Brooklyn Tweed Yarns

Oh Brooklyn Tweed, how I love you.  Let me count the ways....

Brooklyn Tweed is actually based in Portland but at one time in its life called Brooklyn home.  I pretty much love everything about this yarn company.  The thing that caught my eye first was BT, as a company, are into thoughtful production- taking wool from American breeds of sheep, using minimal processing, and keeping each step of the supply chain in country and sourced from partners with ethical business practices.  I like that.  Even as knitters and weavers, we can make a difference.

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Moving past their business practices, they offer a large collection of wonderful patterns.  (They also offer a lot of free tutorials on their blog.) The knitwear they curate is modern, sleek, thoughtful, and more often than not, very beautiful.  It meshes with my personal tastes as a knitter very well.  Coupled with this is their yarn.  I have now had experience with two of their lines.  Vale is their laceweight yarn offering and Shelter a worsted, sweater weight yarn. 

I used Vale in a weaving project for Interweave's Little Looms.  The yarn is wonderful.  It might not have been the best choice for weaving, as it is very light and airy, but also very stretchy and sticky.  Just something to keep in mind when planning out warps.  It is a two-ply yarn and 100% Rambouillet wool.  It is offered in 14 lovely shades.  The five shades I used in my weaving were rich, consistent and complemented each other well.  The whole collection of colors seems to work well together.  The yarn is also spun very even and appears to have a natural sheen, so it is a beautiful choice for any lace work you might have in mind.

I am currently playing with their Shelter line, which is a Targhee-Columbia blend.  For all you spinners out there, it really is a woolen spun yarn.  It is so light and squishy!  I love it.  I am using it to knit a sweater, which I know will be warm without being super heavy because of this woolen delight.  Because of how it is spun, there are some thinner and thicker parts to the yarn, giving it a more "rustic" appearance.  Also, because of the minimal processing, you sometimes come across a little bit of veggie matter.  For being so wooly, it actually is surprisingly soft.  I haven't gotten to the wet blocking stage of my project, but word on the street is that this final step really helps this yarn sing.  This is going to be a definite go-to yarn for me when knitting sweaters.  

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And as a final note, I have to say, their customer service is AMAZING.  There was a small mix up with one of my orders, and they sent a personal email to me, fixed the problem completely within a matter of days AND gave me a free pattern from their collection.  They were truly a pleasure to do business with.

Bottom Line:  This is a quality yarn company trying to make a positive difference in the industry.  I would put them in a mid-range cost category, it can get a little pricey if you need to buy a lot of yarn.  However, I feel their yarn is definitely worth it.  I am excited to try some of their other lines, as I have been very happy with the first two.  If it is a splurge for you, it is a good one.