Our Yarn
Our beautiful and colorful yarn is made by hand for knitters, fiber artists and craftspeople of all types. Our yarns are handspun and hand-dyed, and most of our art yarn is experimental, with only one or two skeins available. Truly one-of-a-kind artisan craft yarn.
Sweet & Dandi yarn is made with 100% wool. We use Bluefaced Leicester (a very soft, luxurious wool), Merino (another very soft and durable wool), as well as Corriedale, Dorset, and others. We love adding silk for its beautiful luster, and also cashmere, silk sari thread, curly locks, llama wool, banana silk and other exotic fibers.
Our single-ply art yarn adds an interesting texture into your knitting & crochet. Our coiled and core spun art yarn is great for weaving, needle felting, doll hair, and much more. We also make super chunky yarn which you can feature in your weaving and wall hangings. Check back often, as new stock is added to the store frequently!
Looking for something in particular & not finding it? Contact us.
Made by Hand Renaissance
It's wonderful that fiber arts like embroidery, macramé, knitting, crochet and weaving are experiencing such a robust revival. I'm especially excited about the new school of knitwear and crochet garments featuring openwork and organic texture. Is this a return to the 1960s peace and love esthetic? I hope so, and I sincerely hope that Sweet & Dandi yarn will have a place in this revolution of gorgeous color and wild texture.
Our Story
Sweet & Dandi was born during the lockdown of 2020. Everyone's life changed then, right?
Hi, I'm Druh Ireland, head spinner at Sweet & Dandi. Prior to 2020 I was working in the costume department of the Vancouver film industry, a "high stress" job which I did for more than 30 years. The lockdown was the perfect opportunity to "unwind", (not sure that joke will translate...) and return to my old love - spinning wool. Here, briefly, is my path to spinning art yarn.
In the 1980s my friend and I had a small knitwear company. She taught me how to spin on her "Mud River" spinning wheel. It was low ratio, and very easy to learn and use.
In the late 1980s I started working in film, and life has been busy with many creative adventures. Sewing, painting, building and now the time has come to spin again! Spinning art yarn is actually a lot like painting. You blend colors, put interesting colors side by side, play with texture, in short - try to make something beautiful.
Art yarn is really fun to make and it inspires all sorts of creative ideas - from wearable art to vessels, wall hangings and much more. And lastly, as I have a big garden, I'm getting interested in what plants I can grow for natural dyes. This will be another creative adventure, and I will keep you all posted.
A note about the translations
We apologize if the translations are not coming out perfectly in your language. We know that Google translate sometimes produces weird and funny results - you get a little entertainment with your shopping! We sincerely hope the written descriptions of our yarn are translated in a way that you can understand. The images, of course, will give you a clear picture of our yarn. Thanks very much for shopping with Sweet & Dandi!