Letters
Hudson Mini Skeins Are Here!
Dear Ann,
When we started our little Shop ten months ago, we were on a mission to bring knitters the most interesting, most special things. And we’ve found those things all over the place. The hunt has been so much fun, like being personal shoppers for hundreds of knitters. Our guide: if we have to have it ourselves, it’s worthy of consideration, whether it’s something rare and beautiful, or something ordinary and beautiful.
One of the realities of yarn, and of life I guess, is that you can’t always get what you want, but you can ask Jill Draper and see if she can make it for you. Some yarns that we dream of are hard to come by for the simple reason that there is a lot involved in making them. That is the case with the latest addition to our shop: Hudson Mini Skeins by Jill Draper Makes Stuff. There is only one Jill Draper, and there are only so many mini skeins that meet her picky standards.
If it were up to me, there would be a perpetual unlimited supply of these hand-dyed, domestically grown and spun, 60-yard nuggets of joy. They are the perfect yarn for all kinds of color play, and since they are worsted weight, they are especially suited to making blankets. I think of all the mitered square and log cabin variations a person could cook up with a set of mini skeins and a few skeins of a compatible background color. Or, three sets of mini skeins and no dang background color—there are 720 yards of possibility in each 12-skein set.
Minis are also fantastic for accessories. In February, I had a big time knitting Elizabeth Elliot’s Dionisio Point cowl using part of a set of Jill’s Windham Mini Skeins.
Photo by Gale Zucker.
Guess what: Hudson is a gauge and fiber match for Windham; the only difference between the yarns is that Hudson is superwash (which means it’s machine washable, although you will not catch me machine-washing my handknits, that’s what the sink is for).
Jill dyed this batch of Hudson mini skeins in three very different colorways. There is one that I feel certain was dyed with me in mind: my personal colorway, Salty. At first glance, Salty looks kind of neutral and citified. Keep looking:
this is how we trick the city people: color disguised as neutrals.
In addition to Salty, we have Sweet:
Sophisticated pastels with depth.
And Spicy:
Juicy blasts of color. fruit and cocktails, with a dash of bitters.
I’ll arm-wrestle you for a set of Salty!
Love,
Kay
I must be “City Folk” because I love Salty!
I loooooove the Spicy set. Flamboyant city girl?
More pattern suggestions, please!
I would have a hard time choosing between Salty and Spicy, but Sweet gave me a happy flashback to the Salt Water Taffy shop at the beach 🙂
Oh my…I want them ALL!!!! They are so beautiful! Thank you!
Yummy! When you cite a set for miters, would the ratio of Hudson to background color be 1:2? I think the cotton blanket I completed in 2006 used close to 2000 yards… Of course the most fun would be to use all three sets! XXO
Spicy!
Dang. I love all three!
Love them all!!