Good morning! Last weekend, I was one of the vendors at the Arizona Fiber Arts Retreat in Prescott with one of my sons. He was a huge help, and it was a delight to visit with everyone. It was very well organized and very pleasant, and it looked like everyone was having a great time. If you live in the area, please consider going to it next year.

One-Year Anniversary and February Club Colorway

This February marks the one-year anniversary of my yarn and art batt clubs. Each month, I create a new colorway inspired by a famous painting. To celebrate the anniversary club colorway, I chose a painting that is very special to me. When I first started my business selling handspun yarn back in 2011, the name of my shop was Monet’s Garden Art Yarns. I eventually changed the name to Purple Lamb because the original name was such a mouthful, but the original name was inspired by the very painting I’ll be using as my inspiration for February’s club colorways. It’s by Monet, and it’s know as “The Artist’s Garden at Giverny.” This was his own garden at the house where he lived with his family for 43 years. Monet painted it in 1900, and it’s at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

If I had to choose just one artist to enjoy for the rest of the my life, Monet would be the one, and this painting would certainly be near the top of the list.

I can hardly wait to start dyeing these! If you would like to join my yarn and/or art batt clubs in time for this colorway, the deadline is February 1st, and you can find all five different clubs here.

Made-to-Order Art Batts

After much thought, I’ve decided to change my art batts to made to order. This way I will be able to offer you a much broader range of colorways than I am able to keep in stock at a given time. If you are a spinner or felter, come take a look and see if there are some art batts you would enjoy. Here’s Highland Heather, one of my all-time favorites:

Eight Days of Easter Kits

Last year, I came up with the idea for Eight Days of Easter kits. They were very popular and lots of fun, so I decided to bring them back this year. I am using different yarn bases this time around, but otherwise they are largely the same as last year.

These make delightful gifts as well. I have them available as a pre-order now on your choice of two different sock-weight yarn bases. The colors are soft pastels that are perfect for Easter, and the kit includes my own Diamond Twist Cowl pattern. Each 10 gram mini skein will come inside an Easter egg, and all eight Easter eggs will come inside a reusable Easter basket.

Here’s what the cowl looks like:

I will have these available in my shop until I have sold as many as I can make or until the middle of March, whichever comes first. I’ll be mailing them out near the beginning of April so you’ll receive them in time for Easter, which is on April 12th this year.

Until next week, happy fiber artistry!