We are thrilled to welcome a new addition from over the pond, a small-scale German hand-dyed yarn called Rohrspatz & Wollmeise, or Wollmeise for short. Some may have never heard of this yarn, but those that know it, love it. It is one of my own true loves and as such am so excited to be able to bring it to home to Vancouver to share the love!

Claudia Holl-Wellmann started commercially dyeing in 2002 but until recently her yarns have been hard to find, selling out on her online store almost as soon as listed and for good reason. Her colours are vibrant and consistent, bringing a perfectionism to the art of yarn dyeing that makes for a quality, go-to product for any project. But she has also secured a unique and quality merino base that is spun in a crisp tight twist that creates beautiful stitch definition and stunning finished object. There is nothing quite like a skein of Wollmeise.

The best part? Her skeins come in larger amounts, with 150g as the base for her fingering lines, 200g for DK and a whopping 300g of lace, so although her yarn at first appears costly, metre by metre it is comparable to any other small-scale hand-dyes on the market, where one skein can knit up a child’s garment and two to three skeins covers a sweater quantity for any adult size!

Claudia’s colours need to be viewed to understand their uniqueness and intensity. I love her description on her website of her inspiration:

“My aim is to dye quite specific shades. I allow myself to be guided by nature, by things I come up against or by moods: Spice Market,  Stormy Skies (Gewitterhimmel), Dance of the Mice (Mäuseballett). For a long time, for example, I tried to create the incomparable velvety lilac blue of violets and not just the ordinary lilac colour. And one of these days I’ll get that really special essence of Red Cabbage (Blaukraut)! I’m still working on it…”

Come taste some Wollmeise love for yourself this weekend as we will be launching our partnership with Claudia by bringing this yarn to the west coast (north or south!) on Saturday November 19th during the regular store hours from 11am-6pm. We have a few treats to share with you from Claudia herself with door prizes, early-bird giveaways and a display of her hundreds of colours available. Hope to see you this weekend!