Journal
Notes from the cabinet
A weekly pick, dyers worth watching this month, a working yarn glossary, and an open invitation to send your stash my way.
Weekly · The Bridget pick
ArtYarns Beaded Silk + Sequins Light — Silver / Charcoal / Magenta (#739) · DK · 110 yd
Silk so fine you can see your hand through it, threaded — actually threaded, before it ever got to a needle — with Murano glass and sequins. Hold a skein up to the window and it catches light like a beaded curtain. This is what knitters keep on the top shelf, behind glass.ArtYarns is the Yonkers, New York studio of Iris Schreier, a hand-dyed luxury house whose Beaded Silk line has been a fixture in collector knitting bags for two decades. The beads and sequins are silk-strung by the studio before dyeing — sparkle woven in, not appliquéd on. With nearly 1,700 projects logged on Ravelry, this colorway runs in the same circles as Habu and Shibui.100% silk with silk-strung sequins and Murano glass beads · DK weight · 110 yards per skein (2 skeins — 220 yards total) · gauge 5 sts/inch · needles US 6 (4.0 mm).Colorway: Silver / Charcoal / Magenta (#739).Twice-owned · 35% under retail · premium fiber, verified by hand · 2 available, sold per skein. Curated and re-homed by Storybook Yarn — every skein verified by hand before listing.Lovely for: an evening shawlette, a beaded edging on a plain merino cardigan, or a single statement collar. Two skeins is enough for the Stardust Cowl or a whisper-weight Half Moon shawl; pair it with a smooth fingering-weight silk for double the yardage without diluting the sparkle.Care: Hand wash only, cool water, no agitation; lay flat to dry. Store away from direct light — the beads and silk both prefer the shade.Condition: new with band. Two 50g hanks available, sold per skein. Bands intact; photographs include the band so you can see the ArtYarns colorway code (#739) before you buy. Quick reference: Color: Silver / Charcoal / Magenta (#739) · Yarn weight: DK · Thickness: DK · Fiber: 100% silk with glass beads and sequins · Skein weight: 50 g
Rotating · Featured dyers
This May
Hedgehog FibresMadelinetoshLa Bien AiméeHand MaidenSkein
Names worth watching for in the shop this month. The list rotates, the choices are mine.
About the rotation →Reference
From the glossary
- Hank
- A loose loop of yarn, twisted into a figure eight. Most premium hand-dyed yarn ships this way. You have to wind it before you can knit.
- Cake
- A flat-sided cylinder wound on a ball winder. You pull from the center. It does not roll across the floor.
- Superwash
- Wool treated to remove the fiber scales so it can be machine washed without felting. Slightly less elastic, much easier care.
- Kettle dyed
- Yarn dyed in a single pot. Produces tonal variation across the skein — deeper and lighter shades of the same color.
- Fingering
- Weight category 1. Sock-weight yarn. 14 to 17 wraps per inch, US 1 to 3 needles, around 27 to 32 stitches over 4 inches.
- The burn test
- The most reliable way to identify mystery fiber. Cut a 6-inch strand, hold it with tweezers over a sink, light it. Smell + ash tells you what it is.
Have skeins you want to set free into the world?
I sometimes buy stash too. Send me a message and we’ll talk about what you have.
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