Organic cotton Empire-waist sweater and a silk/seaweed boa


Crocheted linen with Irish crochet roses


Rayon/cotton lace collared sweater with a pure linen skirt


Pure rayon beaded handbag


Pure Tencel is a joy to knit


Ribbed bamboo capelet with crystal-bead buttons


Organic color grown cotton worked in Intarsia


Silver-buckled hemp belt


Soy yarn makes fabulous Fair Isle patterning


A blend of fibers makes a bolero, embroidered


Cotton plus Modal knits up positively silky...!

Knitting...

The Yarn Garden is my most recent adventure with knitting. This has been a fabulous opportunity to explore yarns derived from, and made directly out of plant fibers. Yarn shops are bursting with fibers that are new on the market- soy, and bamboo, and new types of rayon such as Tencel and Modal. And those known longer, cotton, linen and hemp for instance, are available in many more weights, colors, textures and blends than ever before.

It is amazing what gamut of finishes comes from the plant fiber yarns- all the way from comfy casual (cottons) to the crisp and tailored look that comes only from bast fibers (linen, hemp, nettle) to the drapey silkiness of the rayon types (Tencel, Modal). Pick the look you want to achieve then choose the yarn that will do it.

One of the truly wonderful things about these yarns is they can be knitted any time of the year. Knitting with wool was always a winter time sport. Now, in summer we can make tees and tanks out of fibers that feel great to both knit and wear in the heat... what a pleasure that knitting needn't be seasonal!

A couple of patterns didn't make it into the book, so I've put them on a Free Patterns page.

The links below are the same as in the book but here you can click on them.

YARNS and KNITTING SUPPLIES

Here are places to find the yarns and other supplies mentioned in the book. Note: many of these companies are wholesale only, some offer ordering on website, or will refer to a retailer.