WASHTED

FEATURING NEW COLORS IN Washted

Yarn Texture & Weight:

Single ply Worsted

Gauge:

18 sts = 4 inches

Yardage / Meters:

210 yards / 192 meters

Needle Size:

US 7 - 9 or 4.5 - 5.5 mm

Great for:

Accessories and garments, next-to-skin wear, cables, textured stitches, color-work, anything where warmth and comfort are a factor!

Skein Weight:

100 grams (3.53 ounces)

Hook Sizes:

US I-9 to K-10/12 or 5.5-6.5 mm

Content:

100% Superwash Merino Wool

183 - Pecas

Pecas is the word for freckles in spanish. Starting from our color Oro (gold) we add the dark grey spots to get the freckles. 365 - Ursula

The antagonist in The Little Mermaid, we love her aesthetic. We decided to make a beautiful purple color thinking of her tentacles, make-up and hair details. It is a complex color with lots of different tones and speckled details. 363 - Pascal

Pascal comes from Cuentos Magicos, and it is named after Rapunzel’s chameleon, one of her closest friends. This soft green is inspired by the chameleon’s neutral phase.

035 - Frank Ochre

341 - Neverland 611 - Ravelry Red

136 - Sabiduria 689 - Valentina

052 - Paris Night 398 - Rosalinda

069 - Pearl Ten

875 - Arapey 696 - Whole Grain 685 - Greenish Blue

THE MAKING OF A PICTURE Helga Stentzel

For some time, we had been wanting to combine our yarns with photography and other different artistic projects that went beyond wearable garments.

On a late afternoon of last year, while scrolling through Instagram, we stumbled upon Helga’s amazing work and simply fell in love. We immediately felt that her craft could be the key to approach malabrigo’s artistic side, so we got in contact with her right away.

Helga was very welcoming to the idea of working with malabrigo. The journey began with a few sketches until we arrived to the drafts that we felt were more in sync with the malabrigo community. You can see a little bit of this process in the images on the next page.

We are extremely happy with what Helga was able to achieve and with the response it produced amongst the malabrigo junkies. It is undoubtedly a kickstart to engage with more textile artists and explore together the use of malabrigo yarns in more formats.

Images from Helga's Instagram account @helga.stentzel Visit www.helgastentzel.com to see more of her work.

@helga.stentzel www.helgastentzel.com

→ INTERVIEW WITH HELGA STENTZEL

Where are you from and where do you live now?

I was born in Omsk, one of the biggest cities in Siberia, in 1984. I moved to the UK in 2005 to study Graphic Design and Advertising at Central Saint Martins. I live in London with my husband and our two sons.

Where does your unique vision come from?

I spent a lot of time with my grandmother in a small village when I was little. The entertainment was scarce: there was only one local newspaper to read and two TV channels to watch. No cinema, no bookshops and no computer, of course, so I learnt to entertain myself from a very young age. Whilst still in bed, I would look at the carpet on the opposite wall, squinting, until I'd see the flowers on it change shape and blur into a peculiar dragon. I would then stare at the floor searching for parrots and hedgehogs in wood knots beneath my bed. It was very rewarding to discover something that everyone else in the family had overlooked, I felt like an explorer on a special mission. And even though I'm older now, my behaviour hasn't changed much: I still enjoy scanning my surroundings for peculiar shapes and patterns.

How did you go from advertising to children’s fashion to art?

I have always been interested in visual arts and design. As a child I wanted to become an interior designer, then in later years my interest shifted to advertising. I think I was drawn to the power of a big idea and the challenge of expressing it visually in the simplest possible way. I really enjoyed it, but the hours were crazy, so after having children I left the

industry and focused on designing fun and functional clothing for kids. In 2014 I opened an Instagram account to support my business - I started throwing my art projects into the mix of photos of gloves and T-shirts, and, to my surprise, those projects were so well-received that I very soon started getting commissions from some amazing brands which gave me a much-needed confidence boost to pursue a career in art.

Where did the idea for your clothing line animals series come from?

I have a highlight on my instagram which tells the whole story (with pictures!:) https://www.instagram.com/stories/ highlights/17901131297121154/

Tell us about how and where you shot the clothing line animals.

Can you explain the idea of household surrealism?

According to Andre Breton, the aim of surrealism was to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality", or surreality. The aim of household surrealism is the same, except that visual storytelling relies almost exclusively on images of common household items. Some of my animals were shot in the studio and then superimposed onto the landscapes from my archive, but there are also those that were shot on location. The Polar Bear, for example, was photographed in Russia last winter, at -32C. That project put my equipment to test as I had to run indoors from time to time to 'defrost' the camera (and my hands!). But it was well worth it in the end, as the detail in the final image is incredible: you can see every snowflake on the bear and on the clothing line.

What was the trickiest part of creating these images?

Making sure I get the right garments for the job - which is not as easy as it seems! I got away with my husband's top for Pegasus, but all other animals were a lot trickier to create. So, failing to find a suitable colour block T-Shirt for the cow I decided to order a can of textile spray paint and dyed my little one's pink t-shirt myself. It worked a treat! I also embroidered a hat for the Polar Bear and altered my husband's shorts to make a suitable head for Laundrosaurus.

What would you like our readers to take from looking at your work?

I hope that my work makes your readers smile and appreciate the beauty of the mundane. I believe that boring things can often boast fascinating interpretations - all we need is to slow down and take a closer look at what's around us.

Where can we see more of your work?

In my online shop! I sell signed limited edition prints of my work which can be shipped worldwide.yarns in more formats.

Draft

Final