Transform Your Crafting with These Wool Threads

Whenever I vend at events, folks at the booth always ask, "So tell me about these wool threads!" The eye-catching rainbow of colors and wood spools are irresistible!

So let's talk about how these threads!

• Made in Spain with 100% wool, these beauties are good for any kind of hand sewing: embroidery and needlepoint, mending, appliqué, and punch needle. 
• The threads are single-ply, and about the thickness of 3 strands of a DMC embroidery floss. 
• While I wouldn't recommend putting these in a sewing machine, they're colorfast (hooray!) and can be washed in cool water like any hand knit. I have run mine (on my linen tea towels) through the washing machine on a cool delicate cycle; like any embroidery work, whether or not you take this risk depends on how particular you are about the long life of your stitches!
• At 87 yards a spool, and with nearly 100 color choices, these threads offer lots of creative options! Experiment with the thread held single or double for different effects. Below are a few ideas to get you started:

Stitch on a flour sack towel! Use our simple cotton flour sack towels as your blank canvas. You can pencil on a pattern of your own, or use a stick and stitch pack for an easy project.

Stitch on European linen! Wool and linen love to play together - the thread glides through this fabric beautifully, and you can "color in" the patterns on the tea towels for a relaxing activity that turns into a thoughtful gift for someone! The bee towels are a customer fave - try them with thread colors 211 and 801 for yellow, and any of the (many) gray and charcoal tones.

Stitch on your knits - in this example, the threads held double, plus the help of a stick and stick pack, created a sweet embellishment to this sweet summer bag! Use the same technique on cuffs, collar, children's knits and more.

Mend with these threads! With the help of a Katrinkles darning loom, you can make colorful mends on anything - wool sweaters, yes, but also tears in your nylon windbreaker, denim jeans, your favorite tee. Several sock knitters have told me they pair a strand with their fingering weight yarn to add strength at the heel and toe of their handknit socks, too!

Weave on mini looms - these cute mini looms are fun kids' projects, holiday ornaments, gift toppers, door hangers and more.

Whatever you use them for, these colorful little wool gems will give your creativity a burst of new energy! We can't wait to see what you make with them - be sure to tag us #needleandpurl so we can celebrate with you.