Germantown from Kelbourne Woolens is one of many amazing “workhorse” yarns you can find in our shop. This 100% wool worsted weight yarn comes in easy to work with skeins and is generous and yardage too!
From the Kelbourne Woolens team:
It’s not often in life that one gets to have a dream and follow it all the way to reality, and I feel extraordinarily lucky to have done just that. For many years I wanted to remake Germantown. Some of you will remember it from it’s previous life as a Brunswick yarn, or if you have a grandmother or great-grandmother who knits, you may remember or have heard of Fleisher’s Germantown, or Columbia – later Columbia Minerva – Germantown.
Germantown is a yarn with a history as old as America. For many years the term “Germantown” did not mean a specific kind or brand of yarn, it simply meant good quality worsted spun wool from Germantown, Pennsylvania.
The days of the bustling Germantown mills are gone. Most of the old textile mills in this country have shuttered, either in whole or part. The ones that survive tend to focus on one aspect of production – top dyeing, twisting, or just spinning – so in order to create a finished product, yarn must move from location to location before it is ready for sale. Wool may come from Wyoming or Texas, travel to California to be cleaned and processed, shipped to Pennsylvania to be spun, then to Maine to be dyed, and then back to a warehouse in Philadelphia. The machine, as they say, has a lot of moving parts. That said, there are many amazing small mills across the US who will make yarn sheep to skein, but as a wholesale company, we need to be able to have a large and consistent inventory, which is something – as amazing as they are – the smaller mills cannot manage. This, coupled with the desire to limit the manufacturing process to one location, makes domestic production an uphill battle.
Yarn details:
- 4-ply 100% North American Wool in worsted weight
- 100g/3.5 oz – 201 meters/220 yards
- Gauge: 16-20 sts/4″ on US 6-9 (4-5.5mm) needles
- $15
Pattern inspirations:
The best thing about a workhorse yarn is that it can be used for so many different types of projects! Our customers grab a skein of Germantown for everything from hats and mittens to holiday stockings and fair isle sweaters. Here are a few of our top picks to inspire you stitching:
Year of Hats
This 12 month collection of hat patterns is entirely designed in Germantown! See the entire collection here.
Nili
This more recent pullover design features fair isle- a knitting technique perfectly suited for the sticky wooliness of Germantown.
Hosta Slippers
These vintage inspired crochet slippers are quick and adorable! Pair them with some tea from our neighbors at the Spice and Tea Exchange for a sweet gift.
Basic Christmas Stockings by Churchmouse Yarns
It’s that time of year! This is our favorite holiday stocking pattern. It offers lots of ways to customize it for your own unique look, and it works as a basic pattern to make your whole family homemade stockings.
