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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.

 

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?

A Shawlette with a Ton of Design Options

There’s a lot to like about the Eloise Bandana from Katryn Seeburger. This cute little colorwork triangle can be worked as a bandana or kerchief size or a bigger shawlette. 

It’s worked in two colors of fingering weight yarn so you can use whatever yarn you have in your stash and just make it as big as you can (since it is worked from the bottom up). 

You can see the two sizes from the photo, and also two colorwork options: strawberries and lily of the valley. 

But that’s not all the choices you have. In fact, there are 34 different charts you can choose from to knit onto your project. Some of the options include happy faces, a lobster, a pumpkin, a snail and a butterfly. There are cherries, peaches, tomatoes and radishes.

There’s even a blank square you can use to draw your own little design if you want to use something else. Or keep it blank and make it a plain checkerboard design. 

And while both of these shawls use the same icons throughout, you could also use different designs throughout if you want. Say a fall version with a bat, pumpkin, leaf and acorn, or a summer beach theme with sailboat, fish, lobster and a bird? I keep suggesting four different icons because the larger size has four rows of squares, but the smaller has three, so you could do stripes of the same icon or alternate a couple of different ones, whatever you like. 

Look through the finished projects on the Ravelry project page to see lots of different options, from rows to individual icons. There are also some projects that are smaller than the suggested size to make a smaller bandana. You could also keep going a make a bigger shawl working increases in the same way as you have been going. 

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry. 

[Photo: Katryn Seeburger]