Jennifer VanCalcar IS Holiday Yarns.  It’s a bit hard to believe, considering the amount of great hand-dyed yarn that she produces, but she is basically a one-woman show.  I met her at Village Fiber and Yarn Shop, when she taught a class on hand-dying for the Dizzy Retreat.  Jumping at the chance to be a student, I dyed my very first skein of yarn.

Mine is the one on the bottom. Looks like an Easter egg, doesn’t it? Looks like everyone else was being influenced by the Annetarsia classes. I see a lot of diagonal lines!

This is how the yarn looks in the skein

When unwound, you can see my dying pattern more clearly than after it is wound.

Carolyn also dyed her first skein of yarn. She likes pink, and was very careful not to make a mess.

I aimed for small bits of color, so that I wouldn’t have a lot of pooling.  When it dried and got jumbled a bit, it looked a lot different.  When skeined up, it looks more different, still.

I do plan to knit a pair of socks with this, I think they will be happy and pretty.  But I am not tired of the skein, yet.  It makes me happy, too.  So I am “saving” it for later.  Does anyone else keep “souvenir yarn”?

While at the retreat, I recruited someone to test knit the Oaks Park sock for “Annetarsia Knits”   She chose some Holiday yarn to knit it with, and then, naturally, I had to get some, too.  The knitter, Deb Jaworowicz, wasn’t going to want to part with her socks, so I needed to make a pair to match, for photography and the trunk show (I am thoughtful, like that!)  Besides, I loved the colors, and the original pair of Oaks Park that I knit were getting pretty worn, because I actually had the temerity to wear them.  Hey! When I designed them, I didn’t know there was going to be a book!

Since that time, I have seen Jennifer at shows, always with a smile on her face, and working tremendously hard.  Running a small business is always tough, and you don’t do it unless you have passion.  You can’t keep doing it unless you have talent.  Jennifer has both, and I am very proud to feature her beautiful work in “Annetarsia Knits”.

There will be a blog post, soon, about the actual Oaks Park socks, and you will see lots of photos of the sock in progress and her beautiful yarn.  Here is a sneak peek.

Oaks Park -The sock that makes knitters go “oooh”

At the photoshoot for “Annetarsia Knits” in May 2013, one of the models fell in love with the Rose City Hat.  She wore it off-camera, and in the group photo, and didn’t hint that she wanted to keep it, she just came out and asked for one!  The original is knit with Malabrigo, and I told her that I would try to find some more yarn and make one for her.  Some time after that, I saw Jennifer at a show, and saw some DK in very similar colors as Rose City!  I thought immediately of Julie, and picked up the yarn.  I don’t have a photo of the hat, because as soon as it was off the needles it went with Bill to a photoshoot, and he gave it to her. Reportedly, she was delighted.  The Holiday yarn DK is slightly plumper than the Malabrigo, so Julie’s hat is not quite as drapey, but is a bit warmer and “cushier”.

It was a great yarn for the pattern, so the next time I see Jennifer, I want some DK to make a Rose City hat for me to keep!

Rose City Hat

Jennifer is a delightful person.  Sweet, dedicated and hard-working.  And, she makes very pretty yarn!

Jennifer, of Holiday yarns