Inspiration
A Handy Guide to the Wonderful World of Freia Yarns
Dear everybody,
At this point, you may have noticed that we seem to rattle on about a certain yarn we carry: Freia Fine Handpaints.
It’s just the best, what can we say? We are Freiavangelists, not gonna lie. We have the strong love for this yarn. Once you get a taste of Tina Whitmore’s slow-shifting gradients, you will very likely be back for more. Life will be better when you’re knitting Freia. You’ll be happy when you’re knitting Freia. Paradise is soaked into every ball of Freia, really.
Tina works to make sure her fibers and yarns are carefully sourced. The 100% merino single that she favors is truly delicious, just beautiful to the eye and to the touch.
And then—she starts her dyeing process, which is a marvel of exuberance and restraint. You can blast your eyeballs out with her vivid color, or you can work with a colorway that is so subtle that you have to find a good light to see exactly where the change is.
Three Sizes
We keep bringing in new Freia. What with the holidays upon us and everybody looking for something special, we humbly present three portion sizes: Shawl Ball, Yarn Bomb, Minikin.
Shawl Ball: The Classic
430 yards. Softball size, basically. A couple of Shawl Balls will get you to a Parallelogram Scarf, Cecelia Campochiaro’s brilliant design from from Field Guide No. 5: Sequences.
SHAWL BALL COMBOS, From top: Purpleheart and Whisper, Lichen and Vintage, Cloud and Mist
Yarn Bomb: Twice the Fun
These Yarn Bombs are 860 yards, the size of a cantaloupe, amazing. The scale of these whoppers got us to dreaming up a double-wide version of the Parallelogram Scarf.
Cast on 201 stitches rather than the 101 specified in the pattern. When you knit two of these wheels all the way through, you end up with a wrap that is ten feet long. It is spectacular to see, fabulous to wear.
Yarn bombs in LICHEN AND VINTAGE
Yarn BombS in Sprout and Sandbar
Yarn BombS in Zinnia and CLOUD
A pair of Yarn Bombs creates a Corrugated Wrap from Field Guide No. 5: Sequences that shifts so subtly that you have to blink to make sure you’re seeing the colors correctly.
two Yarn BombS in Surf
I cannot overstate the joy I experienced in making this.
Freia Minikins
Cupcakes you can knit, basically
Freia Minikins come in a set of nine li’l balls, 109 yards each. In a box, of course, for toting.
The cool detail about minikins is that the color changes are speeded up compared to the Shawl Balls and Yarn Bombs. The slow shifts of color almost become stripes.
There’s plenty to cook up a Parallelogram Scarf at 140 stitches wide.
This Parallelogram Scarf used up pretty much all nine Minikins.
Of course, Freia can be used for pretty much any pattern under the sun. But we think there’s something especially delicious about the textures of Cecelia Campochiaro’s sequence knitting—the interplay of colors fascinating and often surprising.
Love,
Kay and Ann
I am finishing my second Parallelogram scarf, and have yarn to make another. The Freia yarn and that pattern are almost hypnotic, and the best travel knitting. I suspect I may always have one in progress from now on…
Just out of Curiosity, why don’t you have any Crochet Patterns for your Beautiful Yarns?
That Parallelogram in the minis! That may break my resolve. I can also recommend Fissure by Elizabeth Elliott. Originally written for dear departed Rifton, I did one with 2 bombs about 1/3 wider than the pattern called for and it is scrumptious!
Lovely yarn and beautiful projects! If I don’t get back to you before 2020, I want to wish you both a very happy holiday season. You bring me such joy throughout the year, and I thank you for that!
I love the long gradients. Freia was my first, but I had a really bad yarn chicken experience with them. Twisted Fiber Art (https://www.twistedfiberart.com/) does long gradients with a choice of bases and you can order semi-solid coordinates that match the ends. I recently stashed some Blue Brick ombre (https://shop.thebluebrick.ca/) and am looking forward to working with it.
These yarns look fantastic, but I am not a shawl person. How do the color gradients work out in something with an irregular shape such as a sweater?
There are a lot of sweaters on Ravelry knit with a gradient yarn. But the Freia ones are single-ply so I’d worry it would pill a lot for a sweater.
Kay and Ann, I’m totally in love with the colors of these shawl balls, but I can’t work with or wear wool. Does come in a non wool option?
And by the way, I love reading your entries daily and drool a lot on my tablet at the sight of yarns and patterns.
Merry Merry and Happy Happy to you both. Thanks for the daily dose of happy you give us all.
Hi Judy–Thank you so much for your kind words! Sending holiday wishes back atcha!
Freia uses all wool for its bases, but I do think Zauberball has a cotton base. A different yarn from Freia, but still full of color fun.
i got the Freia Minikins for Christmas from my wonderful hubby love them! I started working on the Parrollelogram scarf the instructions said to cast on 140 stitches shouldn’t it be 141?
I recently had a fabulous time using Zauber Cotton in not one but two baby blankets! It’s a DK weight so it worked perfectly with Rowan Denim. Knitted and washed up great. We gotta get some of it in the Shop!
My kids gifted me a couple of the shawl balls that I knitted into a quick little tunic for their new baby girl, Freya! So this yarn has become an instant favorite in our family. 🙂
I don’t knit, but love to crochet! Can I assume the same effect? These are so lovely!
Hi Kathy! I’m not a crocheter myself, but I think Freia yarns would be gorgeous for crochet projects. Go for it! ; )
Thank you for this ad. I have saved it for later. I purchased the 12 field guides from you a bit earlier and I do want to knit that parallel scarf. Nice yarns give me such joy.
Love that Surf wrap. LOVE it.
Which size ball is best for socks? Minikin? I’m a sock fiend and this yarn looks like it would make great socks!
Hi Jane!
As much as we agree that Freia would make amazing-looking socks, we’d like to steer you to a yarn that will be more durable when worn. Freia is a soft 100% merino, nonsuperwash, and I’m afraid it would be a short lifespan for socks made with it.
https://www.moderndailyknitting.com/shop/pada-sock/
https://www.moderndailyknitting.com/shop/barnyard-knits-sock-fingering/
https://www.moderndailyknitting.com/shop/neighborhood-fiber-co-studio-sock/
https://www.moderndailyknitting.com/shop/lichen-and-lace-80-20-sock/
I am on my second parallelogram scarf, this one 149 stitches wide. The first half looks great in a combination of lovely blues. But the second half in some purplish rose colors is ten inches in and looking garish and clashing. I wish there were a “rule” for choosing color combinations. Hard to do by online photos.
The Corrugated Wrap Shawl in Surf is just spectacular!! What size needles did you use??