we love cleaner cotton
It's beginning to warm up where we are in northern New England, slowly but surely. Forsythias, lilacs, and tulips replace crocuses, snowdrops, and forget-me-nots. In our knitting baskets, plant fibers begin to replace animal fibers…and I say begin because we do still sometimes have to wear wool until July up here in coastal Maine…
Well anyway, it's time to break out the summer knitting. We started with our annual linen season just last month, and we continue with our light and lovely cleaner cotton. It doesn't dry out your hands, it's soft, and it's wonderful to work with.
Sport weight Willet is wonderful for shawls, sweaters, blankets, and baby things. Willet's big sister, worsted weight Whimbrel, new just last year, will have some sweet designs devoted to it as we sail further through spring.
wrapping up
Josée Paquin designed Torrey for our Shawls 2018 collection, shown here in Almond, one of our colorgrown shades. This gorgeous, ample shawl is a great layer for a warm, breezy day.
Melanie Berg's Soulbound shawl was one of our first Willet designs, published in our Shawls 2016 collection. The openness of the eyelets are just stunning on this large shawl, shown in Windlass.
Adrian is Dianna Walla's contribution to our Willet 2018 collection. Shown in Leeward, this ultra-wide scarf is Dianna's exploration in converting traditional colorwork patterns into knits and purls. We love the results.
left to right: Torrey by Josée Paquin, Soulbound by Melanie Berg, Adrian by Dianna Walla
sweet sweaters
Another early Willet design, Dawn Catanzaro gave us Nina, which we published in February 2017. Shown here in golden Hawser, this sweet little cardigan features garter stitch just at the upper yoke.
Leila Raven designed Sela for our Willet 2018 collection. Shown in Windlass and Squall, this tee is simple but looks dramatic with its contrasting stripes and shifting garter welts changing at the center front and back.
Darlene (shown in Windlass) was designed by Isabell Kraemer for our Willet 2017 collection. We love the purl ridge stripes just in the upper body and the barest of cap sleeves.
left to right: Nina by Dawn Catanzaro, Sela by Leila Raven, Darlene by Isabell Kraemer
baby things
When Willet was launched in July 2015, we published a baby version of Pam Allen's Kelpie cap, originally knit in Puffin and released when the company was taking its own first baby steps in the world. Its garter earflap panel and pointed crown are the sweetest details on this little hat, shown here in Windlass.
In summer 2016, we published a trio of baby blankets, Little Monsters, designed by Leila Raven and Dawn Catanzaro. Sully, Leila's striped blanket with a subtle seed stitch detail and garter border, is shown here in Windlass (pale gray), Flare (bright red), Starboard (deep blue), and Dinghy (pale green).
When we launched Whimbrel in 2018, Pam did us another solid in the baby things department, designing two sweaters and two caps for little ones. Here is Whitman, a striped and garter stitch pullover with buttons at the neck for easier on-and-off, and a matching hat with an adorable pom pom. Shown in Sail and Tiller (pom pom in Starboard).
left to right: Baby Kelpie by Pam Allen, Sully by Leila Raven, Whitman sweater and cap by Pam Allen
Want more? Here is our complete collection of Willet and Whimbrel patterns. Make sure you are receiving our email updates to get first dibs on new colors of Willet and Whimbrel, plus this year's new designs in both yarns—more about these to come, stay tuned!
