Good morning, and happy New Year! I’m hoping 2022 beats the heck out of 2021 and 2020, aren’t you?

This week I get to do Show and Tell, and as I have said before, there’s nothing I love more than sharing the beautiful things you all have made. I feel like my yarn and fiber are the children, and your projects are what they look like all grown up!

I also have some new colorways to show you, but let’s start with Show and Tell!

Show and Tell

This week I have some really beautiful projects to show you.

First of all, I want to show you this delightful sock made by Amy. The pattern is the My Scrappy Socks by Twin Stitches Design, and Amy said that she used the leftover bits from her Eights Days of Easter kit as well as a bit of Carnevale, Annunciation Blue, and Monet’s Water Lilies.

The next project I have to show you is this beautiful shawl created by Emily. She used School of Athens from the club as well as Sunset Orange. The pattern is by Isabel Kramer.

Speaking of School of Athens, that is one of the new colorways I have added to my shop this week, so I’ll tell you more about it below.

Next up is some handspun yarn that Kayla made as part of the Selfish Make-Along at Spin Together. She used my Au Naturel art batts to spin the yarn, and she is planning to crochet her first sweater using the yarn. Isn’t that exciting?

The next project I have to show you is by GeorgeAnne. She made this beautiful top using Beautiful Universe. Doesn’t she look radiant wearing it?

This month I have a project of my own to share with you too. I knit this shawl using Burgundy Rose and my May 2021 club colorway, entitled “London Houses of Parliament (The Sun Shining Through the Fog)” by Monet. There’s a mouthful for you!

I used Casapinka’s pattern, Albuquerque Sunset for the shawl.

The next project is by Amy. She created this fun hat using Carnevale and Annunciation Blue. The pattern is Marled Family Hat by Twin Stitches Design.

The next project is a WIP by LaDonna. She was using the moss stitch on Paris. Here it is:

I love that colorway so much!

The next project is by Paige. She used my Purple Iris art batts to create this beauty:

Paige is a felt artist whose studio is at Trackside Studios 375 in Asheville, North Carolina, so if you are ever out that way, be sure to stop by! You can see more of her work online at www.2ndpaigestudio.com. Every time she shows me something she has made, I am just stunned by the beauty of her art!

I’m going to wait to show you the final project until the end of this newsletter because it shows the 2021 Advent Calendar. If you are still working on yours and don’t want to see a completed one yet, stop at “Spoiler Alert.” I’m also going to be showing you a video that I made back in October about the Advent Calendar.

In the meantime, let me show you a few new colorways I have in the shop this week.

New Colorways

So far this new year, I have dyed up several old favorites. I have also added two colorways from my clubs in 2019 and 2020 to the shop. Each year, I choose a couple of club colorways to add.

Here are the colorways dyed afresh for the new year:

I have dyed each one on a number of different yarn bases ranging from sock weight to worsted weight. You can see them all here.

The first of the two new colorways I have added is School of Athens by Raphael. Here that is on three different yarn bases:

As you can see, I have also been experimenting with some new photography setups. I FINALLY got some proper lighting for my photos, and my only regret is that I waited so long to do it!

The last new colorway I want to show you was inspired by George Watts’ painting, “Hope.” He made several of these, but I chose the first one that he painted in 1885. It’s a heart-rending representation of that great virtue that seemed fitting back in March of 2020 and seems fitting once again. I have generally tried to avoid talking much about COVID in my newsletter and in my shop just because it is so ever-present in our lives, and I figure you don’t need yet another place to hear about it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t on my mind of course.

With that in mind, here is Hope:

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SPOILER ALERT! 2021 Yarn Advent Calendar Reveal

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The final project I wanted to show you is the 2021 Yarn Advent calendar. Amy kindly sent me a photo of her Advent calendar project. As you will recall, I made a Jane Austen themed calendar this year. I created colorways for all the heroes and heroines (and also some not-so-heroic characters). The men and their ladies are next to each other in the calendar. I created layered colorways for all of the women and speckled colorways for all of the men using my own symbol set based on their characters if that makes sense.

As part of the kit, I included the Candy Cane Lane Advent Shawl knitting pattern by Tara of Crystal Tea Knit Designs.

But first, I promised to share a video with you of the making of the Advent calendar yarn. I made it back in the fall when I had just finished dyeing up all the colorways. Here that is. You may have to click on it to bring up the video.

Now for the big reveal. Here is Amy’s finished Yarn Advent Calendar:

Isn’t that lovely and fun? I hope Amy and everyone else who chose to buy one of my Advent calendars has had so much fun creating them and will enjoy wearing them just as much!

I think that’s everything for this week. I hope you found some time for the fiber arts during the holiday season and that you have some enjoyable plans for 2022.

Stay well!