Unraveled

Mental Health is a hot topic right now, but it isn't new. In fact, Canada has observed a mental health week in the first full week of May since 1951. That's 72 years!  Need some reasons to make crafting a priority in your life. How about these: Reducing Stress: Engaging in crafting activities can help reduce stress levels and promote relaxation. This is because crafting requires you to focus your attention on a task, which can help you enter a state of flow and forget about other worries. Boosting Mood: Crafting can also boost mood and promote feelings of happiness...

Celebrating Local Yarn Store Day As a knitter, crocheter, or fiber enthusiast, you are probably familiar with Local Yarn Store (LYS) Day – a day dedicated to celebrating the small businesses that make up the backbone of the fiber arts community. LYS Day is an annual event that takes place on the last Saturday of April, and it is an opportunity to show support for your local yarn store and the people who work there. In this blog post, we'll explore what LYS Day is all about, why it's important to participate, and how you can get involved. Connecting with...

Have you noticed the logo above appearing on more and more yarn labels? Do you know what it means? GOTS stands for Global Organic Textile Standard, which is a certification program for textiles made from organic fibers. This certification ensures that the entire textile supply chain, from farming to processing and distribution, meets strict environmental and social criteria. To be certified, all stages of the supply chain must meet GOTS standards and criteria, including: Organic Fiber Production: The raw materials used in the product must be produced organically, without the use of pesticides, herbicides or genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Environmental and Social...

Any decent knitting or crochet pattern will give you information on gauge or tension. It will be something along the lines of x number of stitches and y number of rows in a 10cm/4" square with a suggested needle/hook size. Most of us, myself included, have historically focused on the stitch gauge and figured I could just fudge the rest by either lengthening or (more common for me) shortening as needed. But if we can just fudge it, why is it there? Turns out, if you're a garment maker, it really does matter in a few key spots of your...

This is one of those subjects where crafters tend to have really, really strong feelings. There are many who would never consider making socks with a yarn which wasn't at least 20% nylon because why would you put all that work into something which will wear out so quickly without it. But here’s the thing – there is a growing camp of people (myself included) who not only believe that it isn’t necessary, but who go out of their way to find sock yarns without nylon. For most of the long history of socks, nylon hasn’t been an option. You had a choice...