There is a young lady in West Virginia who hand dyes natural fiber yarns in colors that celebrate the natural beauty of the area. I learned about her when I was researching the vendors that planned on attending the Shenandoah Fiber Festival 2024. As soon as I saw her colorways during my internet browsing, I knew that I wanted to find her booth first and find out if her yarn hanks pass the touch test.
Caitlin Moran and the Companion Fiber Company
Caitlin is the creator and owner of Companion Fiber Company. Her website describes that she loves nature and the West Virginia countryside. As a farmer, she uses companion planting (intentionally planting vegetables and flowers next to each other because they benefit each other) and that is the significance of her yarn shop name.
Companion Fiber company began in 2018. The merino yarn (in several different weights) is a natural fiber that is dyed in small dye lots by hand. Caitlin chooses the colorways from the inspiration of the land and plants around her.
In her shop, she offers
- Roving in Merino or Variegated BFL (bluefaced Leicester wool)
- Yarn hanks of Merino in fingerling, DK, Worsted weights, Super Bulky
- Fingerling weight/sock yarn in 80% merino/20% nylon
- At select shows, she offers hand-knitted plush animals (the hedgehogs were adorable!)
Shenandoah Fiber Festival
The 19th annual Shenandoah Fiber Festival in Berryville, VA is the first festival I have ever attended that focuses on natural fiber arts. The natural fibers coming from sheep, goats, alpaca, and rabbit. (those were the animals I saw anyway). The festival included fleece judging and plenty of animals to see and learn about.
Because I had seen her colorway decisions, I made a beeline to her booth first. I was leaning toward 2 different colors as they appeared online for a natural-fiber sweater that I plan to make for myself. I want pops of color of her yarns in a field of neutral black, gray, or brown. Once I found her booth, I realized that it was going to be more difficult than I thought to choose one colorway. The hanks were visually pleasing. And oh so soft to the touch! Historically, I haven't been a fan of wool and natural fibers because I remember them as being scratchy. Her hanks are so incredibly soft. I wanted to wrap myself in the sample lap afghan she had draped in her chair. Caitlin was very helpful as I tried to decide between worsted weight and DK. (I chose DK because of the drape and feel of that beautiful lap afghan!)
I did choose a hank of Bakerton Quarry, which I had my eye on when I saw it on her social media. I'm not familiar with Bakerton Quarry. It must be a gorgeous place. The colorway personally reminds me of the Eastern Bluebirds that live here. I also chose Juniper. Frankly, at her booth, I wanted hanks in all of her colors. They are such vibrant colors and her color combinations really do parallel nature in this area.
The only wish I have for her shop is that she include more neutral and almost "solid" colors of blacks, greys and browns. But that wasn't a deal-breaker as I went to another booth for the neutral, base color for my future sweater.
I cannot begin to tell you how in love I am with Companion Fiber yarns.
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| Bakerton Quarry and Juniper colorways |
Companion Fiber Social Media:
Website Companion Fiber
Companion Fiber Facebook
Companion Fiber Instagram
Local Fiber Festivals and Shows - On her webpage, Caitlin lists the shows that she plans on attending. In the list, I notice towns as far north as State College, PA and as far south as Baltimore, Md. And plenty of shows in VA, WV, and MD. If you can't find her at a show or festival, I hope you take a quick peek at her page.
