Three Knitting Trends We Love

I’ve been back from the H+H Americas needlecraft tradeshow for a week, but I’m still processing all the amazing conversations I had and all the yarns, designs, and tools I saw. And I’ve got good news!

For those of us who love natural fibers and connecting with where our yarns come from, there are so many reasons to be excited by many knitting trends coming our way. Here are three great examples of some of the trends I was seeing as I walked through the nearly 600 vendors. And there is so much more to tell in the days to come.

1. Well-loved, familiar yarns in more weights.

I stopped by the Lopi Yarns booth and was excited to meet Védís Jónsdóttir herself! Védís is the head designer for Ístex, and she designed the Tíglar Tvier lopi sweater featured in Farm & Fiber Knits 2024.

I asked Védís what she was excited about right now, and she showed me Fjallalopi, a DK-weight singles that is about half the thickness of Léttlopi. The color range is beautiful, and the DK-weight knits into an airy, yet substantial fabric.

Fjallalopi is a newer DK-weight version of its Aran-weight sibling, Léttlopi.

2. Breed-specific yarns.

It won’t be a surprise to Farm & Fiber Knits readers that breed-specific yarns are catching on and continuing to gain steam. I’m a big fan—they create markets for more types of wool, support shepherds keeping breed diversity healthy, and encourage knitters to know more about the sheep that produced the wool.

I stopped by the Baa Ram Ewe booth to chat about several new “British luxury wool yarns” in their collection and left with a beautiful skein of Woodnote, which is Bluefaced Leicester, Masham, and Merino. Bea from Wooldreamers told me about the Navarrese wool used in their Misi and Qünka ranges that use fleece from the rare Spanish Navarra sheep. How lucky are we, dear knitters?

Miniskeins of fingering-weight Misi, also great for embroidery, from Wooldreamers, and Baa Ram Ewe Woodnote.

3. New needles, paper packaging.

I am always excited to see new needle types come on the market, but I was also excited to see some familiar brands shifting from plastic to paper packaging. I couldn’t count the number of Addi and Clover needles I’ve purchased over the years in the classic packaging. (I love these hardworking needles.) Both of these companies are shifting some or all of their needle packaging to paper. Thank you!

Two new needles from Skacel, which I’ll share more about another time.

What knitterly trends are you excited about? Are there yarns or tools you think we should know about? Drop us a line! team@farmfiberknits.com

—Kate