Although we experienced a heat wave of insane proportions over the weekend, we were able to show her a pretty great time! Sunday began with a day at Rosie’s and ended with delicious drinks and tapas at Tria where…
A New and Improved Lucille!
I know, I know. There were some bugs in the system, so to speak. Luckily for you all (and us!) one of our fans, Shannon The Magnificent, worked through the larger size of Lucille with us and many many emails and pdfs later we have updated the pattern! If you have downloaded the pattern before…
New Free Pattern: Alice
We were incredibly excited when one of the first large projects we worked on as the new distributors was the product development for the Lightweight Road to China. It is a soft and luxurious lighter weight cousin to the original Road to China with beautiful drape and a slight sheen. At 159 yards/50 grams per…
New Free Pattern: Springtime Bandit
Armed with a few skeins of Terra, the set-up chart for the Springtime in Philadelphia beret and a plane flight to CA for TNNA in January, Kate started playing around with the idea of converting the circular beret into a triangle. The combination of modern yarn that is butter soft but has a slightly rustic…
New Free Patterns: Lychee Mittens, Tree of Life Wristlets, and Queenie Bee
Today we bring you a trifecta of patterns: Two handwarmers and a scarf, perfect for the cold dreary months of late winter. The Lychee Mittens are a pair of cute simple striped mittens knit out of two complimentary colors of Terra. They were designed to showcase the beautiful depth of color, organic texture and softness…
Knitscene Winter 2008/Spring 2009
We were delighted when Lisa Shroyer approached us about including an article in the Winter 2008/Spring 2009 Knitscene Magazine on Kelbourne Woolens and the Fibre Company distributorship. It was a delight to work with Lisa and we are so happy with how the article came out! It is a wonderful insight into Kelbourne Woolens and…
Wesley
Our holiday gift to you: Wesley, a beret knit out of the amazingly soft Organik! Continuing with knits inspired by woven textiles, (and hats!) Kate designed this beret in three colors to best showcase the stitch. True to her other designs, the decreases are incorporated into the stitch pattern to create a continuous crown. As an…
Opus Spicatum
Opus Spicatum is a new free pattern is up on Ravelry! Both Courtney and I have very strong backgrounds in weaving and I have always been intrigued by knitting stitches that resemble woven fabric. One of these stitches is the many permutations of the herringbone fair isle pattern. I modified the pattern a bit to…
Interview with Hannah Fettig
While we were at Stitches East in Baltimore at the beginning of November, we spotted Hannah Fettig (to be honest, we spotted her beautiful vest first) so we….well…we accosted her in the aisle. Hannah has the delightful blog, Knitbot, and author of a really great book Closely Knit: Handmade Gifts for the Ones You Love. After…
We’re Famous!*
Kate’s mom called her last weekend after reading the Daily Hampshire Gazette, the local newspaper in Western Massachusetts where she is from. Turns out, in a blurb on hats, the Springtime in Philadelphia beret was one of the recommended features from Webs. We all know Webs carries a ton of yarn, so it was nice…
Give A Hoot!
Give A Hoot is our newest free pattern download. Designed by Jocelyn Tunney, this pattern features a unique thumb gusset and the classic cable owl motif we all know and love. The owls are worked on a reverse stockinette stitch background and feature 1/8″ mother of pearl buttons as eyes. The image on the back…
hello!
Whew. Welcome to our blog! Here you will find links to our new free patterns (check out our newest pattern Lucille, a vintage inspired 2 piece baby set knit in Canopy Fingering here), tutorials on knitting techniques found in our published designs or little tidbits we find interesting and want to share, design inspiration, yarn…