Back in June, Brooklyn Tweed released Wool People 13, it’s collection of designs for their yarns from independent designers. This collection received a hugely positive reception among knitters and little yarn stores like us. If you recall from my blog post in June, I was also totally obsessed with this collection. I had planned to cast on a color-work pullover called Bract and added a number of these pieces to my queue.
I’m going to be honest: I didn’t knit Bract. My knitting journey took a different path (with my Cocoknits obsession) and I haven’t knit anything from this collection… yet.
Now that the entire collection is here, it’s wonderful to experience and enjoy it in person. It’s nice because pieces that stand out to me now are different than the ones that resonated with me back in June.
Amy Van Der Laar’s trio of patterns, the Ensata scarf, cowl and hat are piece that have stood out to the Wool & Grace staff and the knitters in the shop. It appeals to a number of our knitting urges. The lace pattern is a simple repetition followed by chunks of rib. This isn’t your grandmother’s lace: it’s feminine but modern. Our samples include the scarf (in Vale, although the pattern is written for Vale and Peerie), the cowl (in Peerie) and the hat (in Peerie).
Irina Anikeeva’s Freshet is a surprise favorite of Patty’s. This boxy sweater has a folded mock-turtleneck and swirls of texture that show off Arbor’s strengths. Given that Arbor is generally accepted as the most-fun-yarn-to-knit-with, this looks like a pure joy – to knit and wear.
Illitilli’s Runnel scarf and cowl is an optical illusion of color. It’s mostly simple and straightforward knitting with stripes of color that zig and zag. Brooklyn Tweed has made these projects more versatile, writing it as a scarf or cowl, to be knit in Loft or Peerie. These are great unisex pieces, and no doubt fun to knit.
Osier is that simple open cardigan from the collection – simple to wear and a great advanced-beginner project. I slipped on our sample, which was a few sizes to big for me, but I still loved it – despite it being way too oversized (I never imagined this could exist). Osier is knit in Shelter, which has become my favorite sweater yarn over the last several months. As I’ve really dug into sweater season and wear these sweaters endlessly, they get better and better the more I wear them. Osier will be one of those sweaters to whomever is happy enough to knit it.
I didn’t have high enthusiasm for Fiona Alice’s Culm when this collection was released, but my comfort-quotient has shifted in the last several months and I now LOVE IT. It’s like a relaxed and refined sweatshirt, with distinctive details that beg to be noticed. My perfect outfit currently involves a sweatshirt (or even better sweater like Culm) with jeans and heels, and so this sweater has become unbelievably attractive to me. Knit up in Peerie, its weight makes it incredibly versatile with long legs that stretch across the seasons.
Laceleaf, meanwhile, had me then and has me now. This simple pullover has a rounded yoke with a gorgeous, modern lace-motif making its way around. Construction is simple and the lace is contained to the yoke shaping, meaning you don’t have to think about it while you separate sleeves or move beyond that point. I love the scale of this sweater: it fits with an average amount of ease and would easily layer under a blazer or other small coat. Knit in Peerie, it also has a lot of versatility across the seasons.
Beyond the Wool People 13 Trunk Show, Brooklyn Tweed has just launched a new collection of patterns called bt by Brooklyn Tweed. These patterns are brief (only four compared to the typical 14+ pages) and are meant for newer knitters. We’ve had the opportunity to review these patterns and they are completely perfect for our newest knitters. These patterns have launched at your favorite LYS (like Wool & Grace) and you can get a coupon for these patterns before their official launch.
The Cloudline Hat is a straightforward hat, that can be knit in two lengths and is written to be knit with two strands of fingering weight yarn (like Peerie or Loft) held double. Of course, you could totally knit it with one strand of worsted-weight yarn like Shelter.
The Interval Shawl is a triangular shawl, a perfect “your-first-shawl-project” written in three sizes. It has an interesting texture (that is forgiving to mistakes) and is written for Brooklyn Tweed’s Arbor, which you can’t help but love.
To top it all off, Wool & Grace will be giving 20% off all Brooklyn Tweed yarn while this trunk show is in store (until December 15). Buying online? It’s 20% off. Need to special order the color or quantity? Don’t worry, that’s 20% off, too. We hope you love all of these new things from Brooklyn Tweed, and we’re trying to make it very easy for you to love them as much as well do.
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