Good morning! Today I wanted to talk to you about a few lasts and a few firsts. Let’s start with the lasts first, shall we?

Spin Together

This is the last week to choose and join a team for the first Spin Together. You can sign up for any team that still has spaces available on the website. Spin Together is a new spinning competition I started in conjunction with a small group of indie dyers. It’s free to sign up, and it’s going to be loads of fun. I was very excited to when Felicia Lo of Sweet Georgia Yarn talked about Spin Together and the crazy woman who started the thing in her Taking Back Friday video blog a couple weeks back.

The competition itself takes place beginning on October 6th and ending on October 12th.

My main goal in starting Spin Together was to share the joy of spinning, but we have had such generous sponsors that we also have some amazing prizes–everything from fiber in every imaginable form to spindles that look like works of art to blending boards, handmade project bags, and even an e-spinner donated by Heavenly Handspinning. Everyone is getting their fiber and wheels ready, and we’ve had lots of fun chatting on the Facebook group. I think we’re going to leave the Facebook group up even after the competition as a fun place for people to come talk about spinning and help each other out, so if you are interested in spinning yarn, you might consider joining the Facebook group even if competition isn’t your thing.

October Club

This is also the last week to sign up for my October yarn and art batt clubs. I’ll be using Renoir’s “Vase of Roses” as my inspiration. I love the variations in hue and look forward to playing with color as I create these. Here’s the painting:

 

Yarn Advent Calendar

If you live outside The United States, this is also the last week to order one of my Yarn Advent Calendars in time to begin opening your individually wrapped mini skeins on December 1st.

If you live inside The United States, you’ve still got a few weeks to order, but of course there’s no time like the present. Speaking of the present, these make wonderful presents. Yeah, I just did that.

If you got a chance to see last week’s newsletter, you already know that I interviewed Ambah O’Brien, which was especially exciting since her Adventurer Wrap pattern will be part of the Yarn Advent Calendar Kit. The colors will be a symmetrical gradient, meaning they’ll go from mostly white with speckles to more color to full color and back to mostly white with speckles again. I’m using colors that are easy to wear all year long–burgundy rose, several shades of blue, and several shades of purple. I can hardly wait to start dyeing these for you!

A Few New Colorways

Now onto the firsts. I’ve been focusing on replenishing the yarn in my shop after the wonderful trunk show at Tempe Yarn a couple weeks ago. It was really great to see a few of you in person there!

In addition to making more of my signature colorways, I have several new colorways I’m excited to show you.

First off there’s one that is perfect for fall. Imagine a crisp fall morning as you walk into your favorite coffee shop and order a pumpkin spice latte. You hear the espresso machine whir up and then watch as they add warm milk to the top. Then the barista sprinkles on just a bit of nutmeg and cinnamon. You take your warm “cup of autumn” to a comfy chair and relax with your latest project. That’s what this yarn feels like–warm and cozy and all-over autumn.

I had so much fun figuring out a new dye technique to make this happen. This is going to be a limited edition. I’ll keep making it through November, and then I may bring it back again next fall. Here’s Pumpkin Spice Latte on Sock Perfection:

…and here is Pumpkin Spice Latte on Squoosh DK:

I also took a little time to knit up a swatch of the Squoosh DK version today:

Now, it’s not quite fair to call this next colorway new because it’s one I’ve made in the past–several years ago in fact. However, I’ve re-created it to such an extent that it feels like a whole new colorway. This colorway, Kingfisher, was inspired by both the beautiful little bird and the poem by Hopkins entitled, “As Kingfishers Catch Fire.”

Here’s a photo of the bird that I obtained from Wikipedia:

Here’s the Kingfisher yarn I made on my Sock Perfection yarn base:

Here’s one more photo so you can see how the colors play together:

I’m not quite sure yet whether Kingfisher is going to become a regular colorway or not. On the one hand, it was a very time-consuming colorway to make. On the other hand, well, I love it, so we’ll see.

Contributions Needed for Show and Tell

A couple months ago, I did a Show and Tell feature, and I got a lot of positive feedback. I’d like to do it again. If you have a project you have made using Purple Lamb yarn or fiber that wasn’t already part of the last Show and Tell, please email it to me so I can include it in the next Show and Tell feature. I’d like to make that the focus of next Friday’s newsletter, so please send me a single fabulous photo of your finished item or work in progress by October 2nd. Be sure to include:

• Your first name
• The name of the Purple Lamb yarn or fiber you used in the project
• The yarn base if it was hand-dyed yarn
• The name of the pattern you used to make it if applicable

It’s completely fine if you used someone else’s yarn or fiber in there too so long as at least a portion of it is made using Purple Lamb goodies.

This is an opportunity for you to share something you enjoyed with others who would love it too. It’s also a great chance to see how different colorways work up in different patterns. I can’t wait to see what you send me!

That’s all for today. Have a beautiful fiber-filled autumn!