Alabama Chanin has a very particular aesthetic - one rooted in layered stories and organic and nature-inspired shapes. I’m not a floral girlie, personally, but I absolutely love the essence of what she does.

I told Sandi I would send the book home with her that day, having done a cursory thumb-through, confirming my adoration of all things textured, textile, and tales. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized I’d actually left her book (a signed copy no less…) in the backseat of my car. I brought it into my house, texted to let Sandi know I’d inadvertently absconded with her tome, and flipped open the book to the first first page. Cripes - I’ll have you know I’ve not read a book cover-to-cover that fast in a VERY long time. It felt like affirmation. It felt like hanging out with a friend who is kindly reminding you of your own center by sharing her own stories. When I finished reading the book I put it down, then picked it up again. I went back through, looking at the pictures once again.

Every time I feel stuck - whether in business, or in personal matters, I ask for guidance. Mostly I’m asking the energy of the ether. Sometimes I’m asking ancestors. Sometimes I’m hollering into the vortex. Whatever the mode of inquiry, and whomever the intended recipient, I always know I’ll get an answer.

There was something in the work of Natalie Chanin that reminded me how much of what we’ve done, first as a yarn shop, then as dyers, and now still as dyers - but with a cabin studio that is an extension of the pure need for exploration and expression I know most makers and artists feel.

I started combing back through my artwork, our dye work, and through books that inspire me. I started stitching and swatching and experimenting. In the course of it I cut up some deadstock (new, but never sold) t-shirts we had from over a decade ago, and I pulled out one of the undyed organic cotton scarves we have. I haphazardly tied and sewed two spots on a piece of a white cotton t-shirt, and then shoved it into a small jar of the walnut ink I brewed (see this post). When I pulled it out, rinsed it, and let it dry, it looked like a bunch of nothing - until I turned it upside down. That’s when it became mountains, reflected in water, with the sun high overhead. Taking inspiration from Chanin, I backed it with orange, stitched a bit, and cut through some spots.

All of this resulted in a scarf that became the basis for a great brainstorming session with my mom yesterday. I shared all of this with her - and felt such gratitude for being able to have the conversation with her, but also for having been able to begin putting the pieces of so many things together in a way that makes sense to me.

For all artists, makers, and creators - including my partner and co-owner, Sheri, and me - finding the thru-line can prove difficult at times. But when you begin to pay attention to what resonates with you - and what others who know you well notice in your work, and about you as a person - you can find those threads. Like the ones Natalie Chanin illuminates in her books.

In our studio we work with a wide range of materials, but we always come back to color. Wool is, of course, central, but it’s not singular. Like all of us who create, honoring all the parts strengthens the whole.

Here’s to YOU and all your many creative parts!

xoxo

Ladianne

WoolTribe

If you’re a new reader, I’ll share that we spent more than a year remodeling a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina’s Ashe County. It’s in an absolutely beautiful spot! Overlooking a creek, at the end of a meandering road. Being in that space truly feels like you’ve been transported to another dimension - one where calm prevails.

COME DYE YOUR OWN YARN WITH US: To see everything about the retreats and cabin, check out our website. The first retreat is a yarn dyeing adventure and the dates are now set in stone: June 26-28, 2026. WHEW!

I had to share these pics - my parents came to our old space, in a warehouse in Charlotte, and dyed yarn with us! SO MUCH FUN!

We are so happy to be able to offer the experiences we’re creating for our visitors. There are only four spots in this retreat, so if you’re interested, check it out and book fast! We have a brand new system we’re working with - so if you run into any issues, please holler via email - hello@wooltribe.CO - there is NO “M” on the end of our email address.

In lieu of a bunch of words this week, since I’ve had my head stuck in my computer, I’m popping on here with a video! Why do I look so happy?? Watch to find out!

WHEW!! Thanks so much for being part of our WoolTribe Rebel fam.

Catch you next week!

xoxo

Ladianne

We went into Doe Ridge Pottery in West Jefferson, NC a week or so ago, searching for mugs to use as part of our swag for a retreat to be held at our WoolTribe Studio cabin. We were so lucky to meet Nate - the wonderful proprietor. He encouraged us to wander a bit and find mugs we thought might work from among those available.

The shop area includes the work of a number of potters, and we selected a total of six mugs to start with, two of which were made by Nate. When I held up one of them and proclaimed my love for the colors, he mentioned the yellow on the bottom, and inside, is not easily obtained right now.

I love a good rabbit hole…so here we are. This week’s post started with curiosity about What on earth has happened to that yellow…?

Here’s what a bit of Google research shows… The Vanadium and Praseodymium Link: A significant portion of the world's vanadium pentoxide (used in vanadium-tin yellow stains like Mason 6404) and praseodymium oxide is either refined or shipped through Gulf ports. With the Strait effectively closed since February 2026, the supply of these critical metal oxides has tightened globally.

Sheri and I talk a ton about the economics of craft. Why? Because we live it. So do other dyers, as do potters, painters, and other makers. Often, when there is something going on in the world that puts the squeeze on one thing, it sends waves out to many other things. So, here we are.

This yellow glaze research led me to hunt around about yellow in general. As I have been waiting on a couple of books from ThriftBooks.com to arrive - namely, the following:

Shrooms

We have a neighbor at the cabin who is a mushroom expert. No - not because she is a trippy hippie, but because she is literally in graduate school to study mycology. I knew NOTHING about mushrooms or fungi, or moss, or anything like that before meeting her. Still don’t really know a thing, except that mushrooms can produce EVERY shade of dye possible! Now - before anyone goes setting up a commercial space to vat dye gigantic amounts of red and purple yarn using mushrooms you must know it would be a horrible idea to rob the forrest floor of enough shrooms to create vast quantities of dye. Why? Well, because mushrooms are actually neither plants nor animals (I know - it blew my mind too), but they support an incredible array of processes including growth of our food.

In hunting around for natural dyes that make the color yellow, I happened upon (@yellowelanor on Instagram). Really interesting posts on mushrooms! Well worth exploring.

Also totally worth your time is the website for one of the books I ordered! mushroomcoloratlas.com will consume your time in the best of ways! This site and book were dreamed up by . Her website is also amazing! I’ve not been through the whole thing yet, but look forward to it.

I’ve also read I can get some decent yellows from Leather Leaf Mahonia (Berberis bealei (Fortune) Carrière) leaves. Apparently it’s invasive - so I’m looking forward to trying the leaves as dye as we have the plants in fair profusion in our Carolina flatlands yard.

Fashion

One of the books on my shelf I love most is Guo Pei’s book of fashions called Couture Fantasy. You might remember Guo Pei’s dress, won by Rihanna at the 2015 Met Gala. Brilliant yellow, with a fur stole, and a massive, hand embroidered train, the dress inspired awe…and an unfortunate spate of Big Bird and fried egg memes. Those things aside, the dress really was a marvel. Since I can’t find an image shareable under Creative Commons licensing, I’ll leave you with a link here: See the yellow Met Gala dress by Guo Pei.

In search of a bit more information on Guo Pei, I happened upon a documentary about her. It’s called Yellow is Forbidden, a reference to the law in imperial China that only the emperor and special designates could wear bright yellow. Watch it free here, on Tubi: Yellow is Forbidden documentary.

Bud Light

Of course, before closing out this particular rabbit hole, I had to know what was used to create the glam yellow the emperor so closely guarded. It was, of course, made from Pagoda buds - buds from a tree called the Japanese Pagoda Tree. Yeah - it’s called Japanese Pagoda, but like many plants I seem to want to use for dyeing, it originated in China. Just like the Leather Leaf Mahonia! Funny thing, the Japanese Pagoda tree is found throughout North Carolina for its hardiness and drought resistance. Well - guess I’ll be keeping on the lookout for them!

Oh, wait… It turns out you need the unopened buds for dyeing. This might require a ladder. Or those tree climbing boots. And a harness.

Ok - maybe I’ll stick with mushrooms.

Quick Updates

The Mezzaluna shawl is finally in for a soak before blocking. Trying some new soap. Don’t love it… Honestly, Eucalan is my fave. Can’t lie on this one.

Also, I’ve added the walnut dyed yarn to the shawl. Lovely!

See you next week!

xoxo

Ladianne

More and more I find I’m most interested in physical objects - things - about which I know the stories. Stories of object origins, and of their makers. The locations of their creation, and the materials of which they are made. Fewer and fewer of the things in my life remain here without some connection to materials, makers, and meaning.

Recently I ordered two books. One of them is Fewer, Better Things: The hidden wisdom of objects, by Glenn Adamson. You know how, every once in a while, you’re completely stopped in your tracks by a book, or - as one of our favorite business partners told us yesterday of her own experience - by a work of art? Your thoughts get wrapped up, you see infinite connections to things in your own life, and you find the material quite literally becoming part of the weave of your own experience.

Adamson’s book is doing just that for me. I’m almost halfway through, and already it feels like a homecoming. Like the things I’ve felt and believed for decades are being welcomed into the fold. What’s happening, however, is also an expansion of my understanding. The other book is What is Art For, by Ellen Dissanayake. I’ve read Suzi Gablik’s work - and she’s quoted by Dissanayake, I noticed when I flipped open the book. I’ll report back when I’ve read it in earnest.

During the course of building the walkway I talked about in last week’s post, Sheri and I talked about how to incorporate the antique bricks we found on the property at our studio cabin. As she dug the bricks out of the pile in the carport, we started noticing they had some sort of glaze on one side. The glaze had odd bubbles - well, more like bumps on them. The coating was not particularly glossy, but it was hard. Glass!

We were finishing the walkway, and had decided to use these bricks - each of which was discolored in some way. We realized they had been used in a forge by the artist who owned this cabin. They were fire bricks! Now, since those bricks have been incorporated into the walkway, that element of his creative practice is what welcomes people to walk the path to the front door. Somehow it feels so appropriate.

But well beyond that, those bricks - and the rest in the walkway - resulted in a conversation during which Sheri shared with me the sources of each of the types of brick in the walkway. To be honest, I hadn’t looked at them for their stories. I’d been focused on the wool we dye at WoolTribe - which comes from Shaniko Wool Company. I’d been focused on the torn paper in my visual art works using pieces of deconstructed works from as much as two decades ago. The conversation felt like an opportunity to do what one of my yoga teachers used to advise. “Soften your gaze,” she would say. Doing so allows you to see your own focus, your own experiences as a vignette of the greater whole. Sheri and her stash of outdoor materials are rich in craftswomanship and stories. All of which I intend to continue to enjoy and learn from.

Iron Water and Wildflowers

As I’ve continued to work on the version of the Lost River Shawl I’m making using handspun yarn (I've mentioned it and shared a photo in last week’s post), I’ve been thinking through how I’d like to add color. I shared the skein of yarn I dyed with Beech Nut Hulls from a tree that fell in our yard in the Piedmont of North Carolina. The hulls had dried out - the tree has been down for at least a year, perhaps two. I’m not sure what led me to grab the hulls and experiment, but that’s what I did, and the light pinkish-brown results were inspiring to me. The only additive was a tablespoon of baking soda in the dye water strained from the simmering of the hulls.

In thinking through the possibilities for color for the rest of the shawl, I’ve come to the idea of using only foraged dyestuffs, like many other dyers do. But the mountainous area where our studio cabin sits doesn’t share tons of color. We do get surprises like the native wildflowers we found down the hill, near the creek that runs through our property - but the colors in many flowers are fugitive, meaning the color doesn’t last long on textiles. And, more importantly, I want to leave the lovely wildflowers right were they are, feeding the ecosystem of the forest floor next to the creek, which contains trout and hellbenders (look them up and read about them…they are an incredible kind of salamander). The creek is a headwater stream feeding into the New River. If you want to be astounded, read about the New River - it is one of the oldest in the world, and - like the Nile, it flows north.

Sheri and I shimmied down the (extremely steep) hillside to the creekside over the weekend. Sheri is the true plant person of the two of us. Hearing her delight in the plant finds along the creek, in the flood plane was a joy. Here is a bit of what we found.

Of note is the fact that Red Trillium is said by the Google to “emit a pungent odor, similar to decomposing carrion or wet dog, which attracts flies for pollination.” Skunk Cabbage, says the Google, “gets its name from the unpleasant, skunk-like odor it emits, especially when the leaves are bruised or broken.” While it wasn’t flowering when we were exploring, it’s worth looking it up. You might faintly hear the words “feed me, Seymour…”

I went on, after the traipse through the stinky forest, with my work contemplating color possibilities, I came across a great YouTube channel - @plantdyefortextiles. The dyer is located in Hawaii, and her videos are fantastic. In one she shares how she uses iron water to determine whether or not tannins are present in plant material. That started a rabbit hole for me - which plants in our area contain tannins. Chemical compounds found naturally in plants, tannins help color bond with fiber. Combined with various mordants, they can help shift color one way or the other.

After finding pine needles contain significant amounts of tannins, I’ve nearly settled on dyeing some of the handspun yarn I have at the studio using pine needles. In combination with iron water I may end up with some gorgeous deep greens. We’ll see.

Life in Laos

Continuing with my love of documentaries, I watched a short but fascinating YouTube video called Living in Laos: How People Live in One of Asia’s Last Quiet Places. Truly beautiful, this documentary is yet another to mention that textiles have a revered place in Laotian culture. Watch it for yourself. You will be glad you did. What a beautiful place - for its nature, it’s people, and their handmade goods.

With that, I’ll bid you good day - and note I look forward to connecting with you next week.

From the heart,

Ladianne

Did I tell you that the cabin we bought and restored was initially owned by an artist? We didn’t know him. But everyone else around the ridge did. He worked with glass. Made knives. Cast concrete. He passed away just a couple of years after selling the cabin to a friend (who then sold it to us). Within a year of our purchase of the cabin, he passed away. We were told that the majority of his work was thrown away - into a dumpster.

As a maker, I have to tell you this sent chills down my spine. Admittedly, my artwork has not been well documented. It’s neatly organized in a flat file, each drawer labeled by year, or timeframe. But I haven’t done a great job of photographing every single thing and documenting it. I’m working to change that.

Same thing with my hand-knitted goods. Our business (wooltribe.co) is all about hand dyeing 100% American-made yarn - making glorious color in small batches so other makers can do their thing. Turning yarn into anything takes time. Copious amounts of it. But the number of people who make things, and do absolutely zero documenting is, I would guess, rather high. There ARE outliers - like our customer at the yarn shop who religiously (obsessively?) wrote down every single detail of every single thing she made. I truly admired her diligence, and knew in my hear that THAT level of documentation would never happen in my world.

However, I actually have been doing quite a bit of documenting. And I’ve worked with my parents to document a number of things they’ve made, collected, curated, and shepherded through time. There are quilts, handmade dolls, tables, chairs, a lovely desk made by my grandfather, needlepoint pieces, little hand carved birds, musical instruments, and so much more.

Sheri and I have things from her family as well - handmade chess boards, funny little crocheted easter egg covers (you know…they look like tiny chickens?). We also have antique clocks, hobnail glass, Waterford crystal, handmade pottery, and some Fostoria. Thing is, none of this stuff will mean squat to anyone else, save for the things that have “market value,” if the stories aren’t documented.

What strikes me about all of this - and has been hitting me over the head for some time - is that there is all this talk about the Creative Economy. How we’ve marched headlong into a time of incredible creativity - and that it will fuel everything. But, hasn’t it always? Hasn’t creativity always been central to expression, innovation, and discovery? I think perhaps part of the issue is that the people who decide what lives under the heading of Creative Work (with capital letters standing tall) are, like historians, prone to bias. Wait - not prone to bias, but perhaps inclined to bias.

Recently I was working on our new WoolTribe website, my art website, and another project recently using a new-to-me platform. I did what one does, and joined the platform’s community where people chat about all sorts of things related to the platform. What works well, what doesn’t. What one has to do in order to keep from becoming a font of epithets during any given work session. At roughly 3 in the morning on March 31, I received an email. I do not think it was an April Fool’s joke - as it was so stunningly obtuse, and poorly timed it could not possibly have been done in jest. The email said “Congratulations - you have been selected as one of our two users of the month for March.” Really? I immediately wrote back, noted that I appreciate the platform, but also that it seemed pretty brazen to tell me - on the last day of Women’s History Month that I would get to be “User of the Month” - for one day.

When I stack up the things that have been part of my creative life, and I take into account all the things our customers at the shop created (both in the form of knitted/crocheted/woven things and in other mediums), the things my parents, grandparents, and other ancestors have crated, and then consider that the vast majority of work never gets documented, which means the makers never get credit, it stuns me. More on this soon.

But please do share your thoughts on documenting - your knits, other handmade objects, family heirlooms… I am genuinely interested.

Current Makes

I have finished the samples for the colorwork cowl and hat I had on the needles. They are the Emory Valley Colorwork Beanie and Cowl. I am to get the pattern out sooner than later, as these are great projects to make as gifts! Emory Valley was the name of the neighborhood where my dad’s parents lived - and for whatever reason, it seemed fitting for these.

Shawl Land

I’ve continued to work on ’s Mezzaluna Shawl using our WoolTribe Homegrown Sport yarn. I started the project in Fall of last year, and put it down over the holidays. As I’m on a furious mission to complete things I started some time ago, that one is back in motion. You can get the pattern from her on Ravelry - and of course, we are happy to dye the yarn for you! Check out colors at wooltribe.co. We do have a sale going on - here comes the shameless promo…. We’re extending our sale thru Sunday - which means you can get 25% off ALL yarn - in stock AND pre-order! Just use SPRING25 at checkout. Our site has been redone - so holler if you have any questions!

Admittedly, this is an odd color combination for me - not something I would normally have picked, but we had some overdyed skeins - skeins that weren’t quite right the first time, so we redid them. I thought this would be an interesting way to go. Sheri keeps telling me she loves it. I think I do - not sure. More on that after it’s blocked. The shawl is a win, and the color combo is undecided. I did ADORE the color periwinkle when I was a kid - so there is that!

Ok - once we’ve gotten the retreats live and ready for bookings on the retreat section of our website, I’ll holler! New adventures await, for sure!

Have a great week…

xoxo

Ladianne (+Sheri)

Today my mom and I went to the mall. No - you don’t have to check your calendar. It’s not still 1985, although if you’d walked into Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach back then you’d have been likely to see us walking along, chatting, inspecting this dress and those shoes. We enjoyed it. 

I’m of the generation that enjoyed going to the mall with our friends too. Ariana and I would stroll through the mall and laugh our way through Spencer’s Gifts, or grab a soda and some popcorn at a movie. My friend Kris and I would look at clothes, and chatter about who we saw walking around at the mall, who they were dating, what they did over the weekend. You know, the usual stuff.

Well, today, mom and I grabbed lunch, made a plan. Full disclosure, I needed bras - not something I enjoy shopping for. I was also searching for a bag as a possible replacement for one made by DellaQ. I’ve loved the bag. In fact, we sold them at the yarn shop we owned - and everyone really loved this model and all the others we offered! 

However, about a year into owning the bag, in roughly 2021, the zipper broke. Too soon, in my opinion. I contacted the company - then owned by its founder - and they replaced the bag. 

Fast forward to roughly two weeks ago. I was walking out of a grocery store and realized my bag was hanging open - and my wallet was precariously perched, ready to leap onto the pavement. I realized the zipper had bitten the dust, so I did what one does, and sent a note to DellaQ. I inquired about their repair policy - I really just wanted to have the zipper replaced. A kindly employee responded and said they didn’t do any sort of repairs.

That started me on a quest to find just the right roll of YKK zipper, #5, with antique brass teeth, plus sliders, and top/bottom stops. I decided I’d go ahead and replace all the zippers on the bag, since I’m planning to change the color of the tape on the zippers.

So, back to shopping. 

Just before mom and I headed out of my parents’ house, she offered me a leather bag - a backpack - that she’d had for years. She and dad picked it up at an outlet mall at some point when we were shuttling back and forth between our home in Virginia and my grandparent’s place in Tennessee.

It’s a well-made bag, with room for my wallet AND my knitting. What could be better? That didn’t keep me from looking at bags at the mall, out of curiosity, of course.

Here’s the thing. The bags were - bags. And I know that for many people, bag shopping is about as fun as…well…bra shopping, which isn’t saying much. 

Although I didn’t see anything that really suited my needs, I did start inspecting bags. Looking at materials, looking at manufacturing details. Shapes, colors. Finishing. Linings, handles…and…ZIPPERS. My mom and I checked out ALL the details.

Here are some of the bags she and I inspected:

Initially I was focused on the small bags from Mercado - because they used denim. One of them even said it was a collab between Mercado and Levi’s. Said that Levi’s had donated the denim. I love that - because (get ready) it would take one person 10 years to drink the amount of water it takes to make one freakin’ pair of jeans. At WoolTribe we make CML Totes using reclaimed jeans, with artisanal touches like inkle woven belting, reclaimed leather handles, and the like. We have some handles that even came from Chaco’s when they donated the webbing to the fair-wage manufacturer we’ve used for these - right here in the United States.

When I looked at the lovely, color fade denim on the Steve Madden bags, it seemed pretty obvious to me they weren’t made from landfill diverted material. They were made from new denim, most likely. Please, Madden designers, correct me if I’m wrong on this. And when I looked at the Brahmin bags, I went straight for…the zippers. The Brahmin bags had amazing zippers, really smooth, very sturdy, high quality…zippers.

All of this led me to blurt out to my mom as we were walking back toward the parking lot - 

It should be illegal for any company to manufacture anything they aren’t willing or able to repair.

There. I said it. Brahmin has a repair program. You have to meet their criteria, but it seems they do repairs. Steve Madden? Nope. Mercado? Nope. 

Wrong answer, folks.

With the racks and racks of unwanted new clothing, and the racks and racks of unwanted new bags, it’s obvious to me, as a maker, and as someone who has worked really hard over the last eight years to buy as little new stuff as possible that most of the manufacturers making all this stuff feel zero responsibility. 

SHAME. ON. YOU.

Makers - you know how it is. You knit a sweater. It has a snag or a hole. You know what to do…right? FIX IT. That’s what we do. If you can make a sweater to begin with, you can also mend a sweater. Know what I’m sayin’?

So, to the manufacturers of the world - take responsibility and start fixing the shit you spew out into the world.

Or quit spewing.

Thanks!

When we opened our yarn shop in early 2017 I found myself awash in color every day. All the yarn we offered, stacked neatly in crates and hung on display hooks, created an incredibly inspiring work environment.

We did copious amounts of research before selecting wall and floor colors. Blue is calming, reassuring, and steady. Red is exciting, energizing, and spirited. We aimed for a palette that would be a feast, a festival of color for anyone who walked in the door. Color was at the center of our work, even as we offered classes in various crafts. Whether knitting, weaving, spinning, or crocheting, our customers relished the moment of color selection.

Eventually we noticed the gray trend coming in. Soon, our 30-something customers were all looking for shades of gray. Gray for babies’ rooms. Gray for furnishings. Gray for clothing. I remember feeling confused. If you’re going to make something, shouldn’t it bring you joy? went my logic, but then again - I’m Gen X. We were raised on neon pink leopard print tights on hair band members. There were still colorful car interiors - and exteriors when we were growing up. We had jeans with colorful patches on the pockets, and Rainbow Brite was our gal pal.

In the world of pop music, there was no shortage of color.

It’s not that people of my level of patina don’t appreciate classic shades as well. There were monochromatic, fairly calm palettes in the fashion world, but they almost always had some little bit of pizzazz.

CULTURE

Now here we are - in early 2026. Sure, there’s still color. But when my daughter and I shopped New York City in December, we visited several of her favorite clothing stores. Places she buys clothes for work and weekend time. I noticed quickly that they all had the same palette. White, gray, black, navy. Perhaps a muted red. But not much more than that. When we went to some major department store, I noticed the designer racks - rows and rows of them - were crammed with color. Sequins, lace, embroidery - all in blazing shades of every color you can imagine. It was also the first time I’d ever seen Ferragamo shoes in person. True story. I love creating fashions, but in all honesty, I view all of it as art and costume - not exactly appropriate for my time in the dye studio with Sheri.

The good news is that there seems to be an uptick in the desire for vibrancy in fashion, according to Editorialist.com They’re showing shades of persimmon, chartreuse, indigo, and purple. I can get with that. Just google color trends for 2026 and take a gander. Other than the obnoxious cloud white color Pantone chose to roll out (I’m sure the emperor LOVES his new clothes…), there is some real pop in the palette for 2026! As a dyer, and as someone who pays attention to the ways in which our cultural shifts are tied to our expressions via color, I’m really happy to see some color popping back into our lives!

CRAFT

All of this color contemplation comes as I’ve been staring at the home page of the new website we’re gearing up to roll out. Sheri and I have been talking through what we want the site to do - for our community, and for us. We want it to be fun - like our yarn shop was, but more expressive, more creative, and even more heavily steeped in the possibilities that come with leaning into the power of wild color!

Now that I’ve said all of this, I’m remembering that Sheri and I were sitting on the couch last night, watching a serial killer series (originally just her thing) and knitting (originally just my thing). I started laughing my head off at the way we’d met in the middle, sharing a ridiculous mix of predictable serial killer mayhem and stitching until our heads got heavy and our mouths hung open from the lulling effects of knitting. [Don’t you EVEN pretend you haven’t found yourself slack jawed during a knitting session…]

Here’s the real kicker - Sheri was knitting one of her Big Ass Cowls in our WoolTribe Homegrown Bulky in NATURAL(!) and I was knitting the sample for a color work pattern I started quite a while ago in our WoolTribe Homegrown Worsted yarn in Oxford Blue and Cupcake. I reminded myself not to panic. Sheri’s going to dye that natural cowl and it will undoubtedly be an amazing mix of colors! As to my colorwork beanie, Cupcake is a colorway with a little flecks of fluorescent color on a warm, buttery background. If Sheri’s other cowls are any indication - with their flurry of color - the natural one will be stunning when she’s done with it.

During the moments we’re dyeing rich colors like our Really Red (perfect for making red hats), knitting in color, or knitting with the intention that the thing be colored after knitting, all feels alright in our world - even as much of the rest of the world seems to have succumbed to gray.

Within you color in all the ways you may need it.

xoxo

The Case for Hand Knits

Over the last week we’ve seen temps at WoolTribe Studio Cabin go from 59 degrees for the high to 24-ish degrees for the high only a day later. We’ve watched snow falling so hard that not only were the mountaintops obscured, but the house being built just across the creek from us was also invisible. Throughout it all, I’ve been grateful to have my hand-knits. I’m going to share a pro tip about traveling with hand-knits…. If you can, put them in their own little suitcase. If you’re lucky enough to have a nearly useless little suitcase like I dug out of our attic, try it out as your dedicated hauler for hand-knits.

I never thought transporting hand knits would be as important as it has become with this whole WoolTribe Studio Cabin situation! Having our studio situated at 3100 feet above sea level in a county referred to as the “Coolest Corner of North Carolina” has made me fall even further in love with wool!

Speaking of WoolTribe Studio Cabin

I know - you’ve probably heard enough about this. It’s been our all-consuming focus for the past year. But, I have to share that we are nearly ready to post our first retreat openings. In prep for that, I shot and put together clips of the cabin on the ONE warm day we had last week! Don’t mind the imperfections of the video - like my red phone case showing up in one of the bits. 😂

The Quieting Mind

I’ll be honest - the last week has been incredibly busy with things that aren’t much to write about here. Stove repair. Hearing some wonky flying squirrel noises outside our cabin. Clear coating trim in the studio space - and getting ready for this week’s dye session. So, I don’t have tons of amazing things to share with you this week. I guess there’s a beauty to that kind of honesty. Nothing flashy - just reality.

We’ve knit. We’ve watched the snow fall. And maybe what I’m trying to convey to you is that there is not a fabulous way I can find, in this moment, to tell you how nice the silence has been. That’s what we’ll want to share with visitors to this place - this cabin that sits on a ridge in the sky. I suppose I’ll just leave you with a bit of that peace here… And, Max, our 13-year-old puppers out in the snow.

It’s Better: Cabin Update

If you’ve been with us for a bit, you know this Substack is really an ongoing journal. For some entrepreneurs, life and business are one heady brew. We’re those folks. We dream up big things and then go running at them, full steam. Sometimes the dreams take root and become something awesome. Other times, not so much. But I still believe dreaming is worth doing - as is the journey toward making dreams come true.

Sheri and I both dreamed of having a mountain cabin. Neither of us knew it - until our plans to build our studio/retail space in the Charlotte metro area came to a screeching halt. Now, we’re coming up on the anniversary of the date we bought a cabin in the mountains of the extreme northwestern corner of North Carolina to house our business, WoolTribe. It’s part studio, and part retreat space. Very cozy, and very quiet.

When we bought it, neighbors used a number of words to describe it - none of them particularly positive. The structure itself was fantastic - and the place had that sort of awesomeness that sneaks up on you, its exterior hiding the possibilities of the interior. Here’s what it looked like when we bought it:

AND - in celebration of our anniversary here, here are some updated pics. We’re getting ready to put finishing touches on the cabin and open up for reservations for our first couple of retreats. The first will happen in late April. So - here it is now:

If you’re interested in enjoying a hosted, small-group getaway, here are the dates for our very first WoolTribe studio cabin retreat! More details are coming - so, watch for them here and on our social media spaces. The retreat will be limited to just four people. We aren’t about huge groups or tour bus captivity. We’re about calm, quiet - and crafting in a space where you can hear yourself think. There’s plenty of terrain to roam, around the cabin, in the area where it’s situated, and beyond.

We are planning an April Weekend Knitaway, for the weekend of the 24th thru the 26th - A chance to just relax…and knit! We’ll be sharing full details on our website and opening for reservations soon! All meals and snacks will be included, from dinner Friday night thru breakfast Sunday morning.

A Sweater

Last week I told you I’d been working on a new addition to the Basic Elements lineup of patterns on our site. When we created this line of patterns, the idea was that they could be canvases for people to use to create projects with their own personal flair. I don’t know how many people actually do that versus just knitting straight from a pattern, exactly as instructed. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below….

Anyway, I headed out on my “write a new V-Neck Cardigan journey” and created a lovely, comfortable, and totally customizable pattern. It’s not ready for publishing quite yet - but the sample is super fun. I thought I’d share the finished thing here:

In my last Substack I mentioned I was calling this The Lucky Sweater. I think that moniker for this version of the Basic Elements V-Neck Cardigan still works! I need to do a workshop on stripe planning for visual impact, and making scrappy sweaters look cool and intentional. A bit of truth here - I added a knit-on patch pocket and…hated it. So I took it off. I’m happy with the pocketless thing. Besides, I don’t love the look of pockets on handknit sweaters all stretched out from putting too many things in them. Not that I’d know by experience…

After I took pictures of the finished thing, I did what one does, and put the sweater on an AI model. He’s one of my faves, as he makes everything look fantastic. Anyway, here he is in this sweater:

And…More! Celebrate Artists in Charlotte at this Event

Check out the work of ArtPop artists - support those artists by buying some art. We love these folks - and sometime this year we’ll be part of an ArtPop market we’re sure! In the meantime, we love these people - and ArtPop - so we’re shouting out.

• Save the Date: Saturday March 21st, 2025 from 6 - 9pm

• Location: Le Méridien Lobby

• Address: 555 S McDowell St, Charlotte, NC 28204

• Free Entry

• Parking Validated at Check-In

xoxo

Ladianne

Yesterday we took a break. From work. From remodeling. It was a perfect day for exploration. In fact, it was the first day of exploration we’d undertaken since purchasing the cabin to house WoolTribe’s studio space, and offer mini-retreats. More than seven months into a major cabin rehabilitation endeavor that has proven to be as extensive as it has been rewarding, we were definitely due a break.

We’d just recently visited The Tartan Woolly in West Jefferson, embraced - literally, and with good cheer - by owner, Kevin Kim Mann, kilted, hatted, and smiling broadly. A delightful shop full to the brim with exceptional woolen goods from Scotland and Ireland, The Tartan Woolly inspired us to share about our love of wool, and the woolen goods our company produces. During the course of the conversation, Kevin enthusiastically encouraged us to visit the town of Lansing, North Carolina, up near the Virginia state line, and grab cider at Molley Chomper, just next door to the Lost Province Center for Cultural Arts. We took Kevin’s advice to heart and made Lansing, North Carolina our destination for yesterday’s outing.

Fish Stories

Situated along winding Hwy 194, aside the impressive Big Horse Creek, a trout stream, and tributary of the North Fork of the New River, Lansing was one of the many towns devastated by hurricane Helene in fall of 2024. Since then, the town has worked to rebuild, and several of the town’s businesses have reopened. We went to The Liar’s Bench for lunch, where we shared a delicious club sandwich and ginger ale. We wandered into the Old Orchard Creek General Store. Sheri had just mentioned wanting some blueberry jam to put on lemon toast, and as luck would have it, we found some at Old Orchard Creek General Store! It wasn’t until writing this post that we found out the blueberries in the jam are actually from Old Orchard Creek Blueberry Farm, a sustainable farm where you can hike, enjoy the incredible scenery, and pick your own blueberries from late June to mid-August. That’s definitely on our list for next year - and hopefully something we’ll do with folks who come for a weekend respite at our cabin!

“Not All Who Wander are Lost…” J.R.R. Tolkien

After lunching and browsing, we drove up to Molley Chomper and Lost Province Center for Cultural Arts, just three minutes away from downtown Lansing. We were pleased to find a fall festival happening. It was spooky themed, and complete with bake sale, silent auction, and festival games. The event was organized by Friends Assisting Neighbors, a local humanitarian organization, to raise money to assist Ashe County residents with payment for things like heating fuel and medicine. We got small pours of two Molley Chomper ciders - Bent Apple, the slightly drier of the two, and Porch Swing, offering a bit more sweetness - not surprisingly, my favorite. As we sat and sipped, I pulled out some knitting I’m doing with yarn I spun from some of our undyed superwash merino / Rambouillet blend. Soon, the gentleman doing the announcing came over and asked what I was making. The conversation wound along from there, and we ended up meeting Sharon, a member of the executive team at Lost Province Center for Cultural Arts. You’ll have to read all about the center - housed in part of the old Lansing High School. We came to learn from Sharon that Molley Chomper cidery is actually housed in the old school library. Funny how a small fact like that can be the sparkly stone, a perfect to cap a day of magical adventure. Having bid on, and won, a lovely vase turned from a cherry tree burl, we will be rolling back up the road to Lansing today or tomorrow to collect our win. I am excited to see this beautiful gem of a community again.

“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.”

(Excerpt by J.R.R. Tolkien, Fellowship of the Ring)

Our dear friend, , author of wrote a lovely pattern for our Homegrown Sport yarn several years ago. Her Mezzaluna Shawl pattern is a playground where two colors interact through garter, stockinette, and mosaic stitches.

We’ve curated a limited run of Mezzaluna Shawl knitting kits, including two skeins of our Homegrown Sport yarn, and a code to get Sandi’s Mezzaluna Shawl knitting pattern free on her Ravelry page!

We have shared the kits on the homepage of our website: wooltribe.co.

Sketching: Graphite Meditations

Many people do more than one thing. They paint and cook. They knit and run marathons. They shag dance and they sing in a band. I’m no shag dancer, but I am a multi-interest person.

Longest running among my interests is drawing. Since the age of six when I drew the instructions for building a robot out of a cardboard box, I’ve drawn. I’ve drawn to express my feelings - like the time I drew a cartoon panel depicting my young teen likeness overwhelmed by a mountain of dishes in a suds-filled kitchen sink. I’ve drawn to capture moments - like the studies I’ve done in preparation for painting landscapes or illustrations.

Now, I’m drawing as a way of reconnecting to the visual language I have long used as a means of understanding the world around me. The sketches I’ve begun are meditations in graphite. They’re outward expressions of inward processes.

Unlike the process I used for past sketches, I’m approaching these abstractions using more classical, formalist techniques. It feels very similar to the way our skills of centering and understanding build upon one another, resulting in richness that comes only with time and attention. More to come on this in future posts, I’m sure - and in the meantime, I’d love to know what your “ands” are and how they help you center and grow.

Stain: Cabin Renovation Continues

I’ve posted quite a few bits here about the project we are doing in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. The short version of the story is that we worked for five years to find a location for our yarn shop and dye studio. Ultimately, after buying a lot on which we’d hoped to build, we changed course, sold the lot, and purchased a cabin in the mountains where we’ll house the dye studio. We have our online store at wooltribe.co, and we’ll ultimately be able to welcome small groups to visit and/or stay with us at the cabin for retreats, adventure getaways, and creative vacations with learning elements.

We closed on purchase of the cabin on March 6, and we are forging ahead with all manner of improvements, including a metal roof we anticipate will be installed sometime in the next 6-8 weeks.

Exterior stain is also on the list. This is where it got tricky for us. Overthinking is another of my personal superpowers - and it nearly got the better of me where selection of stain color was concerned. Why? I really don’t know. It’s just that I got stuck in the illusion of permanence.

I had to pick the right stain color because it would be there…FOREVER.

Not true. In that moment, I lost sight of the process. Of the evanescence of everything. I got hung up on perfection.

Ultimately, our dog Max helped out with the decision. Or so he thought.

As to the color we chose…it’s a lovely shade of brown stain. And we’ll share a photo of the “after” once it has been applied.

As a hand dyer and visual artist, color is a passion, a purpose, a power, and sometimes…a total stumper. As to future decisions - I’ll remind myself nothing is forever, perfection is an illusion, and all colors hold fabulous potential.

Until next time…

xoxo

Ladianne