NEW YARN: Earl Grey Fiber Co
Feast your eyes on these floral and jewel toned beauties that just landed in the shop! New in store for Spring is a gorgeous rainbow of Earl Grey Fiber Co fingering weight yarn, with more that 30 colour ways to choose from!
Earl Grey Fiber Co is a Pacific Northwest yarn company, based just across the border in Washington State. Heather Pleva started Earl Grey Fiber Co in 2017 only a few years after taking up fibre arts and while you might think the name comes from her love of tea it is actually a nod to Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s favourite drink – “Tea, Earl Grey, hot” (a Star Trek the Next Generation reference).
The online shop is fully stocked up with a full range of two full lines of Earl Grey Co’s bases: Darjeeling and Gunpowder sock yarns. Darjeeling is a 75% superwash merino/ 25% nylon blend, while the Gunpowder is 70% superwash merino/ 10% nylon with 20% yak. They are both super soft and squishy yarns with an important difference; The Gunpowder base is naturally a warm grey colour because of the yak wool so it takes colour incredibly well, and because yak fibres are hollow they are excellent for retaining warmth which makes them perfect for sock knitting!
In addition to socks, the Earl Grey fingering lends itself to a broad range of projects and is perfect for lightweight sweaters, tanks, and shawls. Sarah, our store manager, is pictured below modelling the beautiful Penny Candy Tee (pattern by Jenjoyce Design) that she knit in four Earl Grey colourways. She used ‘Needle’ and ‘Petty’ as the alternating main colours and ‘Fjord’ and ‘Chai Spice’ as the two contrast colours. This sweater is a perfect breezy summertime knit.
Here are all the details on both the Earl Grey yarns we are carrying:
Darjeeling Sock
- Fibres: 75% Superwash Merino / 25% Nylon
- Gauge: 32 stitches = 4 inches (10 cm)
- Weight: 4-ply Fingering (1)
- Length: 100 g / 463 yards (423 m)
Gunpowder Sock
- Fibres: 70% Superwash Merino / 20% Yak / 10% Nylon
- Gauge: 28 stitches = 4 inches (10 cm)
- Weight: 3-ply Fingering (1)
- Length: 100 g / 437 yards (423 m)
For both yarns, take care of them by hand washing in cold water and laying flat to dry. As with other hand dyed yarns, we recommend purchasing sufficient yarn for your project in one go as tones may vary between dye lots and from skein to skein. In case you are not already aware, but Baaad Anna’s has a very lax policy on yarn returns (allowing returns of many months past the regular purchase return date, to allow for people to purchase plenty more than their project requires, as a just in case!). Another great trick with hand dyed yarn is to alternate your skeins as you knit to avoid any striping if you are using multiple skeins of one colour in a project.
Sam, one of our wonderful sample knitters, whipped up a dreamy Baubles shawl in Darjeeling ‘Desert Bloom’, and Gunpowder ‘Embers’ and ‘Nightfall’ that Gabby, our Community Coordinator so kindly modeled for us! Designed by Andrea Mowry, Baubles is an engaging knit that will have you doing a combo of lace, brioche and, of course, baubles. The shawl uses two skeins for the main colour and two contrast colour skeins (four skeins total), with enough leftovers to make a fun pair of socks (or a few pairs of ankle socks). The finished texture is soft, with gentle drape and feels impossibly cozy when wrapped around your shoulders.
And, if all those beautiful yarn photos weren’t enough, here are a few more colours that have us swooning.
If you haven’t given Earl Grey Fiber Co a follow on Instagram yet make sure you do. Heather has a strong commitment to improving accessibility to independently dyed yarn as well as to size inclusivity through her annual wholesale shop updates and quantity discounts.
You can purchase your Earl Grey yarn in the online store or you can call us between 11am-2pm each day to place an order over the phone. While Baaad Anna’s is still closed to the public we are continuing to offer inclusive shipping options as well as curbside pick up.
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