I don’t know if it’s just me or if it’s in the air, but I am super into black right now. Every top and dress I imagine making, I picture it in black linen or black boiled wool. And every sweater dancing around in my head is knitted in black wool, as well. The thing is, black yarn ain’t that easy to come by. When I started in on my Black Anna (which is set aside for the moment), I got into a conversation with my friend Kate of Kelbourne Woolens (distributors of the Fibre Co yarns) about why there’s not a black in every line — too hard to make, or too hard to sell? The short answer is that nobody buys them, presumably because knitting with dark yarns is generally considered hard on the eyeballs. And maybe it is! But do we not all want the perfect black sweater — er, sweaters — in our closets? Maybe I’m in the minority, but right now I feel totally willing to sneak in rows during daylight hours or even turn up the famously dim lights in my house if the end result is delectable handknit sweaters in blacks and near-blacks.
So where does one find the yarn? Here’s a smattering of high-quality blacks:
– The Fibre Co. makes several: slubby worsted-weight Terra in a deep black called Coalwood, which is the black I’m using for my Anna; lace-weight Meadow in tweedy Black Adder; Canopy Fingering in Obsidian; speckly DK Acadia in Cormorant; and worsted, heathered Knightsbridge in Flintshire
– YOTH makes all of their yarns in an off-black color called Cracked Pepper, which varies slightly from base to base
– Quince and Co has two blacks, both of which I believe are available in all of their 100% wool yarns: Crow is the blackest of blacks and Sabine is a heathery off-black (I used it for my sleeveless turtleneck — yes, I swear, the pattern is coming! — and leftovers hat)
– Brooklyn Tweed makes both Shelter and Loft in Cast Iron, also a tweedy off-black
– Shibui makes all but one of their yarns — including Linen! — in what they call Abyss, the blackness of which varies with the fiber content and style from yarn to yarn
– Woolfolk makes Far and Tynd in a true black (“Color 15”) and Sno in three different black marls
These are certainly not the only blacks out there (feel free to name your favorites in the comments!), but I also feel like black is endangered in the yarn world, so if you love it and want it to keep existing, put your money on it.
p.s. The new issue of Taproot has landed over at Fringe Supply Co., with a new sweater pattern by Carrie Bostick Hoge!
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Pictured, top to bottom: Shibui Maai in Abyss, Quince Puffin in Crow, Fibre Co Terra in Coalwood, Woolfolk Far in Color 15, Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in Cast Iron
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