maine & a new twist to our yarn

We're in Maine. What's led us here? Well, we've been very busy over the last several months putting together our yarn line to release online and along our journey we have stumbled into roadblocks, as all start-ups encounter. I really do believe that things happen for a reason and being here in Maine this week has really brought us full circle. Our experience with releasing YOTH Yarns at Tolt Yarn & Wool earlier this year has been an unforgettable experience that we have been humbled by and very grateful for. The warm reception and support of all the wonderful folks at Tolt has been incredible! It has brought us to seek a dye house that values what we do, is as quirky as us at times, and doesn't laugh at our sometimes obnoxious and demanding requests, to help be our source of beautifully dyed yarn in sophisticated color ways that we hope everyone will love as much as we do.

I'm proud to say that we have partnered with Saco River Dyehouse to bring our color palettes to life and allow us the time to stay creative on our end. Our goal is to bring you more colors, yarn bases, and designs in addition to making all of it available online for the folks who are sadly unable to visit Tolt Yarn & Wool. I took some great pictures today of our tour of the dye house and our first run of the Raw Palette, a collection of 12 stunning neutrals that we are very proud of, in Big Sister our DK weight and Little Brother our fingering weight. I hope you enjoy the photos!


Welcome to the gigantic buildings of the old textile mill in Biddeford.


One of the first machines we were introduced to was this beast that takes the cones of yarn and turns them into lovely skeins that can be dyed.


Here we have the machine skeining away. What was even more impressive though was the sweet lady who ran it and was able to tie off the skeins at lightning speed.


Our yarn anxiously waiting on beautifully worn wood poles that I wanted to take home.


This is the receiving area where all the fiber and yarns are delivered. Those bundles are massive in person!


Ben, our tour guide/dyehouse mechanic/boiler man/office organizer/all around nice guy, explaining to us what a magnificent old school scale this is.


If you know me at all, I'm terrible with names! Poor Alden, Aldy, Aldon, Alfred... did such a nice job prepping everything and running the dye vats.


I can't explain in words how cool it was to see our yarn in these large stainless steel cages. Malik, the head dye master and chemist, was explaining the process to us. We were able to also meet his wife, Raana, who I corresponded with during our color development process. Seeing their lab dip area felt like we were opening the door into our garage and their enthusiasm and love for the art was apparent.


There's Oyster having the water just spun out of it. Love this color!


This is not our yarn, but it was awesome to see how the twisting machine works and what will be the last step of the process before the yarn heads over to us.


Little Brother & Ben at the end.

Meeting everyone at the dye house today was truly a pleasure and we're very excited for what the future holds. Until next time... happy knitting!

-Ve