Good morning, my lovely fiber friend. This week has been a little different than usual for me. Other than creating this month’s club colorways, my focus has been on photography.

I have been rephotographing all my yarn using a different camera and a different backdrop. As we chat, I’ll show you a few of the new photos, focusing on spring colorways.

 

I have always admired photographers, but until this year, I had never even touched a DSLR camera. I have been using a good point-and-shoot camera for my product photos. Our family likes to call them PhD cameras for “push here, dummy.”

 

 

We already had a DSLR camera that I got for my husband for his real estate business a few years ago, but like I said I had never used it and was, frankly, afraid of it. Well, I decided that 2020 was the year to get over that fear and create better photos for Purple Lamb, so I’ve been studying photography for the last few months in anticipation of doing this. Of course, there’s a lifetime of learning to go, but it’s a start.

 

 

At the same time, I decided I wanted to switch out photo backgrounds. I had a few people point out that the lattice background I have been using for several years can be a bit distracting, but I didn’t want plain white either. After a whole lot of searching and experimentation, I chose a light gray large ceramic tile with marble-like veining. I think it lends the yarn a bit of a softer look and–more importantly–puts the focus on the yarn and not the background. I hope you agree!

 

 

The tricky part about trying to photograph so many skeins of yarn in such a short time is that the window I use for natural light only has the right kind of light for a few hours each day, so my days for the last week have revolved around getting everything set up in time for the beginning of the right light, photographing all the colorways in one of my yarn bases, and then cropping and uploading the photos to my shop.

 

 

I actually just finished uploading the last one this morning.

 

 

I still have yarn sets, art batts, and silk scarves to go, but all the individual yarn colorways have had their beauty shots.

 

 

Preorder on Starry Night

 

I had a lovely customer reach out this week. She was looking for a skein of Starry Night, but I had just sold the last one. I told her I would be happy to dye it up for her, and I thought I would go ahead and open up a brief pre-order for it in case anyone else would like a skein or two. I guess this is a chance to compare the photo backgrounds, right?

As I’ve mentioned before, Starry Night is a very complex colorway to dye (which only makes sense), so I only make it every few months. I am offering it on Sock Perfection, Sparkly Merino Sock (my personal favorite for Starry Night), Cashmere Sock, and Buttery Soft DK. I’ll leave the preorder open through the weekend and dye up your orders on Monday. Here’s the link to the preorder.

Here’s a photo of Jennifer Tipton’s Confetti Scarf knit up by Sue Booth of woolnlove using Starry Night. You can see Sue’s fabulous photos on Instagram with her wonderful husband modeling them.

Club Colorways

The March club colorways inspired by Marc Franz’s painting, “The Large Blue Horses,” are all dyed up and/or carded into art batts. The skeins of yarn are all hanging up to dry right now, and I smile every time I pass them because the colorway is so bright and cheerful–much brighter than most of my colorways. These should be a lot of fun to use.

Spring Shawls

I would love to do a newsletter on patterns for spring, but I need your help to do it. If you have a favorite knit or crochet pattern that would be perfect for spring, please email me the name of it. I’m especially thinking of shawls, but of course there are other options. Bonus points if you send a photo of one you have made, whether it’s made with Purple Lamb yarn or not. If you would prefer to share it in the Purple Lamb Facebook group, that’s fine too.

Eight Days of Easter Kits

As I have mentioned before, I’ll be dyeing up some lovely little kits that are perfect for Easter–whether it’s for you or for a yarn-loving friend. The kit includes eight 10 gram mini skeins dyed in lovely Easter pastels and packaged individually inside of Easter eggs and in an Easter basket.

The kit includes my Diamond Twist Cowl pattern and your choice of two yarn bases. Think of it as a mini version of an Advent yarn calendar for Easter. The last day to order an Eight Days of Easter Kit will be March 15th. Then I’ll start dyeing them up and get them to you in time for Easter.

Until next time, I wish you a beautiful spring filled with sunshine and the fiber arts.