Sweatermaker Yarns
Cashmere. Camel down. Tussah silk. Blue faced Leicester. Glass beads. Just a few of the tools in the yarn artist's palette. And then there's the colour. Since 1986, Vancouver Island based Sweatermaker Yarns has been producing custom yarns, weaving and knitting designs. Judy Maclean, artisan and founder of Sweatermaker Yarns, pushes the potential of artisan yarn with dynamic color-play and exotic fibers.
Judy Maclean has been spinning custom yarns for almost twenty-five years. She started her company Sweatermaker Yarns to sell the one of a kind sweaters she designed. Over the years she has become more and more interested in the dying and design of the yarns themselves, and now, on top of the hand spun yarn collection, she has begun adding other fibres like mohair, silk and even beads to her work. Judy likes to use fibers that are not available commercially such as tussah silk, baby camel down, cotton/angora blends, but produces more wool than any other fiber.
The craft of the spinner and dyer and the close ties to those traditional women's crafts are at the heart of what Judy does, but it is colour and texture that push her yarns and the resulting garments into new areas.
