January MFPP Release!

We are so excited to announce the first e-book release in a whole upcoming year of patterns. Who better to start out the year than the delightful Nina Machlin Dayton, who has long provided lovely, popular Malabrigo patterns to Ravelry members and her blog readers alike?

Nina's collection of accessory pieces is soft, luxurious, and sure to provide more than a few staples for your late winter wardrobe. She drew inspiration from the writer Charles Dickens for this collection, and his descriptions of winter. Part of the loveliness of this collection is the color palette -- soft, muted, frosty tones with the deep greens and blues of shadows on snow and under evergreens.

We hope you enjoy her collection as much as we do! Be sure to check out the collection here: The Best of Times e-book on Ravelry

49 in a day!!

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We are honored to have received 49 visitors  at the mill from the Great Balls of Yarn store -- Robin from Great  Balls of Yarn organized this amazing trip. They visited the mill, took "some" wool and even dyed their own skeins.

It was an incredible experience. Thanks for being here! Well-known knitter Nicky Epstein was among our visitors;  as you can see, she visited our "swimming wool". We had a wonderful time dyeing and sharing with you all!

More pictures at the Malabrigo  Yarns Facebook page!

From Imagiknit

Allison from Imagiknit was here again.

She visited our facility and she was looking at our test for new yarns and colors.

About the color name

When we had been in Cape Cod we saw the amazing landscape. One thing that particularly caught my attention, were the wooden walls and their gray. Then, Cape Cod Gray was born.

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After the trip, I appreciate better Edward Hopper paintings, who has helped to perceive the cap.

Antonio.

An Interview with Tobias

Recently, Tobias was interviewed at the Icelandic Gardening, Knitting, Gradstudent, Mom blog! Not only was he interviewed, but Ólöf, the author of the blog, also reviewed one of Malabrigo's newest colorways - Garden Gate - in our Merino Worsted. Please head over and take a look at her blog, read the review and the interview, and enter her (limited time only) giveaway to try and win a skein of Malabrigo for yourself!

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Chau, Hannah

Sustainable Hot Water

At the factory, we're doing our best to decrease our environmental footprint! Our most recent addition to the mill? A flat-plate thermal heating system has been installed at the mill. Using the power of the sun, we can heat our water tanks for the various processes to make your favorite yarns. The panels are being installed on the roof of the mill, as shown below.

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Yarn Profile: Rios

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After perusing some of our older posts (and preparing some work for the newsletter this month), I realized that we never did a full introductory post on our new Rios superwash worsted yarn! We talked about a few of the colors and dropped hints here and there, but for all things Rios, you really need a full post!

Rios is a superwash, 4-ply, worsted-weight yarn. It knits up really well on needle sizes US 6 - 8 (4 - 5 mm). Superwash means that you can put your knitted object through the wash and dry cycles on your at-home washing machine, making Rios really easy to care for, and ideal for knitting things like baby blankets, clothing, and housewares (afghan, anyone?)

Rios comes in a gorgeous range of colors, too! Some of your favorites - Lettuce, Purple Mystery, Indecita and Glazed Carrot - and some new colors, too, like Cumparsita and Candombe! You should always be able to find the perfect Rios to match your project.

Rios was introduced at TNNA in June, and is already showing up in stores that pre-ordered. Be sure to keep an eye out for Rios at a store near you this fall!

Chau, Hannah

Sheep Week - Giveaway Winner!

Goodbye, Los Manantiales -- it was good to explore your grassy pastures, stone steps and walkways, and fruit trees! We had a wonderful time!

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And now, the two great rams will choose the giveaway winner! The winner will receive, by mail:

1 skein of Silky Merino in Celeste

1 skein of Silky Merino in Helechos

2 skeins of Silky Merino in Tatami

1 skein of Worsted Merino in Natural

2 skeins of Rios in Coco

1 skein of Gruesa in Natural (Gruesa is Corriedale! We felt we needed to represent the other sheep here in Uruguay a little, too!)

Congratulations to Glockeroo for winning this great prize! Thank you for your sweet comments, everyone -- it has been a great Sheep Week! Glockeroo, we'll contact you for your mailing address.

Chau, Hannah

Sheep Week - The Rumble of Hooves

This herd is the largest breeding herd of ewes (3,200) in all of Uruguay. Many farms may have a few more ewes, but these ewes are all breeding stock. A few of them even have lambs, and it was a real treat to see the gauchos round them up so we could see them in a group.

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Stay tuned. Tomorrow is the last day of Sheep Week and the winner (and prize) of the Sheep Week giveaway will be announced!

Chau, Hannah

Sheep Week - Fun Factoids

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They tell you not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but does the same go for a Malabrigo sheep? No way! You can tell how old a sheep is by looking at how many teeth have grown in on the front of the bottom jaw. The sheep to the left is a very young sheep - only one year old. When lambs are born, they have a small set of milk teeth and an upper dental pad.

Sheep are marked with a plastic earring that is put in very carefully - the sheep's ears are extremely delicate and the farmers are very concerned about risking pain or infection. Every sheep is pierced with great care. Some farmers even make sure that their sheep can be identified if their tag comes off by tattooing the inside of the ear with the same number.  All the numbers are often entered into a computerized data system with information on the micron count, age, and health of each sheep.

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Contrary to what you may think, sheep aren't only judged on micron or luminosity (the whiteness of the fleece), but also their general health and structure. If a sheep has a lopsided gait or his legs are too short, even with a perfect fleece, he will score lower in competitions than a sheep that has a good build.

Chau, Hannah

Sheep Week - Wool Marking

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The sheep we use for Malabrigo are only the finest merino sheep in Uruguay. This means that the farms have to meet our high standards too, especially in areas like animal treatment, cleanliness, and herd management. SUL, which monitors regulations of wool breeding and herd management, keeps very high quality standards as well. For instance, the Uruguayan wool farmers are not allowed to use mulesing methods to deal with flystrike -- instead, they are trying to breed out the excess folds, and keep their herds small enough to deal with infection and disease.

The herd I visited is located in Paysandu, which is one of the Uruguyan states that contains the most wool farming. The ground there is rocky, which makes it perfect for sheep, who are best left to nibble at what grows up through the rocky ground. If they have too much food, the micron and fineness of the wool is compromised -- too little, and the sheep are unhealthy and produce brittle fleeces and fibers. The balance between the two is crucial, and herders pay attention.

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When shearing season comes around, the herds are marked for quality. Sheep marked with one blue dot (the paint is a chalky substance which washes out when the fleece is cleaned) are fine -- those marked with two blue dots are the superfine sheep that win competitions. The finest wool at this farm is some of the finest in all of Uruguay. Malabrigo purchases  the wool that this farm produces, so you are, for sure, going to be knitting with wool from these sheep!

Chau, Hannah

Sheep Week Kickoff!

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What are these sheep doing? Oh! They're competing to be on SHEEP WEEK!

After going on a really enlightening trip to one of our biggest suppliers of merino in Paysandu, we thought it would be really fun to give you guys a knitter's version of 'Shark Week'! This week will be Sheep Week on the blog, culminating in a giveaway at the end! Updates every day -- stay tuned to learn everything you can about the Malabrigo Sheep and the process of selection for your favorite wool!

Chau, Hannah

FAQ

Q: How do I pronounce ¨malabrigo¨?

A:  maul ah-bree’ -go'