Good morning and happy Friday to you! Once again, I want to thank everyone who took part in the Mothers’ Day sale. It was a huge help to our family, and I hope you enjoy each and every skein, art batt, or silk hanky!
Today I get to share some beautiful projects that some of you kindly shared with me. Hopefully these projects will help to inspire your next project.
Let’s start with something new and different and really lovely. Amanda created the earrings and necklaces using my Mirkwood colorway. Aren’t these beautiful?
She has her own business selling custom jewelry on Facebook. Here’s the link to her Facebook page.
This next project is a WIP from Carla (not me–another Carla). She is crocheting a gorgeous lap blanket using Regal and Monet’s Cathedral. The pattern is the From Sea to Sea Blanket by Lilla Bjorn. I’m in awe!
The next project is a pair of fantastic socks knit by Dawn. She used the December club colorway to make them, which was based on Van der Goes’ painting, The Adoration of the Kings.
Several of you kindly shared photos of your Eight Days of Easter butterfly shawls, so I put them altogether. Don’t they look wonderful? I hope all of you who got the kit are enjoying wearing your shawls!
Next up is a project that Kim is working on using Little Black Dress and Murder Mystery. Isn’t it amazing? I’m so happy to have more crochet projects than usual this time around! The pattern is Starting with a Granny Square by Pat Foster.
Next up is LaDonna’s lovely Sophie scarf. She used Party Like It’s 2024 to make this very popular pattern by PetiteKnit.
Last but certainly not least are these wonderful socks that Magdala has made from the club colorways and a couple other colorways as well. Aren’t these amazing? The ones on the top left are incredible, aren’t they?
Sneak Peak of an Upcoming Pattern
You may recall a couple weeks ago when I shared Deborah Bowanko’s request for test knitters for her new shawl pattern that uses one full skein of a sock-weight assigned pooling colorway and two semi-solid minis. Well, I talked to her this week and it’s almost ready to publish. Here’s a sneak peak of Pools of Color by Deborah Bowanko:
I’ll make sure that there are plenty of colorway options available in time for her launch and KAL later this summer! Let me know if you prefer picking out your own colorway combos or if you would like me to make some sets.
June Club Colorway
As you know, I have been going in order by art period for the last many months, but as we approach the 20th century, there’s a lot of overlap going on between the different periods. I’ve been using this great website called Art in Context and the timeline they have to help. Right between Impressionism and Post-Impressionism is a period called Naturalism. It’s interesting because it was a very wide-spread phenomenon with artists in at least 3 continents who took part in the various schools of Naturalism. In fact, according to some, Impressionism is really a subset of Naturalism. The goal was to paint things as they really were instead of in an idealized version. The main focus is on landscapes, but there are also many portraits as well, often featuring the poor.
I chose an English artist named Marianne North who lived from 1830 to 1890. She was a solo world traveler at a time when few women were, and she painted what she saw, including plants no one had painted before her. Unlike most botanical artists, she used oil paints instead of watercolors, so her paintings are more vibrant. For the June club colorway, I chose a particularly vibrant painting of hers called Red Water Lilies of Southern India. Here it is:
I’m really looking forward to creating yarn and art batts inspired by this painting!
Fresh from the Dye Pots
This week, I dyed Dreams of the Sea. Here it is on Squiggle Sock:
I also dyed Eggplant. Here is Eggplant shown on Buttery Soft DK:
And yesterday I dyed Enchanted Forest as well on a variety of yarn bases. Here it is on Quick and Cozy Bulky:
I’ll be dyeing up Freedom Blue next.
A Personal Note
Things are starting to slow down a little bit here after a couple of really crazy months. We have had theatre performances, musical performances, and soccer games galore, but now most activities are winding down, and we just have a few more weeks to go for our homeschool year. Whew!
I’m looking forward to a little more time to knit, weave, and garden this summer. I hope you find all the time you can to enjoy the fiber arts! See you next week.