Happy Friday to you! This week I have several fresh colorways to share with you, and I need your help choosing between two possible paintings to use as inspiration for the March club colorway. I also have a pattern by another designer to share with you.

March Club Colorway Choice

As you know, I have been making my way gradually through art history with the club colorways, choosing one painting each month from each art period or movement. This month we have reached the era of Realism which took place primarily in France between the 1840s and the 1880s. The thing that made this period different from what came before it was not only the realistic style of the artists but also their subject matter. They chose scenes from the lives of the working classes instead of focusing on the nobility as most artists had before this. The pioneer of the artistic period was Gustave Courbet who shocked the Académie on multiple occasions.

I actually found two paintings by Courbet that I wanted to choose as inspiration for my yarn and art batts this month, but I can only do one, so I thought I would let all of you decide. To vote, just email me with your choice, and I’ll keep track of the votes and let you know the results in next week’s newsletter. Here are the two options:

This first one is called The Sleeping Spinner, and I thought it was especially à propos:

The second one is called Young Woman Arranging Flowers. Here it is:

I love the subject matter of the first painting, but the second one is brighter and more spring-like and thus may actually make prettier yarn and art batts.

Which do you think I should make? I look forward to your answers. You can email me your vote even if you aren’t a current club member, but if you want to learn more about my monthly yarn and art batt clubs, you can find out more right here.

Fresh from the Dye Pot

I dyed up three colorways this week. The first is Lilac, which is one of my core semi-solid colorways. It looks great on its own, and it also goes beautifully with lots of variegated colorways. Here it is on Buttery Soft DK:

This next colorway is a new assigned pooling colorway. I took Crocuses in Snow–a speckled colorway I have dyed each spring for the last few springs–and I added a section of deep purple. I dyed it on Sock Perfection, Super Sport, and Squoosh DK. I actually took a skein of this to use as another sample for the design I’ve been working on. Here is Crocuses in Snow on Super Sport:

Last but not least, I dyed up lots more of the new colorway I showed you last week–Northern Lights. I dyed it on six different yarn bases. Here is Northern Lights on Stained Glass Sock:

I also knit a two-sided hat using Squoosh DK with Northern Lights on one side and Phantom of the Opera on the other. Here is the whole hat:

…and here is a closeup of the Northern Lights side:

A New Earwarmer Pattern

I wanted to share a new pattern with you by a designer and lovely customer, Carol Wells. It’s a cable earwarmer with several different cable options. She said it’s great for those who are new to cables. It’s called the Ansgar Cabled Earwarmers, and you can find her pattern on Ravelry right here. She used Sage on Buttery Soft DK for the earwarmers. Here’s a photo of all three options included with Carol’s pattern:

This and That

Our little grandson continues to thrive. I’m back home, but they should be coming up to visit soon so everyone else in the family can meet little Eddie. Our six-year-old especially tells us that he can’t wait to meet his nephew.

I want to thank everyone who bought an Eight Days of Easter kit. They are all sold out, and I am going to start putting the kits together shortly. I also want to thank everyone who tested my assigned pooling pattern. I’m still finishing up the last details and should have the pattern ready in another week or two.

Have a beautiful weekend!