Happy Friday! I hope you are staying well and enduring okay.

 

Uneven Twins

Yesterday was the birthday of Shakespeare as well as our “uneven twins.” Two of our children were born on the same day five years apart. At the time, I kept hoping and praying that our baby girl would be born on any other day than our son’s birthday, but she had other plans. When he awoke and got to meet his baby sister, the first words out of his mouth were these: “She’s my birthday present.” Even now so many years later, those words warm my heart.

It was always fun to celebrate their birthdays together while they were growing up, but this was the first time in quite a few years that they have both been home because of college. We celebrated with a rather quiet birthday at home with Chinese takeout and a cake for each of them. One was a lemon cake, and the other was a death by chocolate cheesecake that definitely lived up to its name. Fortunately, we were able to get flour and everything else needed to make the cakes. Most things are starting to return to something akin to normal in the grocery stores here, but flour and bread and of course toilet paper are still a little iffy. Ah, the stories we will all have to tell our grandchildren about so much more than what is and isn’t in the grocery stores right now!

 

Club Colorway Painting

I also wanted to announce the club colorway for May. There was this one painting I seriously considered last month, but I hesitated to use it because it is rather brutal in a way, and for a long time I couldn’t look at it without tears.

Nonetheless, it is imminently suitable for these difficult times, and the painting kept “calling to me,” so I’m going to use it as the inspiration for the May club colorway. It’s George Frederic Watts’ painting entitled, “Hope.”

He actually made four different versions of it. He sold the first one, and then he made a second one that he gave to nation of England. He later made a couple different versions, but the second one continues to be the best known. In spite of that fact, I decided to go with the first one that he painted in 1885 because I think the slightly brighter colors are actually rather more hopeful and will look better as yarn and art batts too.

Here it is:

At first glance, the painting does not appear to depict hope at all, does it? Yet Hope–blindfolded and tattered–continues to pluck at her lyre though it has only one remaining string. She doesn’t give up. I think that is the important thing.

 

It’s Complicated

I have another new colorway for you this week. It’s called It’s Complicated. Here it is:

I dyed half of the yarn a dark gray with black streaks and left the other half white and added copious multi-colored speckles. It was inspired by the idea that few things are as simple as they seem at first glance.

The photo shows it on Sock Perfection, but I have now dyed it on Sparkly Merino Sock too. I should have that photographed and listed by the time you get this.

 

Field of Lavender

I also re-created a very old and beloved art batt colorway that I had sort of lost track of. It’s called Field of Lavender, and it was inspired by a beautiful photograph of a French field filled with lavender with poppies off in the distance as well.

 

 

It’s bright and cheerful and perfect for spring.

 

Summer Colorways

I am getting ready to transition from my current spring colorways into summer colorways. I will be keeping some of the same colorways in the shop but switching out some of the soft pastels of spring for more of the jewel tones of summer. If you have any particular colors or colorways you would like to see, please do let me know. I’m always open to your ideas.

In the meantime, I made a collection of all the lovely spring colorways so you can see them all in one place. Some are part of my regular rotation all year long like Lilac, A Little Princess, and Burgundy Rose. Others will only be available by special order once the current stock is gone. Those include Paris, Spring Wedding, Bouquet, Arizona Sunset, Marianne, Rivendell, and a few others. Here’s the Spring Collection.

Here’s one of my favorite spring colorways–Paris on Sparkly Merino Sock:

 

Virtu-Wool Fiber Festival

On a different topic, I am delighted to tell you about a virtual fiber festival that some of my wonderful fellow fiber artists and indie dyers put together to partially make up for all the physical fiber festivals that have been cancelled. It’s called Virtu-Wool, and it’s going to take place on Facebook Live on May 2nd and 3rd. I feel so honored to be a part of it!

Each fiber artist has 45 minutes, and I’m going to be showing some of my yarn colorways and bases and talking about how you can expect different types of colorways to work up. I will also be talking about different ways to take apart and spin up art batts, and if there is time we’ll also talk about some great ways to use handspun yarn as well. There’s also going to be a prize drawing.

Here’s the schedule:

I’m actually really glad to be near the beginning. That way after I’m done I’ll be able to grab a cup of coffee and my knitting needles and relax and enjoy everyone else’s presentations. There are several other indie dyers and fiber artists on this list whom I really admire, and I am looking forward to their presentations.

I hope you can join us! Here’s the link to the event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/514568869432023/

Please note that the times listed are in Eastern Daylight Savings Time, so be sure to adjust for your own time zone. I’ll be starting at 8 a.m. Arizona time, which is the same as Pacific Daylight Savings Time right now since we don’t have Daylight Savings Time.

 

Thank You!

I just want to take a moment to express my gratitude. You are all the kindest, most amazing group of people, and I want to thank you for keeping this very small business of mine in business during this time. I hope you enjoy each and every yarn and fiber colorway you get from me and that it truly is a source of great stress-relief and enjoyment for you.

We’ll get through this together, and maybe we will even be stronger for it–stronger in hope, stronger in compassion, stronger in kindness to one another.

Stay well!