From Stage to Stitches: The Jetty Cardigan Designer, Cheryl Toy
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Yarn of the Month – Lore
It is October (already!), and this month we are celebrating our second Yarn of the Month with Lore. As part of the celebrations, we have created a few short films about the yarn and will be launching new knitting patterns which show off the beautiful qualities of this yarn.
Made in England’s historical textile region of West Yorkshire, Lore is 100% lambswool from the Romney sheep, locally known as Kent lamb. It is an honest woolen-spun DK weight yarn that blooms beautifully after washing, making it a perfect yarn for colourwork. Garments made from Lore will wear well and are perfect for everyday and special adventures alike.
The Beginning
The story of Lore is quite personal to The Fibre Co. Founder Daphne Marinopoulos. While packing to begin a new life in the United Kingdom, Daphne came across a sweater she had knit many years before. The sweater brought back a flood of memories, and set off a two-year process to develop a yarn rooted in the idea of ‘Wool as Story’. You can hear Daphne tell the story in the second film short about this yarn, released later this month.
The Qualities
Lore was inspired by the traditional woolly wools which have been spun in the United Kingdom for hundreds of years. To pay homage to this rich history in her new homeland, Daphne searched out a mill in the heart of the historical textile region of West Yorkshire. Experts at the mill helped her to source a wool that would honestly represent the rich heritage of the place, and, at the same time, be very wearable for today’s knitters: Romney lambswool.
Romney lambswool is classified as a medium fibre, making it perfect for everyday projects. The yarn will wear well with use over time and has a rustic appearance. As a DK-weight woollen-spun yarn, Lore makes a lofty fabric that traps air in its tangled fibres to provide warmth without weight.
And like most woollen-spun yarns, the fibres in the yarn relax and ‘bloom’ after a full soak. The fabric becomes softer and evens out beautifully.
It is an incredibly forgiving yarn, making it great for beginners who are still learning to create an even tension across their stitches.
Knitting Lore
Knitters in search of knitting patterns that use Lore are really spoilt for choice. Our most recent design for Lore is the Echinacea hat pattern.
Echinacea is a cute slouchy beanie designed by Karie Westermann that combines a classic gansey motif with a single Tree of Life cable column. This is a fantastic project for beginners who would like a gentle introduction to gansey stitch patterns and cabling. It required just one hank of yarn, has both charted and written out instructions, and it comes in 3 sizes.
Echinacea is the second pattern in our collection The Almanac Series, a seasonal guide to knitting with The Fibre Co. yarns, and it needs only one hank, so it is a great project to try Lore out.
Lore in Colour
Daphne designed a beautiful palette of softly heathered colours for Lore, that were created by blending dyed-in-the-wool fibre before it is spun. This process results in yarns that retain tiny flashes of each colour that goes into the yarn and makes for a complex and rich shades that harmonise well with each other, making Lore a great yarn for colourwork. This is why we offer 25g Lore minis, which are perfect for getting the perfect amount of yarn for your colourwork project.
One of our favourite stranded colourwork designs here at The Fibre Co. is Seacross, a seamless sweater knitted from the top down with a stunning five-colour yoke which was designed to show off Lore’s coordinated colour palette.
The pattern includes two sets of instructions for the colourwork: one for knitters who are comfortable stranding several colours at once and one with Swiss darning instructions for those who are less comfortable. Either way, it is a great project for knitters who would like to push their stranded colourwork skills!
If you would like to see all the shades in real life, we have Lore Shade Card to help you get the perfect combinations.
The Borrowdale Collection
Finally, when Lore was launched, we also launched a 21-piece collection with designs from some of our favourite indie designers. The Borrowdale Collection is made for everyday adventures – the kind of pieces you could wear out on a hike or snuggled up on the sofa.
Each piece is designed to be fun and engaging to make, featuring clever techniques and enjoyable stitch patterns. The finished objects are timeless, practical and beautiful pieces that will slot easily into your everyday wardrobe, with projects for beginners, intermediate and advanced knitters, there is really something for everyone!
You can see all the designs in our virtual trunk show here.
If you have enjoyed knitting with Lore, please don’t forget to share it with us! Please use the #TheFibreCoLore when you post about it on social media and tag us with @thefibercompany on Instagram and @TheFibreCo on Facebook when you post so we can admire your beautiful projects!
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