Butternut Woolens

Eileen Fisher is one of my favorite designers. She has the most gorgeous textured fabrics like alpaca crinkle and silk whisper with lots of wool, organic cotton and linen. These are beautiful fabrics you usually don't see in commercial textiles, with a beautiful hand and drape.

Classified as sportswear, her clothes are some of the few that fit me perfectly right off the rack without alterations. Which is good, because by alterations I mean glue, staples and tape. Sadly, my mother, who is an excellent seamstress and ran her own tailoring business from the glassed in front porch that is now the yarn studio, was never able to teach me how to sew. We've tried many, many times, but I just can't get the hang of it. Also, I'm terribly afraid of sewing machines. Machinophobia? Puncturingfingersphobia?

At the monastery I was assigned to the sewing group, even though I respectfully asked to be on the gardening crew. The irony of the situation was not lost. The monk in charge of sewing quietly asked me if I would sew, not could sew, but would. I whispered back, "Do you mean without a sewing machine?" He nodded. "Yes, I can do that." Handsewing is afterall, just knitting with a very small needle, kinda. Even so, I managed to take 30 minutes to sew a cushion pleat to itself instead of closing the gap where the stuffing went in. The woman next to me was running a sewing machine and I guess the sound of it was making me jumpy.

I get Eileen Fisher's seasonal planner which beautifully lays out in watercolor and pen-and-ink sketches what the upcoming colors, fabrics and outfits will be from now until June. If there's one complaint I have, it's that there's not enough color in the collection. EF has a lot of black and neutrals, but the texture and cut of the fabric keeps the clothes from looking drab. And they are a perfect foil for handknits.

For early 2010 EF will have the usual black, 10 shades of gray, gray-browns and taupes, khaki and white, with a limited palette of clear watermelon pinks, oranges, and an unusual mustardy green she calls chicory and I would call bronze. You'll see many of these colors with my tweaks on the Butternut Woolens fine gauge sock yarns-Super Sock Bluefaced Leicester, Super Sock Superwash Merino and a new line of Super Sock Superwash Falkland.

Getting ready for two large wool shows at once looks like this: The cupboard where we keep all of our clean dishes.

Silkie ready to be labelled.

Homegrown wool from North America.

Super Sock yarn.

For the first time in several years, I'll be offering raw angora fiber for sale. This is prime German and German-hybrid angora with a staple length of 2 1/2-3 inches, grown by farmers in Oregon and California. There's white and colors this time and I have several pounds of it. It'll be available by the ounce.

The Butternut Woolens yarn store is now closed, and I'll re-open the first week in March with a limited inventory.

See you in Tacoma and Santa Clara!