Good morning, and happy Friday to you. This week I am so excited to show you two new colorways I have created. I also want to tell you about the August club colorway and a new yarn base and let you know what to expect with the upcoming Advent calendars.

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Peacock Feathers

Let’s start with the two new colorways. The first was inspired by peacocks. In particular, it was inspired by a trip to a small zoo years ago with the family where the peacocks got to wander all around the zoo showing off their beautiful plumage for all of us to admire.

I studied the feathers quite closely and was actually a little surprised to see that the background color of is a deep lichen green with hints of gold and brown, so that’s what I started with. For the “eyes,” I used darkest blue, sapphire blue, chocolate brown, and sea-foam green. Here is Peacock Feathers on all four yarn bases:

I dyed Peacock Feathers as an assigned pooling colorway. I also made a couple samples using Squoosh DK so you can see how it works up using both “normal” knitting and assigning pooling techniques.

I knit the hat on the left using plain old stockinette, and the brim is Freedom Blue. For the square sample on the right, I used two different assigned pooling methods. I knit the bottom two thirds using double-elongated stitches whenever I got to the peacock “eyes.” For the top one third, I used the floret stitch from Dawn Barker’s float shawl. Which one is your favorite?

Here is a closeup of Peacock Feathers on Sock Perfection:

It looks wonderful with Enchanted Forest. Here they are together on Stained Glass Sock:

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Visit to Lyme

The second new colorway was inspired by Jane Austen’s novel, Persuasion. In the novel, the main characters travel to the seaside at Lyme, which marks a turning point in the novel. This colorway was inspired by that visit. I can never decide whether Persuasion or Pride and Prejudice is my favorite Jane Austen novel, but I think I can say with certainty that the BBC adaptation of Persuasion with Amanda Root from 1995 is my favorite Jane Austen film. The character development of Anne is brilliant, and the scenes that take place in Lyme are so well done.

Visit to Lyme is a splashed and speckled colorway, meaning each skein has the same colors, but the placement is unique for every skein. That makes it unlikely to pool and easy to blend. It has multiple shades of blue and green. Here is Visit to Lyme on Sparkly Merino Sock:

…and here it is on all the different yarn bases:

From left to right the yarn bases are Suri Silk Cloud, Sock Perfection, Sparkly Merino Sock, Stained Glass Sock, Buttery Soft DK, and Squoosh Worsted.

This colorway would look so fantastic with Lena Matthisson’s mermaid shawl patterns!

As I was photographing this morning, I noticed how beautifully Visit to Lyme goes with Galadriel’s Gift and Dreams of the Sea. Wouldn’t these make a gorgeous fade shawl together?

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A New Worsted-Weight Yarn Base

I mentioned previously that I was planning on switching from Wonderful Worsted to an even more wonderful worsted-weight yarn base in the fall. Try saying that three times fast! Well, I decided to add the new worsted-weight yarn base a little sooner than expected.

It’s called Squoosh Worsted, and it is the same preparation as Squoosh DK. It’s made of 100% extra-soft superwash merino, and you really can tell the difference in softness. Squoosh Worsted comes in big 4-ounce skeins with 213 yards per skein. This is the perfect yarn base for blankets and cozy-winter sweaters.

I still have a few colorways available in Wonderful Worsted, but as I make more yarn I am transitioning from Wonderful Worsted to Squoosh Worsted. You can find them both right here. I just have four lovely colorways of Squoosh Worsted so far, but as we draw closer to fall and winter, I’ll be dyeing up lots more.

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August Club Colorway

As we continue our journey through art history, we have now reached the early 20th century style known as symbolism. As the name indicates, this art period is far more about meaning than it is about beauty, but I managed to find one that has both. It’s called Lady with a Fan by Gustav Klimt, an Austrian painter whose style changed significantly over his lifetime.

Klimt was considered to be a member of both the symbolist movement and art nouveau, which is sort of subset of symbolism. He painted Lady with a Fan in 1917. It was still on his easel when he passed away the following year. While researching the artist and painting, I learned that this painting sold at Sotheby’s this year for $108 million, making it the highest amount paid for a painting at an auction ever.

I’m looking forward to creating the yarn and art batts inspired by this painting for the August clubs.

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Advent Calendars Coming Soon

I wanted to give you a little heads up about this year’s Advent calendars. I’ll be listing them as preorders beginning in early August. I’m aiming for August 4th. This is the second year of The Lord of the Rings theme, but the pattern will be different. Last year, we followed Frodo’s journey through the books, and this year we will be following Aragorn’s journey. Where their journeys coincide, I may use a few of the same colorways, but most will be different. In case you’re wondering, I’m using the Tolkien’s majestic and wonderful books and nothing else. I’ll tell you more in August.

Have a wonderful week. With the summer heat, it’s a good time of year to stay inside and knit, crochet, spin, weave, felt….

See you next week!