This past fall Konstantine's cousin Konstantin came with his fiancée Adelina to visit us on a trip they were taking through New England. As it turned out, after visiting us they were driving an hour or so south to the cute town of Northampton--known to knitters because it houses "America's largest yarn store." That's right--it turns out the fiancee was a fellow yarn-lover. (She even brought me knitting-related presents from California!) So of course we talked about yarn and what we were working on (me, a toddler sweater in handspun bulky yarn, her a lace-weight shawl on 0s in an intricate pattern), and I showed her my yarn stash, spinning wheels, etc, etc. Before she left I took her to the cabinet at the bottom of our stairs that houses all the perfect skeins I've collected from frabjous over the years: the Kathmandu with the perfect purple, the Sari Ribbon with my favorite blue, samples of the solids in amazing hues that were never available to get in large enough quantities to sell, the Millefiori that someone spun so fine that it must have taken them all day. In short, these are the skeins that spoke to me, for one reason or another, above thousands and thousands of skeins. Adelina, patiently looked through all the bold, vibrant colors, and wild varied textures and pulled out the skein she liked best: a finely spun yarn with no texture and pale color--the only one of its kind in the case. What! This chosen yarn was one that I got samples of in my search for a new yarn. I had knit with it, and thought long and hard about it--but ultimately decided it didn't thrill me, so I put it aside. Her choosing this yarn over all the others reminded me that these simpler yarns have their place too--and for some projects can be the most desirable of all.
So, I went back on my quest to add a yarn that was a real go-to yarn--a basic but beautiful yarn that could be almost anything you imagine. Something with smooth texture to show off your lace patterns, something with even colors that highlight your stitchwork without distracting from it, something that knits into a light-weight fabric on smaller needles (but not Adelina's 0s!). This yarn also needed to embody all that is frabjous: it needed to be fair-trade, handspun, hand-dyed, and made from responsibly sourced materials. It took months of searching and testing to find this perfect new yarn...and in honor of the knitter who inspired it, presenting Adelina.
50-50 wool/peace silk ~ 50 gram skeins ~ approx. 90 yards ~ 4.5-6 sts=1" on US 5-7 needles
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