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Schaefer Yarn Set to Close

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schaefer yarn nancyI feel like I have nothing but bad news for you this week (and this is not the end of it, unfortunately) but word on the Web is that Schaefer Yarn Company, based in Interlocken, N.Y., is going to close after 33 years in the business. Owner Cheryl Schaefer is retiring and closing up shop effective the end of this year. She is apparently not interested in selling the business, which has produced lovely handpainted yarns in beautiful colorways named for powerful and influential women (new colors for 2012-13 include Janis Joplin and Josephine Baker, among others).

These yarns are still available from local yarn stores and online, but no more will be produced, so if you want some you better order it now!

I used some of the yarn in my first book and really enjoyed it. I always thought it would be kind of fun to knit a sweater in the funky Nancy, a thick and thin textured yarn. My journalism background tells me I should want the Nellie Bly colorway, but I love the softer look of Elizabeth Zimmermann. But the bright colors of Janis Joplin are pretty great, too. Guess I should make up my mind quick!

I’m so sorry to see this business go and I hope you’ll take a chance to check this yarn out while it is still available.

 

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Comments

  1. Sad when a business that could carry on isn’t allowed to do so. Wonder why she doesn’t want to sell?

    Do share with us when you knit up your sweater!!!

  2. Goodbye and good riddance!

    Their yarns looked good on the skein but were nothing special when worked. Rip off.

Have you read?

Knit a Hat with a Flock of Chickens

It’s well known (among knitters, anyway) that knitters seem to love chickens as a motif and a subject of our knitting projects. The Emotional Support Chicken and all the other chicken knitting patterns are just the beginning of our devotion to farmyard friends. 

For example, there’s Farmer Dennis’ Chicken Hat. This free pattern from Stacy Black is a simple worsted weight beanie sized for adults and decorate with a couple of little rounds of colorwork fences and a flock of chickens strutting around the body of the hat. 

You don’t need a lot of any of the colors for the chickens, their facial features or the fences, so this is a great project for using little leftover bits from other projects. The main color for the body of the hat is less than a skein using the yarn suggested, so you might just have everything you need in your house to start stitching up this hat right away. 

The colorwork is presented as a chart, with a 16 stitch section that repeats around the body of the hat. All the color changes are shown on the chart but I think it would be easier to knit the whole chicken in the chicken color and add the eye, beak and other features using duplicate stitch when the knitting is done. That way you don’t have to carry those yarns around the whole hat for just a few stitches. 

As the name suggests, the original hat was given to a farmer who shared their eggs, but anyone who raises chickens or just has a thing for the fowl is sure to love this cute hat. It wouldn’t be too difficult for someone new to stranded knitting or reading charts to make, either, so if that’s you, give it a try. 

The pattern is available for free on Ravelry. 

[Photo: Stacy Black]

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