In The Hive

Our Opal Anniversary

Wild Dasiy, Botton D'Oro, Salvia Argentea and Dalia mYak Tibetan Cloud + The Hive Chain Row Counter in Pearl

Memorial Day marks not only summer's official start in Northern Michigan, but it's also our anniversary celebration. This is our Opal Anniversary, which means that 24 years ago, on a quiet little street in a sleepy little town, a happy little storefront opened its doors to the wool-loving public for the first time.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Opal is thought to inspire love, purity and hope for the future. Our arms are wide open ready to receive such a wish over The Hive. HEAR, HEAR!

These set will be available this weekend. From left: Citrine, Iridescent and Druzy sock sets

An unintentional rock theme here but we are feeling rather grounded these days. It's fitting. We are so thrilled to have our first order of Hue Loco here in the store for our Memorial Day celebration. We've admired the Hue Loco Team from afar and loved everything about the Scenic Trail Sundown club colorway they made for us. 

Arriving in this first batch are their gorgeous socks sets and an array of DK superwash in speckles and variegates. Stay tuned this weekend for all the celebration fun. There will be:

Hue Loco Yarns Summer KAL Sign-ups Prizes ** if you haven't been in for a few weeks **

NEW Bella Filato NEW Bohemian Fibers MORE Cocoknits The Hive Chain Row Counters ​​​​​​​(if we can keep them in stock)

Friday, May 24th: 10 am to 5 pm Saturday, May 25th: 9 am to 4 pm Sunday, May 26th: 11 am to 4 pm Monday, May 27th: closed

In The Hive

LYS Day Trunk Show

20% OFF LYS Weekend

It's rare for us to have discounted sales in the shop. Only once or twice a year and next weekend is one of them! All shop items in store and online will be 20% OFF, all except our LYS Day featured items. From Friday, April 26th - Sunday, April 28th. 

COUPON: LYSLOVE

LYS Day featured items - Bohemian Fibers Trunk Show, The Hive Chain Row Counter in Multi-Agate, Bee Linen Lavender Bags Embroidery Kit, Friend of the Honeybee Enamel Pin

This Local Yarn Shop Day is about as local as we have ever been! We will have Addie of Bohemian Fibers here Saturday, April 27th for a trunk show. If you know this area you might know of Bohemian Rd outside of Maple City. Another treasured area with the rolling hills and farms that winds all way down to the water . . . just magical. 

Bohemian Fibers has alpacas and angora goats with some animals making the tour around the county and right back across the road from their original roots at Sprouse's alpaca farm. This yarn comes in a few weights and nearly every natural color. There are blends of alpaca/merino and angora/merino blends. These Bohemian Fibers are not just spun into yarn. Addie has chocolatey brown dryer balls and boot inserts that can be cut to size. Socks aside, you can also snuggle your feet on cozy warm alpaca. Your wellies are going to need something for this cold rock hunting season. 

Save the date for April 27th and keep an eye out for more details each week. This LYS Day will be full off fun like each and every year. You know we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for your love of yarn, fiber and community. What a wonderful job you give us!

In The Hive

D.H. Day Barn: Year Eleven of the Sleeping Bear Yarn Club

Additional Skeins of D.H. Day Barn

We are thrilled to announce the May installment of the Sleeping Bear Yarn Club: D.H. Day Barn. Dyed exclusively for us by the wonderful Holly & Dan of Blue Barn Fiber in Colorado (we can promise we did not pick them for their name). This colorway is light yet rich with thoughts of spring. The iconic barn is set in the most magical nook of our county where all the colors bounce off its creamy white building.

​​​​​​​* pre-order by May 20th *

May’s delightful little package will include a skein of Blue Barn Fiber Duo Select (80% superwash Merino wool, 20% recycled nylon‑‑399 yds, 100 g), an Amethyst stitch marker and your choice of the Spindrift Shawl, Seed Pod Socks or Baby Crown Tee pattern, as well as the free gifts for NEW 12-month members, Thank You gifts for Year Two members and Leelanau Lifetime Members for those in Years Three through Eleven.*

In The Hive

Colors of Leelanau

The Third Coast, Leland Blues and Michigan Moonrise

In a future life
I want to be 
a maker of color –
Inks, paints
dyes for fabric.
I’ll spend my day
like a Goddess
conjuring chroma
Driving the nothing
back to shadow and light
while every imaginable hue
dances on human made objects
blending their existence
into the natural world

‘Chroma’ by Mimi DiFrancesca​​​​​​​

Almost eleven years ago, we launched our Sleeping Bear Yarn Club and there is simply no way we ever could have conceived what it is today. The dyers we’ve met, the colors they’ve created, the relationships that have grown‑‑the impact of this club in our lives‑‑personally and professionally‑‑is beyond our wildest dreams. (And just wait until we tell you about Year Eleven! Next month.) 

Manitou Passage, our March 2018 selection. 

Because our club continues to add new members every month, there are many, many customers who’ve only just joined us‑‑and have missed out on some of the previous months. And almost everyone has said that they’d love to get their hands on at least one more skein of one colorway or another. 

So. We’re opening up the opportunity for everyone who has been hoping to get another go at one‑‑or more!‑‑of our exclusive yarns. We reached out to the brilliant dyers who’ve produced colorways for our Sleeping Bear Yarn Club and asked them to dye a limited edition run for the spectacular colors from the first ten years: The Colors of Leelanau.

This year we are bringing The Colors of Leelanau to you in a new way – a curated collection. Every year our list of dyers grows and grows and the options are simply overwhelming. Let’s make it more manageable for choosing what sweaters to make and socks to gift. We want to feature our dyers in a more concentrated light. Each coming year will be a mystery to see what colors come back from the recent and not so recent past. We have to say, it is mighty hard to narrow down these amazing colors. We keep telling ourselves, there is always next year.

Star Thistle Honey, our October 2015 selection.

Club memberships are available for 3, 6 and 12 months, with the ability to pay monthly, quarterly or in full.

A current membership of any kind will grant you access to the Colors of Leelanau.

Not a current member? Sign up HERE.

Already a member? Click HERE to order the Colors of Leelanau.

We’ll be taking pre-orders for the Colors of Leelanau for a VERY limited time‑‑through March 31st only.

Orders will ship with the May 2024 packages.

In The Hive

North Bay Fiber Trunk Show

North Bay Fiber Trunk Show - March 8-10

We are thrilled to announce that we are welcoming a major fiber icon to our neck of the woods the weekend of March 8-10th: North Bay Fiber with Jill Zielinski. You've known Jill (Knitterella) for years with her amazing knitwear designs. She has been such a big part of the yarn industry and right here in Michigan. Recently she has extended her love of wool to her very own line of breed specific yarns - some even 100% Michigan yarn! 

You may have seen Jill in the shop here before having fun times with all of us but this time we are getting the chance to see all the amazing Jill is still brining to our industry just a couple hours down the road. We are so excited to have her yarns here for this very quick weekend. Do make sure you come by and squish some skeins - try on a few samples - shop the right color for that new exciting project.

The shop will be open to everyone–you are ALL welcome here!–
​​​​​​​there is no charge. 

On Friday, March 8th from 6-8 pm, we'll have an evening launch for the trunk show (mocktails included). Shoppers will have the first chance to shop a full range of colors in her yarn for her new pattern launching that weekend. You'll be able to try on the sample, pick your size and what colors looks best on you. We love helping you choose colors so please ask - it adds to our excitement! There will be more lines from North Bay Fiber and samples so BE READY. You'll have some time to ask Jill questions as she gives a talk about North Bay Fiber and her design journey.

On Saturday, March 9th from 10 am to 4 pm, we’ll be hosting North Bay Fiber at Wool & Honey all day long. From 10 am - noon, come enjoy Open Stitch with Jill . We'll sit and make together. At noon, show up with your Heritage Socks from our last KAL and we'll have a group photo! (there are some kits left at this cute little yarn shop if you haven't made a pair yet - no one has to know - wink wink). We'll have drawings for customers just on Saturday. Items won't online but if you give us a call we can take orders over the phone for you for North Bay Fibers we have at the shop. 

On Sunday, March 10th, we’ll have a virtual day with a surprise reveal for everyone to have an equal chance at. We know not everyone can make it here in person so we want to leave some mystery for you too. We aren't sure if other lines from the trunk show will make it online but you know - if we can make it happen - it will!

In The Hive

Twinkle Tangle

We’d like to introduce to you Twinkle Tangle‑‑a sweet delight that sparkles and and feels like Joy. Cradling this gorgeous gift in our hands‑‑and thinking both about the hands that created them and the hands that will hold them after they leave ours‑‑felt like stringing our halls with tiny, blinking twinkle lights. Having those nostalgic memories watching our Dad with a tangled mess of lights for the beautifully crowed tree. Oh how our lives are like that tangled mess of cozy lights. We bet some of you feel that too.

We are taking pre-orders now through Dec 3rd for Twingle Tangle. Each skeins is 200 yds of superwash worsted weight. This yarn will be arriving in January  – a New Years treat!

This is a once-in-a-lifetime edition yarn; ​​once they’re gone, that’s it.

In The Hive

Heritage Sock Knit-A-Long

Join us January 1st for our Heritage Sock KAL‑‑a DK slipper sock knit in faux cables. Jill Zielinski of North Bay Fibers is wearing women’s medium in ‘Watershed’. Pre-Order Now through Dec.3rd​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

What if you could begin your knitting new year a little differently? Gentler, kinder, with more grace? Rather than hard corners and tight deadlines, how about soft edges and loose commitments? Why not make your first project of 2024 something small, pleasantly engaging and quick-to-knit, something to boost your sense of accomplishment? We call that an ‘atta boy’ project–and after a long year, we’re more than ready for one. Come–knit with us. Let’s start this next year off on the right foot, shall we?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The prize for finishers? Every single participant who completes their socks during these 2 weeks will receive a Peppermint Tea Tree Keepers Collective Heel & Foot Balm—a $26 value–AND will be entered in a drawing to win the Wool & Honey Life Adjustable Sock Blocker Set–a $40 value.