Distracted by Yarn

Freshwater Bay is located between Port Angeles and Joyce on Highway 112. The County Park, named in 1790 by Spanish Captain Manuel Quimper Benitez del Pino, has an excellent vantage of the beautiful water with its vast array of blue colors dotted with kelp gardens.  The colors of the waters are represented in this skein.

Lake Crescent, located miles from the store in the Olympic National Park, is a glacier lake with depths of more than 600 feet. The blue-green colors are a result of low nitrogen levels and inspired this shade of yarn.

Gray Wolf is named for the backwoods trail in Sequim Washington where the river-tumbled rocks have a characteristically gray color. We also allude to the namesake of the denizens of the famous Vampire Sage that call La Push their home.

The Rainforest color is inspired by the Hoh Rainforest, one of the world's most spectacular examples of a temperate rainforest. The resulting verdant growth provides a wide range of green undergrowth, with moss and lichens hugging branches, and in open areas flowers, berries, and mushrooms flourish providing a vivid portrait of nature.

Spruce Railroad color is named for the popular hiking trail hugging the north shore of Lake Crescent on an old railroad bed. This flat hike includes two historic railroad tunnels and a view of nature at its best. From the trail, you can view the lake from numerous vantage points with an amazing range of blue tones ranging from Navy to Azure resulting from changes in water depth, sky color, wind, and direction of sunlight.

The inspiration for the Blue Mountain yarn is the soft, blue haze that forms around the mountain in the summer. This blue is a quintessential Northwest color.

Seasonal colors and leaping salmon are the inspiration for this colorful fall toned yarn. Salmon Cascades is a popular destination during late October/early November. About 5 miles down the Sol Duc Road in the Olympic National Park, visitors come to watch the determined coho salmon leap over the falls on their way to spawn upstream.

Camaraderie Cellars is a boutique winery, located in Port Angeles, recognized for making consistently high-quality wines for over twenty-five years. We believe that this yarn color embodies Camaraderie -- the feeling of closeness and friendship that exists between companions with like interests. Enjoy it with a glass of wine!

Originally named for the garnet-colored sands that eroded from banks and collected on the beach, this spot on the Coast of the Olympic National Park is a Jewel in its own right with tide pools, a rocky beach, sea stacks, and driftwood. For our inspiration, we took a sunset picture in early summer to celebrate the name of this favored beach.

Storm King inspired this color. Located to the south of Lake Crescent, this peak’s name is sourced from a Native American legend of a local mountain spirit becoming angry at warring native tribes and hurling a gigantic boulder down into the lake killing all the warriors. The ancient pillow basalts and variety of landscape coverings make this a mashup of colors and we’ve incorporated its violent history into this yarn as well.

Coastal Berry is a delicious color of our yarn. Mild temperatures, rich soil, and lots of rain make the Olympic Peninsula a perfect place for berry picking. Whether you are taking a hike in the woods or on a local street, you will likely see (and /or pick) wild berries including several varieties of Blackberries, Salmonberries, Huckleberries, Oregon Grape, Salal, Thimble Berry, or Black Raspberry.

Old-growth forests hide many treasures, and this is an easy one to explore. The Heart o’ the Hill campground provides a place to stay and a chance to explore birds, frogs, forest, and animal life. With so much to explore, we looked through the trees to find its more hidden treasures: leaves on the forest floor, Red Huckleberries, slugs, amphibians, mushrooms, toadstools, and more – each season has its own color! And so does Heart of the Hills.

The Grand Valley Badger Valley hiking Loop is known for its display of wildflowers in alpine meadows, the trail starts at the Obstruction Point Trailhead and descends into Badger Valley ending at Grand Lake. 8.6 miles of moderately steep terrain with amazing views of Victoria BC. Quick changes in elevation and precipitation mean a lot of different habitats spanning high alpine ridges and old-growth forests in a relatively short space.

The source name La Poel is derived from Chinook jargon meaning Frying pan as this location was originally named Pancake Point. This is a small picnic area on the south side of Lake Crescent (shaded by the steep mountains to the south), but the views from the picnic tables and the small beach are amazing. The yarn reflects the gravel beach and the branches silhouetted by the variable ever-changing blues of the lake.

The Natural color is undyed natural colored yarn – from sheep--but inspired by the Olympic Peninsula's history and local fiber animals. Mountain goats, for example, are not native to the Olympic Peninsula, they are native to the Cascade Mountains and the National Park.   And yes, we also have many breeds of domesticated sheep, alpacas, llamas, and goats on the Olympic Peninsula as well..

Black and White Yarn, Black and White Photography. Yes, that’s our inspiration. The Black Diamond Community Center is located south of Port Angeles on Black Diamond Road. Though the signs all say 1942, this may be an address rather than a date. We believe that it was a grange for many years and then renovated in the late 1990s as a community center

(Mount Olympus) Commonly called Mud Glacier in the 1940s and located between the Blue and White Glaciers, its name refers to the dark color cast upon it from rocks and dirt falling onto its surface from the nearby cliffs above. Of course, we wouldn’t call our yarn mud, so hence we have black yarn with slight variations of gray.

Hall of Mosses color: The Hoh Rain Forest is one of the many areas that host a “Hall of Mosses” on the Olympic Peninsula. Where there is rain, there is moss. Bigleaf maple and vine maple host an abundance of plant life that gives the rain forest an ethereal look in many old-growth areas of the Peninsula including Lake Crescent, the Quinault Rain Forest, and national forest lands.

This rustic two-story lodge was built in 1926 in the heart of the Quinault Rain Forest on the Southeast side of the pristine lake. This prime example of the wilderness lodge style was designed by Seattle architect Robert Reamer. The chimney is decorated with a totem pole-shaped rain gauge that measures rainfall in feet, a visual reminder of the heavy rainfall on the west side of the Olympic Mountains.

Fireweed: This showy summer flower thrives in open meadows, along streams, roadsides, and forest edges. The name is derived from its ability to colonize areas burned by fire and can be found from sea level to sub-alpine meadow in great abundance.   The seeds of fall are carried on the wind by fluffy “parachutes” that were often used by Native people as a part of their weaving or as padding.

Unicorn Horn Color is inspired by Unicorn Peak (5, 060’),a rock outcrop northwest of Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. Klallam tribal legend has it that during a great flood, canoes were tied to the mountaintop which broke off leaving only the two peaks, and the canoes and people in them floated to where Seattle is located.

Rhodie Run color: The Washington State Flower is the Coastal Rhododendron (also known as the Pacific Rhododendron) which grows prolifically on the Olympic Peninsula. Coinciding with the spring blossoms is the week-long Port Townsend Rhododendron Festival culminating with the Port Townsend Marathon Association the 10K Rhodie Run

Native to the Pacific Northwest Madrone trees are found along the coastal ranges. The copper red-brown bark peals (exfoliates) each summer curling back and "ripening" to a deep dark red with iridescent shades that hint at indigo. White flowers in the spring produce scarlet red, lumpy berries in the fall that Native American tribes of the Pacific Northwest use to create a type of cider and as bait for steelhead fishing. Its bark made a medicinal tea to wash sores and treat colds and sore throats

The Sequim, Washington, Lavender Festival occurs in Mid-July and draws enthusiasts from around the world to enjoy celebrating this magical herb. Visions of its purple beauty, fragrant scent, and a wide array of products from the fragrant blossoms called to a group who wanted to preserve the Sequim Prairie’s agricultural farmland. Lavender’s propensity for growing with a minimum of water and a maximum of sunshine makes it perfect for Sequim’s rain shadow climate!

On a Sunny Day the Blues from the top are breathtaking. Sky and Water: what a combination! Rising 1,116 feet from the dramatic coastline of basalt lava through old and second-growth forest, the viewpoints at the top include the variable blue waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the vista of Vancouver Island Canada, Mount Constitution in the American San Juans, and snow-capped Mount Baker.

The Olympic National Park has many climatic zones between near sea level and alpine rock and ice, supporting a diverse and extensive wildflower display nearly year-round (avalanche lilies will bloom even under snow!). Dogwood, lupine, foxglove, trillium, phlox, harebell, stonecrop, paintbrush, and fireweed -- it’s just a starting point for what you will find on even the briefest of hikes. Be sure to take a flower identification book on your visit to the park!

Kalaloch Lodge color: Nestled between driftwood-lined beaches and soaring evergreen forests, the Historic Kalaloch Lodge has been a destination for decades. The Lodge, cabins, and campgrounds are on a 50-foot bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean with access to beaches, and hikes. Purchased in 1925 by Charles W Becker, Sr the name was a corruption of the Quinault term meaning "good place to land" or "sheltered landing".

The Punchbowl is a small, protected pool of still and deep water enclosed by a footbridge that provides a great spot to take in the view of Lake Crescent in the Olympic National Park, 1.2 miles out from the eastern entrance to the Spruce Railroad Trail on the North side of Lake Crescent. This "rail trail”, part of the Olympic Discovery Trail, is open year-round but if you plan on taking a dip, summer is the best time to visit.

Fallen Giant: Over time these downed trees begin the process of decay becoming a nurse log that provides a seedbed for conifers in the Northwest's temperate rainforests. Small animals such as squirrels often perch or roost on nurse logs, adding food debris and scat to the forest needle litter. Count the rings and determine the age of our Fallen Giants.

Mountain Lupin Wildflowers are a colorful part of the Olympic Peninsula scenery. Depending on your altitude and time of year, you will see an array of Lupin species. Quick changes in elevation and precipitation mean a lot of different habitats in the Olympic Mountains. The meadows around the Hurricane Ridge visitor center provide easy lupin viewing in the spring and early summer as do the Hurricane Hill and Klahhane Ridge Trails.

Part sandy beach and part basalt pillow lava with amazing tidepools The Salt Creek Recreation Area is a 196-acre park located about 15 miles west of Port Angeles, near the city of Joyce. Inside the Park is Tongue Point, part of a Marine Protected Area. This park has it all: beach walking, hiking, tidepools, wildlife viewing, whale watching, and nearby surfing in Crescent Bay.