Wholesale yarns:
Aalta Yarn. A vendor out of Pennsylvania. Several good, solid bases for sweaters. And she has nice gradient cakes for shawls.
Alexandra's Crafts. A hand-dyer from Oregon. She also carries spinning fiber and a nice travel lazy kate.
Ancient Arts. I knew this hand-dyer from advertising and patterns in Interweave Knits. They have a wonderful range of beautiful colors upstaged by colorways based on cats and dogs.
Anzula. Hand-dyed yarns in luxury bases. Proof that cashmere goes with everything.
Baa Ram Ewe. Anglophile knitters, rejoice! This vendor proudly "celebrates Yorkshire and its rich woolly heritage." They carry locally-sourced and spun yarn, as well as patterns that will make you look like you belong on BBC America.
Baah Yarn. Hand-dyer from southern California with a nice range — self-striping, speckled, variegated, solids, and kettle-dyed effects. They also have special monthly colors.
Bellatrista. Milk and soy yarns. They also have Menta, a viscose yarn made from peppermint. How's that for the knitter/crocheter who has tried everything?
Black Cat Fibers. Etsy hand-dyers from Wisconsin. Many of their yarns have names from T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Planning to attend STITCHES United next summer, so opportunity to ogle their wares in person is coming.
Brew City Yarns. Hand-dyed yarn with clever names based on geek culture. For example, the "Galaxy Far, Far Away" mini-skein set includes the colors "Bounty Hunter," "Droids," "Sith Lord," "Do or Do Not," and "Like my Father." Their summer 2018 shawl kit is a house-sorting kit for witches and wizards. Not yet carried by anyone in Georgia.
Delicious Yarns. This hand-dyer deserve credit just for her clever photographs. Talk about taking a theme and running with it! She offers several color stylings including gradient, swirl, or speckles.
Dirty Water DyeWorks. This hand-dyer has big skeins — more than 8 ounces in Targhee, Polwarth-silk blend, or Blue Faced Leicester.
Dragonfly Fibers. Someone I know from Maryland Sheep and Wool, SAFF, and STITCHES. Excellent hand-dying and fabulous gradients.
Emma's Yarn. These indie dyers are two sisters from Florida. From what I can tell, they are relatively new on the scene. Their yarn is beautiful, their bases are good, and they even have a merino-nylon-cashmere blend that is 600 yards per skein. I hope to see them again at SAFF or STITCHES.
Fairy Tale Knits. Indie dyer with geeky colorways. She has semi-solids as well as speckles. And she carries Rambouillet yarn.
Feederbrook Farm. A real working farm just outside Baltimore, Maryland. They have a variety of breeds-specific yarn including Black Welsh, Cormo, Finn, and Teeswater. Their Entropy yarn nicely mimics marled handspun.
The Fiber Seed. Hand-dyer out of Florida with a tremendous range of colors in solids, speckles, and stripes. Her yarn is all grown and spun in the USA and hand-dyed in Florida
A Hundred Ravens. Someone else I know from the wool show circuit. Beautiful hand-dying, fabulous mini-sets, geeky colorways (e.g. "Let the Wookiee Win" or "Angelica Schuyler"). It's all good.
June Cashmere. I had heard of this vendor through Interweave. They are working directly with shepherds in Kyrgyzstan to obtain high-quality cashmere fiber while engaging in fair-trade practices that appropriately compensate the shepherds.
King Cole. British yarn company in business since 1935. They carry a full range of yarns and patterns, from classic workhorse yarns to novelty.
Koigu. I chatted with Taiu Landra's daughters, the granddaughters of Maie Landra, who were sitting on the floor and knitting. When I was learning to knit, this was one of the first hand-dyed yarns I encountered. And every now and then, Vogue Knitting would have a fabulous show-stopping piece all in Koigu. Always beautiful.
Kokomo Yarns. Imports Studio Donegal, perfect for the Anglophile knitter. They also have special small-batch yarns from the flock at Portland Community College.
Lorna's Laces. One of the classic hand-dyed yarns. Fortunately for me, I can get it locally.
Meadowcroft Dyeworks Yarn Rehab. Fabulous intense hand-dyed colors.
Molly Girl. Self-taught indie dyer whose rockin' bases and colorways are all music-themed. She has a range of speckled, striping, and kettle-dyed effects. And she has little stitch-marker tins that would be perfect favors at a knit-themed party.
Mountain Colors. Somebody I already know and love from Montana. Thank goodness their beautiful fiber and yarn is available locally. There are literally pounds my stash.
Oink Pigments. A trio of hand-dyers based in both California and Indiana. 12 of their 18 yarn bases are 100% made in the USA, right down to the sheep. They carry Targhee wool in both yarn and fiber form.
PortFiber. They carry handspun cashmere yarns that have pictures of the women who spun the yarn as well as hand-dyed yak-silk spinning fiber.
Remarkable Yarns. This vendor carries Melanie Berg's patterns which so often perfectly walk the line between boring and complex. She also carries Rosy Green Wool (100% organic certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard) and Crave yarn (merino-cashmere-camel-silk blend).
Round Mountain Fibers. Hand-dyer from Vermont with colorways based on birds, insects, and plants. These would be perfect for the nature-lover.
Space Cadet. A hand-dyer out of Pittsburgh, PA. She has yarn and fiber, gradient sweater kits, project bags, yarn bowls and mugs, boxes, and notion tins.
Spincycle Yarns. Another West Coast wholesaler, this time from Bellingham, Washington. These two ladies started as hand spinners. They dye the fiber, then spin, then ply. If you like the look of fractals or combo-spins but aren't a hand spinner, look here.
Toad Hollow. Her lovely colorways remind me of floral Victorian wallpaper. If you like hand-dyed yarn and crave prettiness over neon intensity, check out her colorways.
Toft. This UK company has yarn and patterns for both knit and crochet. They have 12 natural colorways which perfectly complement their pattern specialty — crochet amigurumi. And they have a subscription club that would be perfect for the crochet menagerie lover. If you are thinking about making a huggable toy in natural dye-less yarn, start here.
Trailhead Yarns. Vegan yarns — tencel, cotton, linen. Her colors are vivid, something not always easily achieved on plant fibers. Not yet carried in Georgia or Florida!?
Twisted Owl. Small-batch dyer out of east Texas who has Batman-inspired colorways. Fun!
West Yorkshire Spinners. A British yarn manufacturer, so yet another excellent choice for the Anglophile. They have several breed-specific yarns including Bluefaced Leicester, Falkland, and Shetland.
Yarn Undyed. A purveyor out of the UK with an amazing range of yarn bases. If I were an independent dyer, I would thoroughly explore her offerings. She has some unusual combinations, including an alpaca-silk-linen blend.
Addendum:
In researching this post, I've noticed that several of the most tempting choices are carried by Fuzzy Goat Yarns in Thomasville GA. That's a four-hour drive from here. If anybody wants to have a full a day trip down to south Georgia to explore, please let me know.
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