Swans Island Blankets

On the way to Bar Harbor, I stopped by Swans Island Blankets for a curiosity relieving look-see. For the last year I'd been ogling some of their gorgeous blankets and voila, I found myself watching them being hand-loomed.

These lightweight and versitle blankets, throws and scarves feature wonderful natural colors and a soft hand. Their simplicity is elegant. Regardless, as much as they are fabulous the best part is...they operate a Blanket Hospital for seamless repairs! Now, how cool is that?

Here are some of the organic dyes used on the wool: Kamla, madder, brazilwood, cochineal, cutch, logwood, indigo, weld and osage orange.

Above - the dying area.

Some of the wool is local...the Winter Blanket series comes from Nash Island near the Penobscot Bay. These sheep are left untended and as they free graze their fleece is hay free, which means it doesn't need an acid bath and tweezer picking to rid it of impurities....thus the lanolin remains in the wool and you have a better feeling blanket.