Our Yarn Partner

Road Trip Mystery is thrilled to welcome Emma's Yarn as our 2022 yarn partner! 

Emma’s Yarn was started by Emma, a (then) 15 year-old homeschooled student who fell in love with dyeing yarn when learning ratios in her math lesson. Her eye for color is amazing! It wasn’t long before she started selling small batches in her parents’ yarn shop, and when that proved to be successful, moved production from her kitchen to a dye studio downtown. Her sister, Aspen, joined her after graduating college and together they built Emma's Yarn into what it is today; a wholesale company providing Local Yarn Shops with high quality, hand-dyed yarn from right here in sunny Florida. 

Today, 4 years later, the team has grown to 13 members made up of family and close friends. With 16 different bases, over 100 crazy beautiful colorways, and new ideas pumping ALL . THE . TIME, there is no end to the fun in sight!

Growing up in their parents' LYS, Emma and Aspen learned that there truly is nothing like a good local yarn shop.  Aside from the value and support they provide to their customers (help with knitting, help reading patterns, help choosing the best supplies, etc.) they provide a unique and special place in the community for all sorts of makers and fiber friends to come together. In order to best support local yarn shops, Emma's Yarn is sold exclusively in Local Yarn Shops. 

We hope you enjoy looking at our suggested combos below. You can buy them from a local yarn shop; see our list of local shops who are participating in this project! 

Your choice of yarn is just one of many things that will make YOUR shawl unique.  We love the color combos we've put together with Emma's Yarn, but we also know that every knitter has their own preferences. If you're choosing to go off the beaten path, good for you!  Here's what you need to think about as you're choosing your yarn.

The Florida Road Trip shawl is worked with four different colors of fingering weight yarn:

· Color A – Dark Solid or tonal

· Color B – Medium Solid or tonal

· Color C – Light Solid or tonal

· Color D – Contrast/Pop color or variegated/speckled

Total yardage will vary based on the design choices made at each leg and whether the short or long version is being made. The colors are used evenly throughout the shawl, so 325 yards per color should be ample.

This shawl is mostly worked in blocks of color with varying textures and lace patterns. It is important that Colors A, B, and C be solid or tonal yarns so that the designs come through. In some of the exclusive color combos above, a speckled or subtle variegated yarn is used for one of these colors (ex. Everglades), but this is the exception, not the rule. This project works great with gradient color schemes for colors A, B, and C (ex. Crystal Clear Waters). 

When it comes to choosing a yarn for color D, it's time to play. Look for a color that really pops against the other colors (ex. St. Augustine) or ties them all together (ex. Florida Sunset). Variegated or speckled options work great here, but it's best to choose options with short color changes. Long color changes may lead to color pooling that interferes with the design. A solid or tonal yarn is also an option for Color D. (ex. Wild Orchids)

We welcome Potomac Bead Company in Alexandria, MN as our official Bead Partner. Owners Deb Kerr and Kyle Anderson retired from teaching school in central Pennsylvania and moved to Minnesota where they opened their brick and mortar Potomac Bead Company store in 2015.

Potomac Beads in Minnesota is much more than a bead shop - they carry yarns, looms, wine making supplies... all sorts of DIY materials. Deb loves knitting with beads (she learned that from Cynthia!) and is happy to help you choose beads for your knitted project. 

If your Local Yarn Shop doesn't carry beads, Potomac Bead Company is a great option. They have put together a variety of bead suggestions for each of our official color combos from Emma's Yarn, and if you've chosen an alternate color combo, they are happy to help you find the perfect beads.

Beads are completely optional for this project, but we do love our bling, so there are bead options included in every leg of the pattern. We recommend size 5 or 6 beads. Quantities and colors are dependent on your design and yarn choices, but the specifications below can be used as a guideline.

For Start Your Engines and the first six legs, all the beads are worked with Yarn Color D regardless of design choices. You can use all the same color beads or mix it up. If mixing colors, you have the option to do a different color for each leg, or randomly mix all the colors in. You may want to match up your bead choices for Legs 1 & 4, 2 & 5, and 3 & 6. Be creative! That's half of the fun!

Start Your Engines: Yarn Color D– 60 beads

Legs 1-6: Yarn Color D– 34 beads per leg for a total of 204 

For legs 7 and 8, bead quantities will vary based on design choices:

Cynthia's Leg 7 – 110 beads in all

Yarn Color A – 76 beads

Yarn Color D – 34 beads

Valerie's Leg 7 – 78 beads in all

Yarn Color A – 16 beads

Yarn Color B – 14 beads

Yarn Color C – 14 beads

Yarn Color D – 34 beads

Cynthia's Leg 8 – 84 beads in all

Yarn Color A – 60 beads

Yarn Color D – 24 beads

Valerie's Leg 8 – 136 beads in all

Yarn Color A – 28 beads

Yarn Color C – 4 beads

Yarn Color D – 104 beads