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Yarn Line Celebrates the National Parks

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Knitting our national parks yarnI received word recently about an interesting project that I thought some of you might be interested in.

Knitting Our National Parks, a project at Indie Untangled, is bringing together indie dyers to create colorways inspired by photos of the national parks from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Instagram feed, with 10 perecent of sales donated to the National Park Foundation.

A new color will launch every other month. The project kicked off with yarn dyed by Alice O’Reilly of Backyard Fiberworks inspired by a photo of North Cascades National Park in Washington State. Preorders for the first colorway run through June 30, with the next color by Pigeonroof Studios released at the beginning of August. Other dyers signed on include Jill Draper Makes Stuff, Duck Duck Wool and Canon Hand Dyes.

The yarn is a 100 percent Merino superwash sportweight yarn and runs 328 yards. It retails (this month, anyway) for $26.

It’s a beautiful project for a great cause, so check it out if you’re a nature-loving knitter!

[Photo: Indie Untangled.]

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Comments

  1. This sounds like a fun project. I love this first colorway. Looking forward to seeing each new color for each month. Thanks for posting!

Have you read?

Summer Headband Knitting Patterns

Some knitters have trouble coming up with projects they can both knit and wear when it’s warm outside. Especially if you’re not ready for garments (thought tank tops and summer tops are great first garment projects!) it might seem like there’s nothing to do when it’s hot outside.

One way to remedy this situation is by knitting headbands. Headbands are great any time of year to keep hair out of your face and make you look a little more pulled together without any effort. Wider headbands double as ear warmers when it gets colder, but skinnier ones are great throughout the year.

A couple of great examples are from designer Elly Donner, who has a set of headband knitting patterns on Ravelry you can buy individually or as an ebook. Homebody, shown here, is worked in garter stitch (the ties are crocheted but you could also use I-cord), while Slipstream uses slipped stitches and garter ridges, and Sounds of Spring has little cables. The patterns use DK weight yarn and are a great way to use a little leftover yarn from another project.

I also recently came across the lovely Plush Braided Headband by Yevgeniya Li. A free pattern on Ravelry, this wider design is covered in lush cables for a sleek and fancy look. It uses worsted weight yarn and you can customize the length for a perfect fit.

Celeste Knitwear’s Spikelet is a simple twisted headband with columns of eyelet lace to keep it from being too heavy. It’s worked flat and sewn together to make the twist, and uses DK weight yarn. It has three sizes available.

This skinny lace headband from Lusi Knits is another cute choice. It calls for fine weight cotton yarn, but you could use heavier yarn if you have it on hand to make a wider headband (or use any fine yarn you have available). It uses ties to customize the fit.

And if you want to go super basic but still really cute, try the easy ring headband from Lulu Pattern. The sample is knit pretty wide, but you could make a narrower version if you want, and the little ring turns it from a plain loop into a bow with very little extra work. It calls for worsted weight yarn but you could also use whatever weight you like for this one to change up the look and size.