Tern 2016
by Quince & Co 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS IN T R O 4 -5 L EDA 6 -9 CA R IN A 1 0 -1 3 S ID R A 1 6 -1 9 CA PEL L A 2 2 -2 5 A N D R OM EDA 2 6 -2 9
Tedge,ernsin areandwispy birds. You see them on beaches, scatter-running on skinny legs, chasing the water out. Quince & Co’s little Tern is equally spirited, a tidy little yarn spun from a blend of wool and silk. Its three plies are twisted together with just the right tension to make a smooth, round, wellbalanced yarn: one that knits neatly into a clean, even fabric, one that makes the most of patterns that rely on easy-going, simple stockinette stitch for interest.
To underscore this characteristic, we kept things simple in this book. We used lots of soothing stockinette stitch, with little more than than a bit of garter stitch, stripes, or purled columns here and there for interest. Not to say that Tern doesn’t look great in lace and texture stitches. It does, as you can see in Capella, an ample shawl shown on pages 22-25. But sometimes we like things quiet and uncomplicated, like a deserted stretch of beach. Two more things we like about Tern: First, we like that Tern is made with silkworm-friendly Tussah silk. Unlike Mulberry silk, Tussah is harvested from cocoons after the worm has transitioned into a moth and flown free of its silk-lined hideaway. The result is a fiber a little less slinky and a little less shiny than Mulberry, which is harvested before worm maturity, cutting short an already brief life. Second, we like Tern’s heathery surface. Five years ago, when we dyed our first batch, the results were unexpected. Instead of saturated colors, the skeins had a muted, heathered look. As it turns out, silk doesn’t readily absorb the acid dyes that we use for our wools. We never looked back. We love the way the undyed silk fibers give Tern a soft patina, like old hand-painted postcards. Tern is a little finer than a sport weight and knits up from 5 to 9 stitches per inch, depending on needle size and the fabric you’re looking for. Knitted at any gauge, our little bird has lovely drape and a barely perceptible sheen.
Pam
4
5
6
LEDA by Pam Allen
7
yarn: Tern color: Mist 8
9
10
CARINA by Isabell Kraemer
11
12
yarn: Tern color: Terra Cotta 13
14
15
16
SIDRA by Isabell Kraemer
17
yarn: Tern colors: Stonington Oyster Back Bay 18
19
20
21
22
CAPELLA by Isabell Kraemer
23
yarn: Tern color: Stonington
24
25
26
ANDROMEDA by Pam Allen
27
yarn: Tern color: Dusk 28
29
26 30
bios / 2016
31
Isabell Kraemer describes herself as “chaotic, sometimes nervewracking, tiny, cluttered with laughter lines, all-loving, creative, with never enough time to get all the ideas out of my head, always sketching, and a lover of all things related to fashion.” She lives in a small, medieval town in south-west Germany. Her aim is to design everyday items for modern knitters—casual with a little twist. She’s addicted to stripes and seamless construction. She doesn’t mind seaming, but likes the fit-as-you-go aspect of top-down knitting. website: owlsisters.blogspot.com ravelry: lilalu instagram: lilalu72
32
Pam Allen has worked as a knitwear designer, editor at Interweave Knits, and creative director at Classic Elite Yarns. In 2010 she launched Quince & Co with the idea of sourcing fiber and spinning yarns in the US. Since then the company has grown from four basic yarns to fourteen—and there’s always something new in the works. When she isn’t knitting, she tries to slip away to the White Mountains for a hike. website: quinceandco.com ravelry: pamallen instagram: quinceandco
33
quinceandco.com