At Yarn Nerds, every yarn tells a story.

Our yarn bases are inspired by the people closest to me: my husband and our six children. Their personalities, the things they love, their names, and the memories we have created together have all become part of Yarn Nerds.

That inspiration carries into our colors too. A colorway might remind me of a person, a place, a memory, a season, or simply a feeling that I connect with someone in my family.

That is why our yarns aren't just named yarn bases. They are pieces of our story.

When you pick up a skein of Yarn Nerds yarn, you are holding something that was inspired by my family and hand-dyed by me in Detroit.

We carefully choose each base based on its fiber, construction, feel, and how beautifully it works with our colors. We work with Knomad Yarn, a supplier of high-quality undyed yarns for independent dyers and fiber artists. Knomad partners with ethical and sustainable mills, including a partner mill in Peru, and focuses on responsibly sourced fibers and quality yarn production.

From the fiber we choose to the name on the label to the colors that go into the dye pot, every yarn has a story to tell.

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Lisa Luxe

Fingering / Sock Weight
80% Superwash Merino Wool | 20% Recycled Nylon
399 yards | 100g | 2-ply

Lisa Luxe is our fingering-weight sock yarn, created for makers who want the softness of merino wool with added durability for everyday wear.

The 80% merino and 20% recycled nylon blend gives this yarn a beautiful balance of softness, strength, and elasticity. It is especially well suited for socks, but it is also wonderful for sweaters, baby garments, shawls, and accessories.

Why we love it: Soft, durable, versatile, and an excellent canvas for hand-dyed color.

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Sir James

Fingering Weight
100% Corriedale Wool
410 yards | 100g

Sir James is our 100% Corriedale fingering weight yarn, created for makers who love the natural feel and character of wool.

With 410 yards per 100g, this yarn is lightweight and versatile, making it a beautiful choice for socks, shawls, lightweight sweaters, hats, colorwork, and accessories.

Named after my youngest son, Sir James is a special part of the Yarn Nerds family. Like all of our yarns, it was chosen for how it feels, how it takes color, and how it performs in a finished project.

Why we love it: Natural, versatile, beautifully textured, and a wonderful canvas for hand-dyed color.

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Lisa Lush

Worsted Weight
80% Superwash Merino Wool | 20% Baby Alpaca
191 yards | 100g | 2-ply

Lisa Lush is our soft and luxurious worsted-weight yarn. We chose this blend for its beautiful combination of merino structure and baby alpaca softness.

The merino gives Lisa Lush warmth, elasticity, and structure, while the baby alpaca adds softness, warmth, and a luxurious hand feel.

Why we love it: Soft, cozy, luxurious, and beautiful for sweaters, cardigans, hats, scarves, and other garments you want to feel special.

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Bella Merino

Worsted Weight
100% Fine Merino Wool
219 yards | 100g | 4-ply

Bella Merino is our natural, non-superwash worsted-weight yarn.

This is the base for the maker who loves wool in its most natural form. The 4-ply construction gives Bella Merino excellent stitch definition, making it especially beautiful for cables, texture, colorwork, sweaters, hats, scarves, and cowls.

Why we love it: Natural, classic, beautifully structured, and perfect when you want the character of traditional wool.

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NIA

Worsted Weight
100% Fine Superwash Merino Wool
219 yards | 100g | Single Ply | 21.5 Micron

NIA is our earthy, soft, single-ply worsted yarn.

The single-ply construction gives NIA a soft, lofty character and allows our hand-dyed colors to move beautifully throughout the yarn. We especially love this base for earthy, tonal, and organic-looking colorways.

Why we love it: Soft, lofty, earthy, and full of beautiful color movement.

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ARIA

Super Bulky Weight
100% Fine Superwash Merino Wool
109 yards | 100g | 2-ply | 21.5 Micron

ARIA is our big, soft, squishy yarn made for cozy projects and quick knitting.

The 2-ply construction gives ARIA a wonderfully full and soft feel, while the fine superwash merino provides warmth and softness. It is perfect for hats, cowls, scarves, sweaters, blankets, and other projects where you want a substantial fabric without spending forever knitting it.

Knomad classifies Salcantay as Bulky, while Yarn Nerds classifies ARIA as Super Bulky for our customers and patterns.

Why we love it: Big, soft, squishy, and perfect for cozy projects that work up quickly.

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Ninni Minni Pack

Worsted Weight Minis
100% Superwash Merino Wool
5 × 20g Mini Skeins | 100g Total

Ninni Minni was created for makers who love playing with color.

Each pack contains five 20g mini skeins, giving you five colors to mix, match, stripe, fade, contrast, or combine with yarn already in your stash.

We also use this same Marshmallow Worsted base for the 50g skeins included in our Color Pop Beanie Kits, making it easy to bring the same soft, hand-dyed yarn into smaller projects and colorwork.

Why we love it: Five little skeins, endless color combinations, and so many ways to play.

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Stacey

DK Weight
87% Wool | 13% Donegal Viscose
225m / 246 yards | 100g | 4/9nm

Stacey is a very personal yarn.

Named after my middle name, Stacey is inspired by me. Just like my moods, my style, and the different sides of who I am, this yarn can move from soft and gentle to earthy and grounded.

I wanted Stacey to have a natural, lived-in feeling, so I chose a classic Donegal tweed base that gives our colors a little more character. You will find earthy tones, soft shades, muted colors, and everything in between. The colors are inspired by the different moods and moments that make me who I am.

The base is from Rooster Yarns. It is a non-superwash yarn spun in Peru. The Donegal viscose creates colorful little neps throughout the yarn that resist the dye, allowing the tweed flecks to remain visible against the color we create.

Why We Love Stacey

Stacey has the beautiful character of traditional tweed without feeling overly rustic.

The wool gives the yarn warmth, breathability, and natural structure, while the Donegal viscose neps create those little flecks of color that make every skein interesting.

Because the neps resist the dye, they peek through our colors and create a beautiful depth that you simply cannot get from a smooth, solid yarn.

Stacey is beautiful for sweaters, cardigans, hats, scarves, vests, and other garments where you want texture, warmth, and a little bit of personality.

But more than anything, Stacey is me in yarn form.

Soft sometimes. Earthy sometimes. Quiet sometimes. Bold sometimes.

Different moods. Different colors. One story.

And that is exactly what I wanted Stacey to be.

Understanding Our Fibers & Yarn

What is Merino Wool?

Merino wool comes from Merino sheep, a breed known for producing exceptionally fine wool.

Merino sheep originated in Spain and are now raised in wool-producing regions throughout the world. The individual fibers are much finer than many traditional wool fibers, which gives merino its signature softness.

Merino wool is naturally warm, breathable, moisture regulating, and elastic. It is soft enough for many next-to-skin garments while still providing the strength and structure we love in wool.

What Is Corriedale Wool?

Corriedale is a breed of sheep known for producing wool that offers a beautiful balance of softness, warmth, strength, and structure. It has a little more character than very fine Merino wool while still being comfortable enough for a wide variety of projects.

Corriedale wool is valued for its durability and excellent stitch definition, making it especially nice for projects where you want your stitches and colorwork to stand out.

Because it is a natural wool fiber, Corriedale also has the warmth and breathability that make wool such a wonderful choice for handmade garments and accessories.

What Does Superwash Mean?

Superwash wool has been specially treated to make the wool fibers more resistant to felting and shrinking.

This makes superwash wool easier to care for than untreated wool. It is especially popular for everyday garments, socks, baby items, and projects that may need more frequent washing.

Superwash wool is also an excellent choice for hand-dyeing because it takes color beautifully.

What is Non-Superwash Wool?

Non-superwash wool has not gone through the treatment used to make superwash wool.

The natural scales of the wool fiber remain intact, giving the yarn more of its natural character. Non-superwash wool requires gentler care and is generally best hand washed and laid flat to dry.

Bella Merino is our non-superwash merino option.

What is Baby Alpaca?

Baby alpaca is a particularly fine and soft alpaca fiber. The name refers to the fineness of the fiber and does not necessarily mean that the fiber came from a baby alpaca.

Alpaca fiber is known for being soft, warm, lightweight, and luxurious. In Lisa Lush, baby alpaca adds softness and warmth while the merino provides structure and elasticity.

What is Recycled Nylon?

Nylon is a strong, lightweight synthetic fiber commonly used in products that need durability, including socks, hosiery, activewear, and outdoor clothing.

We use recycled nylon in Lisa Luxe because it adds strength and helps the yarn stand up to repeated wear.

Recycled nylon is made using existing nylon materials rather than relying entirely on newly produced nylon.

What Does Single Ply Mean?

A single-ply yarn is made from one strand rather than multiple strands twisted together.

Single-ply yarns tend to have a soft, lofty character and can create beautiful stitch texture. They also have a unique way of showing off hand-dyed color.

NIA is our single-ply worsted base.

What Does 2-Ply or 4-Ply Mean?

Ply refers to the number of individual strands twisted together to create the yarn.

A 2-ply yarn has two strands twisted together. A 4-ply yarn has four.

Ply is different from yarn weight. A 4-ply yarn isn't automatically fingering weight, and a 2-ply yarn isn't automatically bulky. The final yarn weight depends on the thickness and construction of the yarn.

What Does Micron Mean?

Micron refers to the diameter of an individual wool fiber.

The lower the micron number, the finer the fiber generally feels.

This is one reason you will see numbers such as 21.5 micron when looking at our merino bases. Fine merino fibers create the softness we love while still maintaining the natural benefits of wool.

What Do Fingering, Worsted, and Bulky Mean?

These terms describe the weight or thickness of the yarn.

Fingering / Sock: A lightweight yarn commonly used for socks, shawls, lightweight garments, and colorwork.

Worsted: A medium-weight yarn that is versatile enough for sweaters, hats, scarves, blankets, and accessories.

Bulky / Super Bulky: A thicker yarn that creates a larger stitch and works up quickly, making it popular for cozy sweaters, hats, scarves, cowls, and blankets.

Yarn weight is separate from fiber content. Two yarns can both be merino wool while having completely different weights, constructions, and uses.

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Our Dyes

At Yarn Nerds, the yarn is only part of the story. The other part is color.

Our yarn is hand-dyed in small batches in Detroit, allowing us to create colorways with depth, variation, and personality. We use both Jacquard acid dyes and Rit dyes, depending on the fiber and the look we are creating.

Jacquard Dyes

We use Jacquard acid dyes primarily for our animal fiber yarns such as merino wool and alpaca blends.

Acid dyes are specially formulated for protein fibers and allow us to create rich, vibrant, and highly saturated colors. They give us the ability to create everything from soft tonals and subtle color shifts to bold variegated colorways, speckles, and deep jewel tones.

Rit Dyes

We also use Rit dyes for select yarns and fibers where they are appropriate, including our cotton yarns.

Rit gives us another way to develop color and allows us to create beautiful shades across different types of fiber. The dye process and results can vary depending on the fiber, which is part of what makes hand-dyeing so special.

Every Color Has a Story

Our colors are inspired by the same people who inspire our yarn bases: my husband and our six children.

Sometimes the inspiration is a person's favorite color. Sometimes it is a memory, a personality, a place, a season, or a moment that reminds me of them.

That is why you will find meaning behind the names, the colors, and the bases we choose.

Every skein has a story.
Every color has a connection.
And every story starts with family.

Why We Choose These Yarns

We don't choose a yarn base simply because it is soft.

We choose it because of how the fiber feels, how it behaves in our hands, how it takes color, how it knits or crochets, and what kind of finished project it creates.

Some of our bases are soft and luxurious. Some are earthy and rustic. Some are strong and durable. Some are natural and untreated. Some are made for quick, cozy projects.

Every base gives us another way to bring Yarn Nerds color to life.

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The Companies Behind Our Yarns

We believe the yarn underneath our colors matters just as much as the colors themselves.

When we choose a yarn base, we look at more than the fiber content. We consider where the yarn comes from, how it is produced, how it behaves when we dye it, how it feels in your hands, and how it performs in the finished project.

We work with trusted yarn suppliers and mills that share our appreciation for quality natural fibers and thoughtful sourcing.

Rooster Yarns

Rooster Yarns is a United Kingdom company based in Chester, England. Their story began three generations ago as wool merchants, and their business has grown from that history into a company focused on high quality natural fiber yarns.

Rooster places a strong emphasis on quality, sustainability, ethical trading, and responsible sourcing. They work with mills around the world and carefully select and test their yarns for dyeing, knitting, and crochet. They also state that the merino used in their yarns comes from areas where mulesing is not practiced.

Our Stacey yarn begins with Rooster Yarns Donegal Tweed DK. This particular yarn is spun in Peru and combines wool with Donegal viscose neps that resist the dye, creating the beautiful little tweed flecks you see throughout the yarn.

We chose Rooster because we love the character of their natural fiber yarns and because we wanted Stacey to have a story of its own before we ever added our color to it.

Knomad Yarn

Knomad is one of the suppliers we trust for several of our Yarn Nerds bases. Their yarns are made through carefully selected mills and fiber partners, including production in Peru.

We choose Knomad bases because they give us the fiber quality, consistency, and dyeing performance we are looking for in our yarns. Several of our most loved bases, including Lisa Lush, Lisa Luxe, Bella Merino, NIA, ARIA, and Ninni Minni, begin with yarns from Knomad.

Before a yarn becomes a Yarn Nerds colorway, we spend time testing it. We look at how it takes color, how the fiber feels, how it behaves while knitting or crocheting, and how the finished fabric feels in your hands.

We do not choose a yarn simply because it is beautiful on the cone or skein. We choose it because we believe it will become something beautiful in your hands.

Why This Matters to Us

When you purchase a Yarn Nerds skein, you are purchasing more than a color.

You are getting a carefully chosen fiber, sourced from a company and mill we have taken the time to research and trust. Then that yarn comes to Detroit, where we add our own colors, our own ideas, and our own story.

Every step matters.

Every yarn has a story.

And we want you to know where that story begins.