December 2025- Wool & Pine
December’s Beanie Brigade has arrived, and we’re diving in with Bear Paw DK (60% Superwash Merino Wool; 20% Silk; 20% Yak, 231 yds / 100g) a luxe, plush yarn that brings out every bit of texture in a good winter hat. It’s soft, warm, and one of our absolute favorites for projects you’ll reach for all season long.
This month’s color, Wolfberry, is a gorgeous deep orange. It feels both vibrant and earthy, and its depth pairs beautifully with the sculpted stitches of the Deep Winter Hat by Wool & Pine. The combination is cozy, striking, and a perfect knit for the heart of winter.
We are excited to share with you a discussion with the gals of Wool & Pine about their inspiration for the Deep Winter Hat and the wider story behind their designs and creative process.
December Designer: Abbye and Selena
of Wool & Pine
Q: While we here at FDF have knit plenty of your patterns, please take a moment to introduce yourselves for our Beanie Brigaders!
A: We’re Abbye Meiklejohn and Selena Shepard, the duo behind Wool & Pine. We both live in the Pacific Northwest, where the rain gives you plenty of time to knit and dream up new projects. Between us we’ve been knitting for over thirty years, and we met through our shared love of color, texture, and sweaters that feel joyful to wear.
Our first design together was Sorrel back in 2019, and once we realized how naturally we worked side-by-side, we never looked back. We like designs that feel fun and inviting to make, with clear instruction and a little room to play... and we really love using up every last yard of yarn in the stash.
Most days you’ll find us in jeans, a hand knit sweater, a beanie, and probably casting on something new.
Q: It was such a joy getting to knit your Deep Winter Hat with this month’s Beanie Brigade yarn. This hat was inspired by the cables in your Deep Winter Coat pattern – while you often revisit motifs from your garments in accessories, what about this specific motif brought you back? What inspired the Deep Winter Coat in the first place?
A: Deep Winter Coat came from that classic PNW feeling of wanting to be warm, cozy, and tucked away somewhere beautiful with knitting in hand. Think lodge atmosphere, but also... the kind of knit you can throw on for a rainy walk and feel wrapped up in. We wanted depth and warmth in the fabric, something you could really sink into, and the cables reminded us of tree branches and winter trails.
After finishing the coat, we weren’t quite done living in that stitch pattern. Some motifs have a way of pulling you back in, and these cables felt like that. Translating them into a hat just made sense. It’s like the coat’s little one-skein winter companion or maybe the reward for getting through all those rows of lovely cables.
Q: We love recommending your patterns as they always include easy-to-follow instructions and helpful tutorial videos while exposing us to new stitches we’ve never tried before. Why are video tutorials such a big part of your brand? How have you learned to balance interesting and at times advanced techniques with your patterns being accessible?
A: Selena used to teach knitting and would demo techniques live, so bringing that experience into our patterns happened naturally. Some stitches make perfect sense once you see them in motion, and we wanted knitters to have that same “lightbulb moment” at home.
We film from a clear hands-only perspective, keep everything ad-free and captioned on Vimeo, and try to show techniques in both English and Continental styles because we knit differently from each other. It’s really about giving knitters confidence and letting them try something new without feeling lost.
We love interesting stitches, but not gatekeeping-energy. If a design looks intricate, we want you to discover it’s actually very doable and fun.
Q: What advice would you give to knitters who are interested in expanding their skill level with new-to-them stitches but are intimidated by more advanced techniques or intricate stitches?
A: Start with curiosity, not pressure. Pick a project that excites you and try one new thing at a time. You don’t have to go straight from garter stitch to a steeked colorwork cardigan. Let yourself explore at your own pace.
And hit pause as much as you need. There is no rush. If you ever feel stuck, reach out to the community. Knitters love to help each other. Also: lifelines are your friend. We use them, too.
Q: Unlike most designers, Wool & Pine is actually a duo collaboration between the two of you! Can you tell us more about what sparked this partnership and how it works?
A: We bonded over color right away. That was the spark. We started sending each other swatches, accidentally designing together, and very quickly realized we shared the same vision for playful, textured, comfortable knitwear.
We also balance each other in a way that makes designing together feel very organic. Selena is all about words, storytelling, and teaching. Abbye shines in photography, shaping, and numbers. We knit differently (English vs Continental), wear different sizes, and bring different strengths to every pattern, but our taste and inspiration always meet in the same place.
We joke that we’re the best kind of opposites and the best kind of twins. Collaborating has made our designs stronger, more joyful, and way more fun than working alone ever could.
Q: Maybe it’s just the proximity of Montana to Washington, but it seems like some of our all-time favorite designers, yarn companies, and fiber festivals hail from the Pacific Northwest – yourselves included. What about the PNW inspired you and others to pick up the needles? How has this inspiration been incorporated into your designs?
A: The PNW has this way of making sweaters feel like a lifestyle, not an accessory. Cozy layers, bright knits in gray weather, trail walks in drizzle... it gets into your creative psyche. The trees, the moss, the wildflowers, the coastline, the seasons shifting; you can see all of it in our textures and colors.
We love crisp cables that feel like forest branches, and color bursts that
remind us spring will show up eventually (she always does). Even our
scrappy projects feel like nature sometimes, that organic, surprising beauty you find outside.
Q: While the Deep Winter Hat definitely shines best using a solid or tonal color, many of your patterns encourage marling and mixing, and most importantly, stashbusting. What are your biggest tips or recommendations for stashbusting?
A: Stashbusting is one of our core joys. We both have bins full of half skeins and leftover balls that are too special to ignore, so our patterns lean into mixing, marling, and making each project look like a wearable scrapbook of your knitting history.
Our best advice: don’t overthink it. Group your yarn into warm and cool tones, then break those into light and dark piles. Pull a few from each stack. Mix high contrast and low contrast. Let weird combinations stay weird. Often those become the most magical sections. And if a color feels like it’s being too extra, let it, you’d be surprised by how one steady “throughline” shade can calm the whole mix down.
Stash yarn is personal. Scraps tell stories. Some of our favorite knits are made from yarn left over from our kids’ sweaters or past designs. Give your leftovers a chance to shine and let the color combos surprise you.
Q: As the final Beanie Brigade of 2025, December has us reflecting on our past year and looking forward to the next. In 2025, in what ways have you or your brand grown and(/or) what are you most proud of? What are you most excited about for 2026?
A: This year we leaned deeper into textures and construction, and also into helping knitters feel supported and confident as they try new techniques. Watching our “Wool & Pine Cottage” community on discord grow, seeing finished knits around the world, and hearing people say “I didn’t think I could knit this, and then I did”; that’s the part we’re most proud of.
For 2026, we’re excited to keep exploring stitch patterns, color, and shape... and of course, to continue our love affair with leftovers. There’s always another idea brewing, another swatch on the needles, and another colorful knit waiting to be shared.
December Beanie Brigade Pre-Order
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