My favorite booth at the Architectural Digest Home Show (that I attended a week ago in NYC) was the Swans Island Blankets booth. The company is based in Maine and makes the most beautiful blankets from wool from local sheep, dyed using local dyestuffs. They are an authentic New England product in every way and I can't stop thinking about them.
Their line includes winter- and summer-weight blankets and throws as well as baby blankets from the softest merino wool.
Here is an excerpt from their catalog:
Because the wool is so clean on teh backs of the sheep, it only needsmild organic detergents for final washng, preserving the fiber's natural oils. It is then carded and spun into skeins or onto cones. The natural blacks and browns, the "rare wools", are ready to use. Other batches are dyed naturally, using madder root for orange, indigo for blue, cochineal for red and pink, kamala root for yellows.
Does this take you back to medieval times or what? I am reading a historical novel now in which one of the central families develops a dying practice using madder that changes the economy of the town. It is so neat to know that these roots are still used today.
Here is more about the process:
Setting up each loom takes four days. Between the warp and weft, up to 3456 knots are tied by hand. Yarn is spun onto bobbins; the bobbins are installed in shuttles. It takes nine hours to weave a queen-sized blanket and as many as five more to pick out the last of the chaff by hand. Its edges are finished in silk and it is folded into its linen slipcase, comple with moth-deterring cedar boards.
I love a wool throw because even in summer, wool allows your skin to breath while still providing warmth. These blankets are heirloom quality and will provide your family with comfort for years.
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