Good afternoon and happy weekend to you!

Today I wanted to announce the painting that will inspire my August club colorway, and I also wanted to tell you about a new yarn base I have started carrying and show you a few new colorways too.

 

A New Worsted-Weight Yarn Base

Let’s start with the new yarn base. I have finally added a worsted-weight yarn base to my shop. It has 218 yards per 100 gram skein, and it’s made of 100% superwash merino. It’s a 4-ply yarn that’s wonderfully squishy, so I have named the yarn base Wonderful Worsted. I dyed up Monet’s Cathedral on it a few days ago, and I’m quite pleased. I’ll be dyeing up a couple more colorways as soon as I finish writing, and I have more on order as well.

Here is Monet’s Cathedral on Wonderful Worsted:

 

I never decide for sure whether to add a new base to my line until I have dyed something on it because there is a difference between how it feels and looks before and after dyeing. That means I have a large number of samples I have dyed from different yarn bases I was considering, and the majority I never add. This one, however, got my personal stamp of approval right away. I hope it gets yours as well!

I added Wonderful Worsted and also started dyeing up some Quick and Cozy Bulky. Normally I would wait for fall to add the heavier yarn weights to my shop, but there is nothing normal about 2020! Since so many of us are at home with a little more time than usual, I wanted to get these into the shop for those of you who are super organized and already making presents for the holidays. Also, having a project that goes quickly is just really nice sometimes.

New in the Shop

Speaking of the holidays, I went ahead and dyed up my favorite Christmas colorway on Sock Perfection. It’s called The Holly and the Ivy, and you can see it here:

If you would like some of this colorway on a different yarn base, just email me. I would be happy to make it for you.

The red of The Holly and the Ivy turns into a very soft pink at the edges, which means it would go beautifully with Rosy-Fingered Dawn. I dyed up more of that on several bases this week too. Here they are:

I am always happy for opportunities to show how differently one colorway can look on different yarn bases. Sock Perfection is just a little bit darker than So Silky Sock because the silk dyes up more softly. Sparkly Merino Sock is considerably darker than either of the others. It always is a little more intense.

That’s true for this next colorway as well. Yesterday, I dyed Aubergine on Sparkly Merino Sock on a whim. Until now, I have only offered Aubergine on So Silky Sock, but oh my goodness! Here it is:

It is a dark, dark eggplant with some brown undertones. I think it would be amazing with Enchanted Forest here:

 

The last new colorway I want to show you this week is Unicorn. Unicorn is a soft lilac with splashes of Burgundy Rose, Contentment, and a soft greenish brown as well as purple speckles. I sort of fell in love after I dyed it on Sparkly Merino Sock and dyed it on Sock Perfection and Quick and Cozy Bulky too. Here is Unicorn on all three:

 

August Club Colorway

This month I chose a painting by Lois Mailou Jones. This amazing artist painted from the time she was a child until she was in her 90s, and her work is incredibly varied. Her paintings include landscapes, still lifes, portraits, African masks, and (my favorite) men and women working in all different scenes. I had a great deal of difficulty choosing one painting from her diverse opus.

Because she was African American and female, she had trouble getting her work to be taken seriously in America in the 1930s, so like so many artists and musicians, she moved to Paris. Later she married a Haitian artist and spent many years living in Haiti and painting scenes of everyday life there. It is from this era that I chose the painting to use as inspiration for my club colorway. It’s called “Fishermen at Port-Au-Prince.”

Not only did she paint and travel all over the world, Professor Jones taught at Howard University for 47 years! If you would like to learn more about this amazing woman, here’s a great article about her. Here’s a great quote from the article:

Jones felt that her greatest contribution in the art world was ‘proof of the talent of black artists.’ However, her fondest wish was to be known as an ‘artist’ without labels like black artist or woman artist.

Better still, here is an interview she did on Good Morning, America at the age of 90. I will leave you with the incredibly inspiring story of Professor Jones in her own words:

 

I wish you the joy of creating. Stay well!