This page includes ALL of our laceweight yarns, including those that we do not routinely keep in stock. Some of these bases are discontinued or are only kept in stock for special KALs or kits. Since you may have questions about yarn you find in your stash or for re-sale, we are providing this information for reference
Ling
Fiber Content: 70% Superwash Extrafine Merino, 30% Cultivated Silk
Lace Weight
Care Instructions: Handwash
Honored as the Goddess of Silk, the mythical Empress Hsi-Ling-Shih is said to have discovered silk when a silk cocoon fell into her cup of hot tea and unravelled, revealing a long, delicate thread.
A blend of wool and silk, this yarn has the best of both worlds. Even though there is only 30% silk in this base, Ling still has lots of lustre. The wool portion of the yarn, along with the twist the mill gives the fibers, provide a lot of elasticity. The cultivated silk seems to add some extra strength to the yarn strands so this yarn is more durable than most of our lace weight yarns.
This yarn takes colors almost as boldly as Selene but the addition of silk adds an extra luster that Selene doesn’t have.
Marici
Fiber Content: 100% Spun Silk
Lace Weight
Care Instructions: Handwash
This luxurious silk lace yarn is named after the Buddhist goddess of light, Marici (pronounced Mar-ee-shi). We recommend this yarn for advanced lace knitters since it can be quite slippery and it has no elasticity, but the resulting fabric has the most incredible drape and shine making it well worth the effort!
All colors work well on this yarn base- light colors will come out more saturated than on Eos, because the silk does like to drink up the dye. Just wait till you see bold, saturated colors on Marici- va va voom!
This shiny silk yarn doesn’t need beads to catch everyone’s attention but for a special occasion shawl, or if you just like the extra weight of beads, you can’t beat a bit of extra Bling!
Eos
Fiber Content: 50/50 Merino & Tussah Silk
Lace Weight
Care Instructions: Hand Wash
Eos is our most popular laceweight base. I had been dyeing it for quite some time and kept wondering why people liked it so much. It is not as soft as Chasca, and does not take the dye up like Marici, and Ling. It also does not have the lustre of Marici and Ling.
Then I decided to knit with it. OH! Now I know why people order it so much! Eos feels great in your hands as you knit, and if you drop a stitch it will not ravel all the way back to the beginning like those slippery silk yarns. The finished fabric is wonderfully soft, and Eos shawls are great to wear, because they do not feel quite so delicate that you are afraid of catching a strand of yarn on something.
Eos feels much softer when knit up than in the skein.
All color choices are great on this yarn base, but keep in mind that Eos will not take the dye as saturated as some of the other bases. Even dark colors look great on Eos, but the resulting color will not be as intense or saturated. Beads will stand out nicely and add that special sparkle to your finished project.
8/2 Cotton
Limited Availability
Fiber Content: 100% Cotton
Heavy Lace Weight/ light Fingering Weight (8/2 weight)
Care: machine washable. Shrinks about 10% the first hot wash/dry
We offer this yarn primarily as a weaving yarn because of the popularity of 8/2 cotton for weaving. It works just fine for knitting or crocheting as well, but is a somewhat awkward size for knitting- falling somewhere between lace and fingering weight. This yarn is the exact same cotton fiber and spin as our popular Ostara lace weight, just slightly thicker. We’ve used it for weaving stacks of hand towels and it weaves up easily and washes wonderfully. The resulting towels are very soft and absorbent AND beautiful in your kitchen or guest room. It also works well for lightweight baby blankets!
Cotton yarns require a different dye process and type of dye than wool or silk based yarns. I try the best I can to get colorways similar to our protein based yarns, but sometimes cannot get as close as I would like. I usually e-mail pictures of cotton colorways dyed for the 1st time, if unsure if the customer might think they are not “close enough”. Colors do not come out quite as saturated on Ostara as some of our other bases.
Selene
Fiber Content: 100% Superwash Merino
Lace Weight
Care Instructions: Handwash (well, its superwash wool so technically it could be machine washed, but who machine washes lace?)
This soft merino lace yarn takes color more intensely than any of our other lace yarns. Because it is superwash wool you don’t have to worry about it felting in your hands while you work with it (especially if you have to rip back and re-knit!) or felting from where it rubs against your body during wear.
Selene is our thickest lace weight yarn, though still much thinner than fingering weight, so make sure to order enough yardage for your project. A 100g skein or set of Selene has about 2/3 the yardage of our other lace weight yarns so you may need to order a larger set!
This yarn is soft and elastic which makes it comfortable to work with and cuddly to wear. It isn’t slippery which makes it a bit easier to work with and your dropped stitches are less likely to run away. It has little to no lustre.
Because Selene takes saturated, bold colors so well we recommend this yarn for our most intense colorways though it works equally well with light colors.
Ostara
Limited Availability
Fiber Content: 100% Cotton
Lace Weight
Care: though this fiber can be machine washed, we recommend hand washing for all lace to prevent snagging or stretching.
Most people think cotton feels horrible in the hands as they knit. Well, this is NOT true with Ostara! (or Pima Petite, but that is a yarn story for another day). Ostara is very nice to knit with, and the final project is super soft. Like Chasca and Selene it has no shine at all, so once again, beads are a great addition to bring attention to your finished shawls.
Ostara has about the same yardage per ounce as Selene, but we put it up in 134 gram skein sets rather than 4 ounce sets, so you will get about the same yardage as in a 4 ounce set of most of our other lace bases.
Ostara does block nicely, but I would suggest using a little spray starch when blocking any Ostara lace projects. That way your finished objects will hold their shape a little longer.
Cotton yarns require a different dye process and type of dye than wool or silk based yarns. I try the best I can to get colorways similar to our protein based yarns, but sometimes cannot get as close as I would like. I usually e-mail pictures of Ostara color ways dyed for the 1st time, if unsure if the customer might think they are not “close enough”. Colors do not come out quite as saturated on Ostara as some of our other bases.
