La Bien Aimée’s brand new Confetti color this week is a very special one: a collaboration with the great Nancy Marchant! All the recycled yarn threads come from Nancy's extensive stash and have been collected over 30 to35 years. This special collection merited its very own Confetti color.
Nancy’s Speckled Sweater is a one of a kind limited edition of Confetti, comprised of a mix of recycled natural fibers and undyed brown Falkland Corriedale, as well as an assortment of yarn collected over many years by Nancy Marchant. Inspired by La Bien Aimée’s Sandstone colorway, Nancy’s Speckled Sweater is a warm neutral brown / taupe and contains flecks of recycled yarns taken straight from Nancy’s extensive stash, that she has spent many years collecting.
Nancy Marchant is an amazing designer and yarn collector. She single-handedly brought the brioche stitch back into our knitting lives a few years ago. She loves to explore texture and intricate stitches and knitting techniques, like intarsia and weaving. Her designs are works of art.
When Nancy was getting ready to move houses a few months ago, she started wondering what to do with her beautiful but massive stash of yarn that she had spent so many years collecting. Surely there wasn’t enough time to knit all of it and it seemed such a shame to keep it in boxes.
I knew that Nancy had amazing treasures in her yarn collection and suggested turning that yarn into a beautiful Confetti. Let’s give that beautiful stash a second life and make it into a yarn that will be used around the world by knitters who can appreciate the incredible value of a lovingly collected stash of yarn.
You know I love to knit Confetti with La Bien Aimée Mohair Silk! The silk always adds great shine, and the Mohair creates a soft halo that transforms the fabric. For Nancy’s Speckled Sweater, I recommend using Sandstone for the perfect matching color. Clay gives it a subtle pink hue. And then, it’s always fun to think outside the box. Tang just goes with everything!
To celebrate this lovely collaboration, Nancy has designed a sweater pattern inspired by this very special yarn. Vlek in Dutch means fleck, blot or splotch. How fitting for a design in Confetti! The sweater has a great fitting drop shoulder design and overall textured stitch in basketweave. It also features the option to add intarsia splotches on the body, which were knit using La Bien Aimée Confetti in Aimée’s Peach Sweater.
The pattern for Vlek by Nancy Marchant will release next week. If you would like to hear more about the design and the yarn, Nancy and I will go live on Instagram next Thursday 15 December at 4.30pm (Paris time). Join us as we tell you more about their special collaboration!