Marta

I was sad to hear recently that Marta Cantos of Marta's Yarn had passed away on Thursday, 18th January, after battling cancer for some time.

A few months back, I posted about a couple of items I had knit with her stunning hand painted yarn, and I think now would be a good time to share some images and details of the yarn I have yet to knit.


Left rear: Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't even consider purchasing a yarn with a bright orange colour component, but the way all the colours in the large ball of slubby yarn work together caught my attention the moment I spotted it on the shelf in Marta's Elizabeth Street store. It was a large purchase for me -- the Elizabeth Street store wasn't selling partial balls at the time, so I had to take all 484 g -- but leaving it behind that day would have been unthinkable. I think this yarn will eventually be used to do some more of the arm knitting Marta took the time to teach me -- a version of the large wrap she had displayed in her East Malvern shop, and another scarf perhaps.

Right rear: A 256 g ball of a hand painted 8 ply wool in shades of dark, rich burgundy and black. This one was so unusual and stunning that it easily won out over the other colourways I considered.

Left front: A 247 g hank of hand painted 12 ply wool in aubergine, shades of blue and green, and some pale pink highlights.

Centre front: A 95 g ball of hand painted 8 ply wool in purple and blue shades. I would have liked more of this one, but this was all that was left on the day I visited the East Malvern store. Seeing how much I loved this yarn, Marta pulled a book from the shelf behind her and showed me a pattern that she reassured me I would easily be able to make with this quantity of yarn, and I was sold.

Right front: A 123 g hank of a chunky, hand spun silky yarn in a combination of dark teal and pewter colours.

Unfortunately, my photo doesn't even come close to conveying the variation and depth of colour in these yarns -- none more so than my much loved large ball of slubby yarn -- but it was the best I could do. Thank you, Marta, for sharing your talent with us all. :)

We miss you already.

Marta's Yarns

I was saddened to hear recently that Marta has had to temporarily close the doors of her East Malvern shop due to illness. As a thank you to Marta for creating such beautiful hand-dyed yarns, and to wish her a speedy recovery, I'm posting photographs of a couple of scarves I made using some of the yarn I bought from Marta when I was down in Melbourne last year.

This first scarf is one of my favourites, and gets more use than any other scarf I own...


... and believe it or not the colours are even better in real life than they appear here. The scarf was made from a small ball of Marta's hand-dyed slubby yarn in a colourway that always makes me think of gum trees, and was knit using her arm knitting technique. The truly special thing, though, was that Marta herself took the time to demonstrate the technique for me as she wanted to be sure I understood it before I left the store, and when I told her that she'd have to go slowly as I knit left-handed and would have to reverse all her movements, she promptly swapped hands and demonstrated the technique left-handed -- just for me. Truly amazing! :)

A day or so later, I was in the Melbourne CBD on my way to the airport when I decided to pay a visit to the store Marta had in the city at the time. One of my purchases was a stunning hank of 8 ply yarn, which eventually became this scarf...


I love the way the colours subtly evolve along the length of the yarn, which is why I knit this scarf all in one piece and didn't attempt to knit two matched ends and graft them together at the midpoint of the scarf -- the important thing for me with this scarf was to showcase what I had loved most about the yarn in the hank when my eyes first fell upon it.

Get well soon, Marta! You're a very special lady, and we miss you. :)