Wine Country Knits 2018 Lookbook

wine country knits 2018

wine country knits 2018 is a pattern collection featuring new and old favorites by Sloane Rosenthal in yarns from Sincere Sheep. The collection includes three sweaters, two hats, one pair of mitts, and one cowl, and features bold, textured designs that show off the incredible liveliness, stitch definition, and natural colors of Sincere Sheep’s beautiful yarns. Shot on location in the hills around Napa, the print and eBook editions feature imagery that showcases the natural beauty of Northern California’s wine country.

wine country knits 2018 sandreed press los altos hills, california

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sloane rosenthal

introduction I first met Brooke Sinnes at Stitches West in Santa Clara in early 2016, when I was just dipping my toes into the design side of the yarn world. I’m a devout yarn and fiber geek, and I was starting to learn about breedspecific wools and eager to dive into the details of domestic yarn production (spoiler alert: I’m still not done learning about those things), and I was fascinated by her story and eager to meet her. I walked around the Sincere Sheep booth, ogling her bright, deeply saturated colors, which are relatively unique in the natural-dye space. Finally, I found what I was looking for: a skein of her beautiful Cormo worsted. She was busy, so I didn’t linger, but I thanked her for her beautiful yarn and left, buzzing with ideas.

Many months later, when I sat down to write Independent Fabrication: Volume 1, I started with that very skein of Cormo, which became the original sample for my Yountville slouch hat. I loved the way it took a cable, the bounce and liveliness of it, the crispness of the stitch definition.

I hadn’t mentioned the project to her while it was in progress, but when it was done, I wrote Brooke to let her know that this (at the 4

time) total stranger had written a book with a pattern in her yarn, and asked if she’d like to see it sometime.

I’ve rarely been so glad I sent an email. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with Brooke on both big and small projects, and am so honored to be able to call her both a wonderful partner and a dear friend.

This book brings together all of those collaborations, and includes both brand new patterns (the Sears Point pullover and the Skaggs Island cowl), patterns updated for new yarns (the Montelena pullover and Buck Mountain hat and mitts set), and older patterns given a loving refresh (the Silverado Trail pullover and Yountville Slouch). It features old-standby yarns, including both Worsted and Sport-weight Cormo, and newer offerings Eureka DK, Eureka Worsted, and Covet. In honor of Sincere Sheep’s 15th anniversary in 2018, we’ve paired these seven patterns together here with new photography done on location in the hills around Brooke’s Napa studio.

In both the designs themselves and the imagery, I’ve tried to do justice to both Brooke’s beautiful yarns and the amazing natural environment that surrounds and inspires her.

All seven patterns are straightforward knits, featuring a range of construction techniques, and running high towards bold-looking but

simple-to-work stitch patterns. Four are cabled, and three feature knitpurl or slip-stitch patterns that take advantage of the crisp stitch definition and roundness of Eureka’s glorious Rambouillet. The sweaters are the kind of highly wearable, knitterly garments I always aim for: the kinds of things that show your work and keep you engaged while you’re knitting, but in the kinds of modern silhouettes and colorways that fit effortlessly into your closet, no matter where your day takes you.

Each yarn featured here went from sheep to finished object within the U.S. The fibers were sourced in Wyoming and California, spun in Pennsylvania and New York, and naturally-dyed at Brooke’s studio in Napa, California. Her beautiful, deeply saturated colors are both inspired by and literally come from the amazing natural environment here in Northern California, in a kind of terroir-in-yarn form that’s fascinating to explore and experiment with.

Without getting too far onto a soapbox about it, this is not an easy way to make yarn. The fibers are sourced with great care from individual farms, and they are processed and spun at some of the last remaining small fiber mills in the U.S. Each skein is dyed by hand in a complicated, lengthy process. You make yarn this way because you feel passionately about the characteristics of the

yarn you’re trying to produce, because want to make a thing for a specific purpose, because something more readily available simply won’t do. You make yarn this way because you love it, because it matters.

I’ve tried to bring that same love, thoughtfulness, and care that made these yarns to these designs, to use these yarns in ways that bring out their best qualities. I’ve tried to let the materials and the environment from which they came inspire me, and to create patterns that evoke the same effortless, relaxed feeling that washes over me as soon as I cross the bridge and head north through Marin to Petaluma and beyond.

I hope you’ll find something that speaks to you in these pages, which are a kind of yarn-based journey through one of my favorite places in the world, and that you’ll be moved by these beautiful yarns and their stories as I have been. They are some of my very favorite knits, and I am so happy to share them with you here.

Happy knitting, Sloane

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sears point

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montelena

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silverado trail

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skaggs island

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buck mountain 32

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yountville slouch

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