Yarns to Love
New from Freia: More Minikins
As a knitter, I have been around the block a few times. (Understatement alert!) While I love shopping for yarn, and consider yarn collecting to be a fine hobby in its own right, I try not to collect yarn without at least a glimmer of an idea of what I’m going to make with it.
One big exception: the yarns of Freia Fine Handpaints, hand-dyed by Tina Whitmore.
Tina is a brilliant colorist and a master dyer. The colors she unspools in long, slow shifts across hundreds of yards of yarn, never lose their freshness for me. I learn something about color, and my own color sense, every time I knit with them. There is an intimacy to Tina’s yarns.
I enjoy knitting with Freia yarns so much that the pattern almost doesn’t matter—almost. My go-to is Cecelia Campochiaro’s Parallelogram Scarf. It calls for two Freia Shawl Balls, in different colorways. The Parallelogram Scarf is even better when you double the yarn, and double the width, using two Freia Yarn Bombs, which have double the yardage of the Shawl Balls.
The 860 yards (786 meters) in a Yarn Bomb go a long way. A double-wide Parallelogram Scarf takes a long time to knit. It’s a lovely ride, one I’ve taken twice at this point.
I will admit that I never even thought of another pattern for Freia Yarn Bombs. Until two things happened.
The first thing was last year, when Tina introduced Minikins. Minikins are the same yarn as Shawl Balls and Yarn Bombs—a springy merino single—and Tina dyes them in the same fascinating colorways. The difference is in the speed of color change. Yarn Bombs change color at a languid pace; they take their time. Shawl Balls, at half the yardage, change more quickly, but still very slowly (each Shawl Ball is 430 yards or 393 meters).
A box of Freia Minikins: yum.
By contrast, the color changes in a Minikin are at warp speed. For yarn, anyway. You get so many color changes in each 107-yard (98-meter) Minikin that they can fairly be called stripes.
This year, for your Holiday Shop enjoyment, we have two different collections of Minikins on offer, in little cupcake boxes of 9 Minikins. Tina calls one of them Neutral Zone (see above), which is a bit funny since Tina’s neutrals are not traditional neutrals. But they are, overall, soft and subtle.
The other collection, new to the Holiday Shop this year, is an MDK-exclusive mix. We named it the Picket Fence collection.
Freia Minikins in MDK-exclusive Picket Fence mix. ZANG!
Which brings me to the second thing that happened.
Scrolling through my Instagram feed earlier this year, I gasped at the sight of this Picket Fence Afghan, then on the needles, by @petitestitches.
Whoa.
What was this sorcery? I recognized the inky blue background as a Freia Yarn Bomb in Squid Ink.
And the “pickets” in the Picket Fence—are Freia Minikins, in the Neutral Zone colorway. Jeneane’s idea of combining the two Freia put-ups, with their differently paced color changes, into this afghan, is lightning in a bottle.
Julia Farwell-Clay’s Picket Fence Afghan is now my second go-to pattern, for an all-out Freia Fest, combining one slow-changing Yarn Bomb and one zippy box of Minikins. The gauge is smaller, and so the resulting blanket is smaller. Or, of course, more squares can be added to fill out a bigger afghan. More squares gets my vote, every time.
And with that, I’m casting on.
A new favorite color formula: one Yarn Bomb in Oyster, one set of Minikins in our MDK-exclusive Picket Fence mix.
Here I go:
It was hard picking the first Minikin. I went with Canyon. I’m already amazed at how different Oyster looks when it’s next to Canyon.
Thank you, Jeneane, for the loan of your majestic Picket Fence Afghan, and for an idea that is going to give me knitting happiness for months on end.
This is pure magic!
Witchcraft I tell you!! This is witchcraft!!! And I want it.
Whoa. This is dangerous….
I am amazed by those of you who can tackle – and complete – big projects! Even on smaller, one-skein projects with fingering weight yarn, I often run out of interest prior to running out of yarn, at which point I rely on my own version of fortitude in order to finish.
For anyone with a shorter attention span like mine, I offer this enjoyable project, Susan Barstein’s Mitered Obsession, which I knit a year ago with the Freia Minikins in the neutral colorway: (Purchased at MDK of course)
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/tamarajo/mitered-obsession-2
I also knit my first “Mitered Obsession” using Freia yarn – it is beautiful and a very gratifying knitting experience!
Thank you for your daily posts and knitting inspiration – so much variety, so much to love!
I’m using my minikins (neutral zone) as the flowers in the Pressed Flowers shawl mosaic pattern done as a big rectangle shape. Only halfway through the first one but it looks awesome! And now I’m thinking of the same pattern with a Bomb as the background…Those Freia yarns are so beautiful to knit with – visually and just the feel of them in your hands.
Would love to see this!!
I would love to see your shawl. I’ve been eyeing the Pressed Flower shawl, but wasn’t sure yarn-wise where I wanted to go with it.
Martha – Will you share your mods in a Ravelry post? This is a great idea – using the minikins in this way, and I would prefer a rectangle rather than triangle shape!
I don’t post on Ravelry much (ie never) but I’ll put something in the MDK forums. Dog walk first though!
Picture please.
I love your oyster background idea. So many possibilities!
Love love love this!
I would love to know what size needle and the finished size of this Picket Fence, especially as I jumped in and ordered the identical yarnsshe used.
While I love MDK and it’s entire knitting community, I am beginning to feel like this is too rich for my blood. My father always told me “You get what you pay for”. And this is true, the items in the MDK shop are all top quality. From the new bags showcased the other day, to the yarns mentioned today. However, one must possess the means to purchase such high quality. It appears there seems to be a lot available in the shop that is out of my reach.
I got the set of minikins last year and my the Parallelogram scarf with it is so beautiful! I may but them on my list again this year and make the blanket!
You’re killing me! When I saw that new bunch of minikins and the picket fence blanket, I thought hmmm… oyster would be pretty. I do not need another project! But please, show us pictures as you knit this. I am also curious about what size needle you’re using and how big a completed square is.
Meanwhile, I bought some fabric to make a picket fence quilt.
I have been knitting the picket fences blanket for the last month as a gift for my niece. Earlier this year her husband, Eric, died of brain cancer. He was 36 and left her and their 4 year old twin boys. It is difficult to describe the devastation of this loss. The picket fences pattern reminds me of a stylized “E” and so I am making it for her so that she can wrap herself in Eric, warm and soft. I have always found knitting something for someone else to be very soothing and healing. When my husband and I were first together we were often separated for long periods. I would knit for him as a way of muting the pain of our separation – it always made me feel better. Thank you for your enthusiasm for picket fences – I am enjoying the knitting and looking forward to the finished product.