We Made It!

Posted bytwistedfiberartPosted inUncategorized

April is finally here. The snow has melted and the birds are making their way back into our lives. I love taking that first deep breath as I leave my house in the early morning. The smells of spring, of new growth fill me and put me in such a great mood. I’m ready to conquer the day! The very first day it was above 50 degrees (F) I grabbed my afghan, a nice fluffy sweatshirt, a glass of wine and my knitting and made myself comfy out on the back porch.
Check out these awesome small projects, great for a quick knit in the fresh air!

New Colorways

“Why do you go away?
So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors.
And the people there see you differently, too.
Coming back to where you started is not the same thing as never leaving.”
– Terry Pratchet, A Hat Full of Sky.

We are all big Terry Pratchett fans here at the studio and were saddened to hear of his death this past month. Over the years Meg has created two different colorways based his works. Ankh is in reference to the city-state of Ankh-Morpork, and Octarine is the color of magic.
This April in memory of Terry Pratchet we will make both of these colorways available. When we firs heard of his passing Meg went to her most creative of places and developed two more colorways in honor of this most wonderful author.

We are honored to introduce to you Discworld and Unity.

Vibrant blue, soothing green, and neutral brown and gray. This colorway was inspired by Terry Pratchett's Discworld: a flat world, the ocean running off the edges, balanced on the backs of four elephants standing on the back of a giant turtle swimming through space (Josh Kirby's illustration can be viewed here, and Paul Kidby's here). After Sir Terry Pratchett's passing, I wanted to honor the mind that came up with characters as vibrant as any of our colorways: the god Nuggan unto whom the color blue is an abomination, Post Master Moist Von Lipwig (who sold stamps by making them look, and smell, like cabbages), the leather-armored and cardboard-booted Captain Vimes, and many more.
Vibrant blue, soothing green, and neutral brown and gray. This colorway was inspired by Terry Pratchett’s Discworld: a flat world, the ocean running off the edges, balanced on the backs of four elephants standing on the back of a giant turtle swimming through space (Josh Kirby’s illustration can be viewed here, and Paul Kidby’s here). After Sir Terry Pratchett’s passing, I wanted to honor the mind that came up with characters as vibrant as any of our colorways: the god Nuggan unto whom the color blue is an abomination, Post Master Moist Von Lipwig (who sold stamps by making them look, and smell, like cabbages), the leather-armored and cardboard-booted Captain Vimes, and many more.
Rich chocolate brown and brilliant cerise. Reading Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time, I couldn't help but root for Unity. She started out as the most conformist being in existence, and ended up in a slinky, sequined evening gown paired with long cerise bloomers and armed with the best chocolate money can buy--because when you've got that much style, "death by chocolate" isn't just an empty phrase. As Unity says: "I was one of them. Now I rather think I'm one of me." Let the unique blend of soothing and vibrant in this colorway remind you to be one of...you!
Rich chocolate brown and brilliant cerise. Reading Terry Pratchett’s Thief of Time, I couldn’t help but root for Unity. She started out as the most conformist being in existence, and ended up in a slinky, sequined evening gown paired with long cerise bloomers and armed with the best chocolate money can buy–because when you’ve got that much style, “death by chocolate” isn’t just an empty phrase. As Unity says: “I was one of them. Now I rather think I’m one of me.” Let the unique blend of soothing and vibrant in this colorway remind you to be one of…you!

Featured Product:

Long Repeat Striping

Many of you have used our classic striping skeins to make socks, hats, scarves and more. This month am highlighting one of our products that I think is often under-appreciated and under-utilized. Jumbo – Long Repeat Striping skeins are similar to Classic striping skeins but the bands of color are much wider and add a dramatic effect to the finished product. Long repeat striping can be used in a variety of products. It works great for scarves, hats, kits and gloves, sweaters, shawls … you name it! All of the featured projects above were made using Jumbo skeins. To get a better idea of how the two vary, here are two projects that our own KnitterlyAnne knitted side by side.

Jumbo Comparison
On the left is Dowager Rowan Scarf on our Dowager Club colorway on Tasty in a Classic skein. On the right is Le Cirque Rowan Scarf on Le Cirque colorway on Tasty Jumbo Striping .

Twisted News!

In Rotation this Month

Available starting April 10, 2015

Out of Rotation this Month

Available until April 10, 2015

The Skein Minder

Twisted has discovered a very cool new tool that we think can help our little business immensely! The Skein Minder was developed by Carrie Sundra as a way to be more efficient in her job as an independent yarn dyer. Sound familiar? We love her product and have backed her as fully as we are able to in her Kickstarter campaign, but we can’t do it alone. Please consider helping Carrie to meet her goal so that indie dyers (like TFA for example) can take advantage of this unique technology and process your yarn faster and more efficiently. There are several yarn and beer rewards, you don’t have to pledge for the unit to support the project!

Skein Minder

Inspiration!

Have an idea or inspiration for a new colorway? Drop us a line.

Need inspiration? Check out what people in our Ravelry Group are knitting!

Come see the show!

If you are too far to stop into our shop but still want to experience our yarn and rovings first hand why not plan a trip to join us at one of the yarn shows we attend? You can find our current list below but keep on the lookout for new additions in a town near you! Do you attend a show that we are missing and want to see us there? Send an email to goods@twistedfiberart.com and give us a heads up!

Yarn ConYarn Con

Saturday April 18th – Sunday April 19th 2015

YarnCon is Chicago’s homegrown yarn-centric exhibition — a place to promote, sell, and celebrate the yarny arts. YarnCon aims to be the premier market for independent producers of yarn, knitted/crocheted objects, fiber for spinning, tools, gadgets, books, patterns, instructions, and gifts related to spinning, knitting, crochet, and weaving.

Stitches-MidwestStitches Midwest

Thursday August 6th – Sunday August 9th 2015

Join us at the Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center in the Windy City!

Published by twistedfiberart

Twisted was started in 2005 as a way to help support my family while I was a stay-at-home mom until I went back to work. Eventually I realized I was at work. I think it's safe to say that Twisted is going to be around for a while! I was lucky to start selling my handspun around the time Etsy was catching on. I learned a lot about yarn and knit fabrics and what I wanted them to look like. This information was crucial to the development of my current process. Soon I was selling lots of striping sock yarn (mostly Arial and Duchess). Demand grew and so did Twisted. Aggie came to work with me. She could skein so precisely and measure dyes so accurately! (I still miss her. But she is now a stay-at-home mom and volunteer for animal rescue and I wish her well!) While she was here we moved to our current studio space and switched to our own website. My mother, Anne, is even more experienced with computers than she is with knitting (very!). She helped a ton with the new site which allows for more options, customization and flexibility. She also does our sample knitting and lots of random yarn and computer tasks. My husband does the books and washes the yarn. Both of our kids help out as their busy schedules permit. I love having a family business! I was lucky to start selling from my own site about the time Ravelry was catching on. I think that might be the magic ingredient to my small business success! Thank you Casey and Jess! As much as I love striping sock yarn, I was longing to move in a new direction: Evolutions. This had been part of my master plan from the beginning, but sock yarn kept me busy until I couldn't hold it in any longer. Then I really needed more help! Anne Bohl joined the team and added her style and skills to the mix. She quickly became indispensable and is now a partner in the business. We are both so grateful for the opportunity to be able to put our families first while helping support our families and interact with the lovely yarn community! Thanks to all of you for making this possible! The Twisted Studio was housed in the servant's quarters of my 150 year old Italianate home for seven years until we were bursting at the seams. We are now located around the corner in a great store called Kean's - a crafter's paradise that has been run by the same family for nearly 100 years. It is the cutest store around and we are lucky to have enough space there to do the dyeing for our webstore as well as a small but beautiful retail spot. So come see us, we'd love to meet you face to face! See store hours, address and contact info here. Cheers! Meg

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