Blog Posts - Ancient Arts Yarns

There’s a lot of Yarn Guilt out there. I’m a knitter, I have been an indie dyer, I have owned a yarn store. A common theme I see with a lot of knitters and crocheters is Yarn Guilt. I’ve noticed a couple different types of Yarn Guilt. The guilt that comes with the actual purchase …

The Early Fall issue of Vogue Knitting crossed my desk recently, and once I got past the utter thrill of seeing Ancient Arts yarn on the cover of the magazine, I had a great deal of fun digging into the issue. One of the things that really struck me is the section on olive greens. …

You’ve let your kid help you knit, and now they want to knit by themselves. They want their own project! Here are some tips and things to keep in mind. Their first project, no matter what their plan is (a sweater for their tiny cousin, a blanket for Daddy, a cover for the pickup truck) …

A trip to TNNA is always a fantastic experience, both for the show and for the chance to get to know a part of the United States that we, as Canadians, might never have visited before! This show was no exception as most of us had not yet had the chance to visit the beautiful …

Hunter Hammersen’s newest design, Tacit, features beautiful zig zag cables which are mirrored on each fingerless mitt. In today’s post, Caroline talks about how hand-dyed colours evolve over time in the Ancient Arts palette. We also have an interview with the designer herself to share an inside peek into how a pattern goes from concept …

I read a number of knit lists and knit groups. A question that comes up often is “How old does a child have to be before you can teach them to knit?” People write in with varying answers: “Not till they are 6,” “they have to be at least 8,” etc. etc. Here’s my opinion on …

One of the things that makes me a prolific knitter is the fact that I take my knitting EVERYWHERE. I must have heard “I wish I had time to knit” over a hundred times in my life, and it’s a statement I’ve never understood. I’m sure there are people out there that actually have no …

There you are, in your favorite LYS. It’s 10 minutes before you have to leave for that important meeting, and suddenly…there it is!!! That perfect yarn you have been lusting after, but it’s a tad over budget. And now it’s on a One Day Only Special, 50% Off!!!  But you have no clue how many …

Spring has officially sprung, but there’s no need to put those needles and hooks away for the warmer months ahead because there are tons of great reasons to keep stitching! At the top of our own list is the Ancient Arts Yarn SUPER AMAZING Fingering Yarn Club, which will be coming soon! This is our first in-house yarn …

“Write something about socks for the blog!” said my fearless leader, Caroline Sommerfeld, Chief Yarn Officer of AAY. “It should be easy!” she said.   I started typing away. Halfway through one topic, I changed my mind. Began a post on another aspect of sock knitting, then changed my mind. Wash, rinse, repeat. I now …

People often ask me where I get my inspirations for colourways, and it can be hard to answer that question as they come from all over! Some of them just pop into my head, some of them are more deliberately planned, and of course sometimes people challenge me to take on a particular concept. The …

One of the most fun things I get to do as a dyer is to design new colours. I often like to help guide development by choosing a theme, and so this winter I looked around at the coming trends and chose one that is near and dear to my heart: denim! Denim brings up fond …

Last month, we invited our fans to share photos of their furry friends here in the Ancient Arts Ravelry group and on our other social media channels for a chance to win some yarny prizes; winners could also get the chance to have their funny feline or pretty pooch featured on a label of our Meow or …

When I first started knitting, like so many other newbs, fat, squishy yarns that would knit up fairly quickly were my cup o’ tea. I bet that if I look back at my first ten projects, I never went below a worsted weight, and even then would have knit with a larger needle size than typically recommended. …

‘Silky’ may not always be a term you reserve for a superwash Merino/Nylon yarn, but our fingering weight yarn spun from 80% Merino and 20% Nylon recently received a little upgrade in the form of an even better grade of Merino! Today, Caroline shares an inside peek to the development process from her unique point …

When I began teaching knitting classes (about 1000 years ago), I was shocked when the students almost got into a knock down drag out hair-pulling fight over the Correct Way to Knit. The left handers, the right handers, the continental, the pickers, the throwers….it was an ugly scene. Things died down a bit when the …

I have steadily and firmly resisted the siren song of many hobbies over the years as I simply don’t have time for them all. However, anything to do with fibre fascinates me, and that means that I have dabbled throughout my life with embroidery, hardanger, bobbin lace, crewel work, rug hooking...

I was going to write this technical post about how to become a designer, and then I realized that there was very little that was actually technical for me! To tell the truth, I just kind of fell into it, and I’m still a complete newbie. When I learned to knit, I had an old …

George Shaheen of 10 Hours or Less™ has been self-publishing knit and crochet designs for over 30 years. George’s main goal is to create designs that are inspiring and innovative while providing instructions that are clear, concise and easily executed. We’re quite pleased to have supplied yarn for his most recent mini-collection, which includes the Rope Edged Rafters knit …

Twice a year, colour development gives the staff at Ancient Arts the perfect excuse to have the best time EVER because we have to look at pictures (and lots of live models) of cats, kittens, dogs, and puppies. Our job is SO HARD isn’t it? But we do this for the good of the people …

I come from a long line of adventurous women: My Great Granny Jeremina got on a ship at the end of the 19th century with nothing for company but a spinning wheel, and set out from Shetland to Vancouver Island. My Grandmother Birthe got on a ship after World War I and travelled – alone, mind you! – …

One of the best treats as the master dyer for Ancient Arts happens twice a year…and what is that, you might ask? Why, I get to build a collection of new colourways! All of us at Ancient Arts feel that it’s important to keep our colour collections fresh and current – so twice each year, we …

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we’d like to share some of our favourite yarn, colours and patterns inspired by the day of love, all of which are certainly Cupid-approved! First, let’s talk colour. Reds and pinks are what most of us think about for Valentine’s day: for a traditional approach, Fire in the Belly, …

It was only a matter of time before we gave the “other” Caroline her very own column on this blog! You may recall getting to know our Sales Manager Caroline Dick last fall on this blog post. We fully expect to see more posts penned by Caroline as she shares her love of knitting and yarny …