Spoiler Alert: I highly recommend The Arcane Fibre Works yarn. Colour, softness, ordering and shipping, feel, finished project – fully 10 out of 10 from me.
It is time to up my yarn game guys. I have been knitting regularly now since August 2023 and been crocheting for a little longer. I love the pattern for Everything November fingerless gloves and have made more than 6 pairs with this pattern, some even with no mistakes! (Thank you, thank you all. Your applause is appreciated ). I found that much of the finger weight yarn I had been using had a kinda rough feel to it and the finished item is a bit scratchy. I even went out and chose a yarn from a local yarn shop selected for price and colour but still the finished glove was rather uncomfortable. In my innocence, I concluded that was just the nature of the beast. Finger weight yarn with mostly wool must just be coarse. I was to be proven wrong.
As a yarn user, my eye is now caught by yarn it seems. I see it everywhere! Kinda like when you buy a red car and all you see are red cars everywhere. Well, one day skimming along on the web, my eyes were assailed by this stunning image with an incredible depth of colour set beside a dyed hank of yarn using the same colours. What? It was beautiful and, dare I say, breathtaking. If I didn’t knit, I may have been inspired to start. But, you know, its the internet. Definitely too good to be true I figured. These were not the droids I was looking for. Move along.
Resistance is Futile
The pictures stuck in my head like an ear worm. Over the next month or so, my resistance started to slowly unravel stitch by stitch: first the amazing colours and colour combination and then there was that interesting name and logo. Arcane Fibre Works with a dragon! Yummy. Then I found a video on YouTube of the hand dying process itself with a rather nice and friendly voice-over. Fascinating. I was drawn in. Then I started to see more and more stunning inspiration images with clever and entertaining names. I would get no peace. I broke down and went to the website and I was lost! The company is even based in Canada. Argghhhh. Had they no shame?
But I proudly took myself to task and issued a challenge to be completed before any more yarn purchases: finish current glove project with all current yarn. Once completed, I would give myself permission to buy a hank or two just to see. Because it looked so soft and squishy and vibrant; I was sure there must be a downside.
Time to Choose?
I eventually met my challenge and it was time. Choose. Such a simple word and yet so fraught with agony (drama much Fran?). Do I choose by the inspiration picture? Like my favourite LOTR (You shall not pass!) or by stunning photography (Heavens!) or by the clever name (Putting the Fun in Fungi) or just by favourite colour (feeling blue)? It cannot be done. But what about others? Grand daughter would love I don’t believe in Humans or favourite son with the rich autumn greens and oranges of creeping it reel or What time is it Mr Fox?
In the end, the only way was to pass the buck as it were and I enlisted help from Hub. My initial choices were Lilac Lullaby, Phoenix Rising and Rock N Roller all in finger weight for gloves.
Ordering & Shipping
The website is easy to use and order. Ordering was simple and I received free shipping (usually after ordering at least 2 skeins). A dangerous game.
It arrived all safe and squishy in just under a week from Alberta to Ontario. The colour and softness was beyond what I could have imagined. I knitted up the Lilac first for myself, and it was a joy to work with. When my DIL dropped by, I proudly showed her how soft my new gloves were and then promptly gave them to her. I then knitted up the Phoenix Rising for hubby. Then I lost my mind and went back to the website.
First, I ordered the Gingerbread Kisses in worsted weight to make a scarf for a good friend (I taught myself the brioche/ fisherman’s rib stitch for this one and added a fringe). So soft!
Okay, okay, while ordering that, I also added in the Arcane Fibres Chronicles, Burning Desire, Where the Wind Blows and From the Heavens. Oops.
I’ve knitted up the Where the Wind Blows which is wonderful, and then the Everything November pattern received an update and so off I go again. I still need a pair for myself too. Now I’m looking again and realized I didn’t get any of those gorgeous greens or oranges or even the unicorn colours I wanted for grand daughter! Blast. But there will be a next time I’m sure.
Qualities & Cost
Yes, to softness, yes to great knitting experience (no splitting and very slight pilling on the worsted weight scarf). Also yes to vibrant colours and fascinating combinations. Yes even to the great sense of humour on display.
All the 100g skeins are super wash and are either 80/20 merino/nylon or 100% merino. The 4 weights are Fingering (400m) DK (200m), Worsted-Aran (166m) and Bulky (100m).
Pricing
As of January 2025, each 100g skein is $36.00 CAD.
As a final note, I see they have a subscription service, but I can’t see any details about it unless you sign up. I’m not sure what all that entails and the menu link just asks you to sign in essentially. Probably not for me, but your mileage may vary.
Why did I Write this Review of Arcane Fibre Works?
As you may have noticed, I do not sell anything or monetize this site with affiliate links or any money making schemes. It is purely a hobby and a pleasurable pastime for me to record some of my projects and interests.
For myself, when I want to purchase something, I often (always) do research (i.e., googling, consumer reports , the wire cutter podcast, good housekeeping reviews, some product ratings, etc.). While I appreciate that online reviews may not always be accurate, genuine or even specific enough, it is still information I like to take in – good and bad.
So, in the spirit of sharing, I feel strongly about this product and company and I am just sharing my own experience and judgment. To me, the colours ARE vibrant, the yarn IS high quality. The service, website and shipping are top notch and the sense of humour and fun displayed is engaging.
In my opinion, this yarn and company is 10 out of 10 and I just wanted to share my enthusiasm.
[…] have already mentioned how much I like the Arcane Fibre Works yarn and I had a few skeins of fingering weight at hand. I decided to use the colourway: Chronicles […]