Light or Dark Roast?

Rise and Shine! We can’t believe it’s finally here, our Coffeehouse Collection is now open for preorder! 

This supremely toasty palette is as comforting and peaceful as an afternoon spent at your favorite coffee shop with a warm drink and pastry by your side. All ten of these gorgeous colorways will be available on all of our standard bases in addition to an absolutely stunning Aran base that is exclusive to this collection. 

We would not be able to bring you this delicious base without our friend Jake Kenyon from Kenyarn! Jake is a creative force who not only produces fantastic patterns and resin notions but is dedicated to creating a loving and inclusive community within the world of fiber. Please check out what Jake is up to on Instagram and on the Kenyarn website!

We asked Jake to tell us a little bit about what he does, how this base came to be, and how it became part of this collection! Take it away, Jake!

 Hi Fiber Friends! 

My name is Jake Kenyon, the owner and creative mind behind Kenyarn, LLC. I’m a fiber notions artist and knitwear designer based in Providence, Rhode Island. I also teach beginner crochet and knit courses locally at Rhode Island yarn shops. I currently operate out of my in-home workshop that I affectionately call my creative dungeon. In my personal life I also work as a Speech Language Pathologist in the hospital setting, working with patient’s to restore language, cognitive, and swallow function after illness! My two jobs could not be more different, which is an intentional balance that I have grown to love very much! I’m writing to you all today to talk about Hue Loco’s newest aran weight base! But Jake, why are YOU writing about this? Great question and it’s because I designed it! Story time! 

In the Spring of 2023, I closed my own dye studio that I had operated from a small space in Rhode Island after six years of business. It was a huge change of pace, but one that was very much overdue. When closing a business, you can imagine all of the equipment and supplies that are left to either be tossed or sold to other companies. I was fortunate enough to have a handful of dyers and other local fiber artists who were willing to take the majority of my supplies off of my hands including Nicole of Hue Loco! I reached out to Nicole with the opportunity to purchase the remaining lot of my bespoke Foggy Aran base and once she was able to feel it and dye some samples, she decided it would be PERFECT for her Coffeehouse Collection.

The yarn base creation process is similar to closing on a house. Long, lots of paperwork, a whole bunch of trial and error, but incredibly rewarding! I first reached out to a South American mill in 2018 and coordinated with the yarn production team through a small company in Rhode Island. I drove out to their office and gathered a dozen booklets that included every construction of yarn the mill could accommodate and dozens of swatches to feel and inspect! Creating samples of a base can take a few months. I was originally advised to order samples of two individual bases that I would want to test dye. Originally, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted (this is usually the case for a Taurus hee hee). I did however, follow their advice and WOW am I glad I did. When I got both samples into the dye pans, I knew immediately my original plan would NOT work the way I thought! My original concept was a chainette construction with a core filled with alpaca, but ended up taking the dye unusually (real spotty!) and not giving me the drape and bounce that I craved from a heavier worsted weight yarn. Much to my relief, my back up base was perfect and would end up being the exclusive base available in this Coffeehouse Collection. I ordered the mill’s minimum amount, 250,000g (roughly 2,500 skeins!) for the Kenyarn shop. About six months later, about 25 VERY large boxes shipped by freight were left in my small home’s driveway for transport to the studio! I got a LOT of weird looks from the neighbors!

This unique and luxurious aran weight base is a delicate balance of 70% Superwash Merino Wool, 20% finely spun alpaca, and 10% nylon! It’s durable, softer than you could ever imagine, and with its plump 2-ply construction, still keeps an incredible bounce. This aran weight base has a delicate halo around each strand making it incredible for everything from sweaters, to hats, to cowls worn right up against your face. When I first released the base, I also published one of my most popular designs, the Coven Kerchief. Now that the Hue Loco team is housing this aran weight, they sent me two skeins of their beautiful Caper colourway, so that I could rework and relist the sample and pattern respectively. This Coven Kerchief utilizes two skeins of this aran weight base and is perfect for a weekend project. The pattern is beginner friendly and uses an easy-to-memorize lace repeat that you’ll never want to stop knitting!

I encourage everyone reading this article to get your hands on some of this incredible yarn before it’s gone! You’ll be delighted with how richly it absorbs color and how quickly it works up! Creating this base was such an incredible experience, and there is no one more capable than Hue Loco I would trust to continue its legacy. 

@isthatkenyarn

Visit my work at Kenyarn.com

Happy Making! 

We're partnering with Jake to host a giveaway for a copy of his Coven Kerchief pattern and two skeins of Aran from our Coffeehouse Collection to make it with! Just click here to enter! 

This collection would not be complete without your partnership Jake, thank you for the trust my dear friend. I am in constant admiration of your authenticity and commitment to honoring this community of makers (from your Taurus sister, Nicole).

We are also collaborating with another friend of Hue Loco, Toni Lipsey of TL Yarn Crafts, to bring you an opportunity to win a full DK set of Coffeehouse! Simply click here to enter, and good luck! 

Coffeehouse Swatches 

Coffee shops are places for communities to blossom and grow and we could not have brought you this decadent collection without the help of our community of collaborators and, of course, you! We hope you treat yourself to a coffee (or tea) today!