Yarns to Love
Mini Skeins Are Our Jam
We freely admit: we’ve got a thing for mini skeins.
They are just so darn adorable. Sweet little hankfuls of color and texture that hold big potential for play and experimentation. When you sit down with a set of mini skeins, you know you’re going to have a good time. There is no bogging down with mini skeins. There is no I’m Over This Color Now with mini skeins. There’s only fun, in the form of the next mini skein.
The first yarn offering in the MDK Shop was mini skeins, and we’ll have mini skeins forever.
This year’s Holiday Shop is no exception. We’ve got a smorgasbord of zesty, delectable minis, amuse-bouches for our needles. Let’s peruse the menu.
Canon Hand Dyes
sunlight
Candlelight
Amy Lee Serradell, a very clever dyer from Portland, Oregon, is well known for making mini skeins that really sing together.
You have two colorway options here: Sunlight and Candlelight. The third option, of course, is both.
We can imagine these colorways used in the yoke of a sweater, in a vibrant cowl, as the makings of the most elegantly colored mittens ever. These 98-yard mini skeins total almost 700 yards of yarn, which is plenty for your most exotic color experiments.
Camellia Fiber Co. Signature Mini Skein Set
Silbia Ro of Camellia Fiber Co. is a beloved dyer in Nashville. For a time we were neighbors, so we were destined to collaborate. Silbia works in a gentle set of colors that all look lovely together—a palette so soft that it whispers. Exclusive to MDK, these are perfect for a series of Squad Mitts—play with color combinations as you make these easy gifts.
Flock of Four
Now for something completely different: mini skeins where what changes is not the color, but the sheep, the spin, and the weight.
It’s your own starter flock of sheep, in a quartet of 80-yard lamb-sized skeins. Solitude Wool gives us a set that lets you explore the nature of beautiful yarns made from 4 single-breed fleeces: Montadale, Border Leicester, Targhee, and Romney. Not all sheep are the same—discover their unique qualities with this quartet of fluffy skeins, from small farms in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. It’s sort of amazing to see how much 80 yards of wool yarn can vary.
The Perpetual Quest: What To Make With Minis?
We are always on the hunt for good projects to make with mini skeins, but in truth, great patterns are everywhere. Any stockinette stitch project that is good in a solid color is measurably better and more fun when striped with mini skeins.
For fingering weight minis (Canon Hand Dyes and Camellia Fiber Co. Signature Set), you cannot go wrong with simple socks—everybody loves stripy socks. And of course, there’s our ride or die mini-skein pattern: Ann Weaver’s Squad Mitts, from MDK Field Guide No. 1—it’s made for minis, and we include a free download of the Field Guide with both the Canon and Camellia minis. You can colorblock them as you like, and turn each mitt into your very own Josef Albers color study.
If you’ve got plenty of minis, one of the all-time great patterns is True Colors, a magnificent shawl by Melanie Berg. Ann made her glorious version with two sets of Canon Hand Dyes minis (one set in each colorway), plus a full skein of a solid-color fingering weight yarn for the background shade.
And here’s a wonderful list of mini skein projects, which had their own bracket in a March Mayhem once upon a time. (I’d forgotten about Kieran Foley’s Weaver’s Square! What a brilliant project for mini skeins.)
Are there others? Yes! We know they’re out there. If you know a great pattern for mini skeins, shout it out in the comments.
Our point here, and we do have one:
MINI SKEINS 4EVER. That is all.
Another cool mini project is Mini Mazy! https://ravel.me/mini-mazy
LOVE it! Thanks!
Habitation Throw by Helen Stewart!
Sprocket Socks (and Hat) by Pip & Pin!
Dangling Conversation!
I just finished a hat and mittens pattern in the Jill Draper Windham minis. Coming soon, such fun!
I have a collection of fingering in 10 gram minis as well as one of 20 grams. I wish there was notation of which size works in a pattern using minis.
I love mini skein sets, but I’m always loathe to use them, so they’re so pretty! I’ll have to get over that & dig into my sets.
And for those of us with REALLY short attention spans, don’t forget the Freia minikins! Mini skeins with color changes within the skein. They are currently my favorite thing to knit with…
Agreed! I started the Passeggiata wrap with my own mixture of Minikins, and they are such fun to knit with that I ordered some more 🙂
I need some squad mitts on my needles ASAP!
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bukett
Thank you for sharing this gorgeous pattern. I have just added it to my queue.
So happy to see you featuring the fabulous breed specific yarns from the wonderful women of Solitude! What a wonderful addition to your offerings!
I have a serious addiction to minis! I am currently knitting many tiny hats as ornaments using a variety of mini skeins I had in my stash. I’m using several of the patterns from these two sets of mini hats:
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mini-hat-garland
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/more-mini-hats
I recently came across a sock pattern that uses mini skeins to make a gradient fade that’s going to be a January cast-on: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/phytofade-socks
Another favorite pattern for minis is the Lead the Way wrap, which is really easy to modify for how many minis you have…and it’s got tassels!
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lead-the-way
The Melanie Berg pattern is on sale today! I just snagged a copy. (Dec 12)
This blog is the best! I have two sets of mini skeins (from advents) and had no idea what to do with them! They are so pretty though! I figured I’d have to go buy a base color and go for a sweater. Thanks for the ideas!
Python Shawl by Emilia Jensen
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/python-shawl
I just finished a Cameron sweater by Tanis Lavalee using Windham mini skeins and a couple of skeins of solid.
I wish we could post pics in your comments.
Maybe you can see it here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CIMM4pLJn1K/
I have leftovers, and I can’t wait to see what I make with them.
I’m currently have Arne & Carlos’ Sock Yarn Teddy Bear on the needle and I’m plotting to make a scrappy version out of all of the leftover mini skeins from the mitered square blanket I’m making. https://schachenmayr.com/en/free-patterns/teddy-6369
Gap had a wide striped Brannan bear a couple years ago that I’m using for inspiration. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/421297740116329934/
The beauty of a stuffed toy is that all of your ends are hidden from view.