Monday, January 26, 2015

Playing with yarn... randomly on a Monday

Yesterday I pulled out a pack of yarn that I have been kicking around for quite a few months. Actually to be perfectly honest, I ran across it under a pile of knitting that is awaiting finishing and thought, well this would be a great way to spend a Sunday.

How fun is this? 114 colors in 10-yard skeins. 
Tapestry weavers, meet EPiC.
Though I love working with my Harrisville Designs singles yarn, I'm always testing the market for yarns to recommend to students. Finding the right colors for tapestry weaving if you're not a dyer can be difficult. This palette is really nice. I ordered directly from Mary Ann Beinecke but it looks like it is available in cones from the Yarn Barn of Kansas. I think this yarn is quite thin for beginner tapestry weavers, but if you have facility with managing a weft bundle, here is a yarn to consider. I'll be giving it a test-run on a loom soon.
The weekend was full of writing tasks and some hours digging my office out from under the piles of paper, books, and yarn that accumulate when I let it all go to long. I seem to only be able to do this after I meet a big deadline. Yesterday was it.

Monday has hit hard and I am on fire. I've put in the hours answering some excellent questions for the online classes, decided on some new directions for classes, shoveled through a bunch of bills and outstanding emails, and I made a new folder for my file cabinet labeled "Taxes 2015" into which I could put the receipts for the paid bills. Organization. If I could just move this efficiently every day, I'd have a gallery full of new tapestries soon.

Later today I hope for some of this
and some of this.
And that will be a day.
(PS That is my very first ever spinning, so don't be too hard on me!)

UPDATE 1/27/15: I just found out that Mary Ann Beinecke (MAB) died November 24th, 2014. It sounds like she was an amazing woman and I wish I had met her. http://www.obitsforlife.com/obituary/1008936/Beinecke-MaryAnn.php

11 comments:

  1. Some darned pretty yarns. Look sort of like Patriots colors.
    Do tapestry weavers get fired up about the Super Bowl?
    I'm fired up -- Go Patriots! You Go weavers! Whip up some awesome Pats-inspired yarn thangs!
    You know that they play most of the season when it's pretty cold and a lot of us go out and watch them do it. Some woolies might be pretty awesome.
    Go Pats . . . Go weavers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is that a hint Roger S? We out in the west mostly don't give a fig for the Pats but woolies we can get behind.

      Delete
  2. Is Epic the name of the yarn? I'm headed to Kansas, and hope to go to the Yarn Barn while there so will look for these pretty yarns. I need some brights in my palette.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes Kathe, the name of the yarn is EPiC. It stands for Excellent Production is Craft apparently.

      Delete
  3. Trish at Tangled ThreadsJanuary 27, 2015 at 8:07 AM

    I am very fond of EPiC yarn. I like the colours and I like the way they hold together in the butterfly bundle. I also had someone dye a bunch (well three pounds, actually) in various colours of what she was dyeing and the colour took beautifully and she said it was easy to dye. Most of the colours are variegated, so if you like that, great. If not, then EPiC is probably not for you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Trish. I did notice on one skein I was looking at closely that the color was nt at all even. For the most part the skeins I have are pretty even, but they do have a hand-dyed look which I like... means they aren't completely flat.

      Delete
  4. Rebecca, sad news about EPiC yarn, I'm afraid-- Mary Ann Beinecke passed away in November (or thereabouts), and her family has the business for sale. The website doesn't seem to be up and running anymore-- I only learned this when a friend who I recommended this yarn to called and tried to order. I hope it continues somehow, because it is beautiful yarn. Anyone want to buy a yarn company in Maine?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OH NO!!!!!! She was so nice to me. She sent me this pack for free when I said I wanted to experiment with her yarn. Thanks for telling me Katie. A yarn company in ME sounds like a great idea!

      Delete
  5. My husband and I actually had a semi-serious conversation about it, but I think we are rooted to our Cape Cod life!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi, I'm the new owner of the EPiC 99 worsted wool line. We're in the process of relocating the business to the West Coast and getting production and fullfillment back up in running. If you or any of your readers are interested in obtaining yarn, you can contact us through our facebook page - Timeless Textiles: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Timeless-Textiles/266594613535389

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is fantastic news! I would love to hear more about the business as you get it back up and running. This is a great yarn for tapestry and I will be following to see how things are going!

      Delete

This blog has been moved to www.rebeccamezoff.com/blog. Please visit there to comment.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.