Urth Yarns

When we first laid eyes on Urth Yarns, it was love at first sight. Beautiful yarns from beautiful people, it doesn't get much better than that!

Urth is a family-run company. We started doing business with the family many moons ago with a fun line of novelties from Feza Yarns. I remember meeting the dad and his sons at market; they couldn't have been any nicer.

Fast forward several years, when Dad excitedly traveled to Oklahoma to introduce a new line headed by his sons. This line was Urth Yarns. We instantly flipped over their Uneek and natural Harvest dyed yarns, quickly putting the full range on our shelves. Uneek and Harvest continue to be some of our top-selling yarns.

This past year, we were excited to expand the line further, adding sixty-five shades of Collection 16 in two weights and the exciting new Spiral Grain. They have both been big hits as well.

There is so much to love about this company. The yarns are hand-dyed in the family's home country of Turkey, providing much-needed economic opportunity to local women. Additionally, many of the artisans have learned to knit and crochet, creating numerous samples for the shops. I have never encountered a company that provides finished samples so generously.

A tree is planted for every skein of Urth yarns purchased through their partnership with Trees for the Future. This organization helps to break the cycle of hunger, poverty, and environmental decay, restoring landscapes in developing communities.

Urth supports indie designers, actively pairing their yarns with the works of many talented folks. They prominently market and place links to indie patterns on their website, significantly increasing their earnings.

One such designer is the immensely talented Marin Melchior, who visited SWAK last fall. While we were already huge fans of her work, we are now totally in love with Marin. Her charismatic energy and super cool vibe are contagious! Immensely talented, Marin has been knitting and creating since childhood. In addition to her knitting prowess, she is a talented seamstress, chef, musician, artist, and so much more! If it can be created, Marin can do it!

Marin's Papillon design was the first to catch our eye! Often referred to as the "butterfly" shawl, it features Uneek & Harvest Fingering from Urth Yarns, with numerous color possibilities. Despite its perceived complexity, our knitters have found the pattern detailed and very explanatory. Rarely have we been asked to assist, which is a testament to the quality of her instructions!

Patterns for Marin's gorgeous designs are available for download from Ravelry from MarinJaKnits.

Emre Koc, owner of Urth Yarns, joined Marin during her visit to SWAK. He is one of the three brothers that own the company. Emre lives in Florida and handles sales and operations. The other two brothers live in Turkey; one runs the production end of the business, and the youngest heads up the creative end, such as web design, social media, and marketing.

It wasn't Emre's first visit to SWAK, but it was the first time we had the opportunity to introduce him to so many of you. He thoroughly enjoyed our Okie hospitality and time with us this fall, and I know how much everyone enjoyed meeting him, too. Emre is amazing!

We recently introduced the Aspen Scarf, featuring Collection 16 and Spiral Grain yarns from Urth. This textural scarf beautifully blends the marled and solid shades with unique trim and mitered edgings and is accented with large tassels. Download the pattern from Ravelry today!