25 Jul Lazy Days of Summer (Not)
Summer has fully arrived here at The Tinsmith’s Wife, and there are so many perfect excuses to stay cool and relaxed with a needlework project in your hands either by the pool, in a shady spot in your garden, or at your dining room table. Lazy Days of Summer are anything but lazy – and can be so fun!
Hang on – I haven’t written a newsletter in a while and I have a lot of pent up excitement to share! Hopefully in this ‘thorough’ newsletter some happy summer possibilities will come through to inspire your next project…
We have just been having a blast with Terri at the shop to help with canvas embellishment and pulling a variety of fibers to make canvases pop! Recently Terri pulled fibers and wrote a stitch guide for Sweet Liberty – and boy, this canvas is going to sing… Know that she is available for consultations and to help you get going on your next project – or rediscover an old one.
Terri has also gotten rave reviews as a teacher as well. She is patient, kind and really knows how to stitch!
On July 19 and 20 (Thursday and Friday) – we are celebrating Christmas in July with a needlepoint class for Santa Baby by Raymond Crawford. Terri has created a stitch guide and is going to get us comfortable attaching gems to our needlepoint to give it a bit more bling! There is only one spot left for this class; this is a good intrepid beginner class!
We are shifiting to Fall decorating on August 17 and 18th (Friday and Saturday) with our Needlepoint Pumpkin class with Terri. We are taking Melissa Shirley’s fun Fall Pumpkins and taking them up a notch with fibers and sparkle. Planning to have these finished as “stand up” pumpkins with real pumpkin stems, ribbons, etc. There are six different pumpkins – and Terri has written stitch guides for each of them – and honestly still not sure which is my favorite! More details to be posted on our website’s calendar.
Looking ahead – mark your calendars for Thursday, September 20th. We are going to be celebrating Local Needlework Shop Day – and of course, we will make it a party. It will also be great timing as Mom and I will have just returned from the needlepoint market in Dallas. Muahahaha!
As of late – I have been in a crochet state of mind. It is restful – and the patterns have just gotten better and better. The last bit that tipped me over was the arrival in our shop of a line of yarn – Scheepjes. Great colors, price, and stupendous pattern support.
One of the yarn bases from Scheepjes is Whirl – a gradiant, fingering-weight, cotton/acrylic yarn that is just so soft and has an amazing drape. Enough positives? And it is 1000 meters! Plus we have Whirlette in coordinating colors – and this is just a solid in 455 meter balls.
As we have some Whirl in stock and more on it’s way – we have to participate in the Grinda Make-a-long (MAL)! The crocheted shawl is just lovely – inspired on a trip to the Stockholm archipelago and celebrates the love for the sea and wild nature of a small Grinda island.
The MAL consists of 5 parts – with the first part released on July 11th and subsequent releases each week with the last on August 8th. LilliaBjorn is an amazing designer and is offering this pattern for free – just visit her site for more information.
We also have Stone Washed – and boy, it is sure great to crochet with too! The Forest Valley Shawl would be a perfect project to test it out with – and the colors are so brilliant. Looking ahead – this is one of the yarn bases that is used in the Sophie’s Universe – a shop crochet-a-long this Fall….
And once you pick your project – we also have a great selection of Furlscrochet hooks too! These beautiful ergonomic hooks come in a three different woods – Camwood, Rosewood, and Ebony….
This is definitely the Summer of knitalogs – either mystery or knowing what you are knitting!
One of the first that we are excited about is Casapinka’s The Crown Wools Mystery Knitalong that begins on July 19th, and you can be sure that Mom will have our needles ready for this one. The project will be a shawl about 80″ x 17″ and comprised of 12 colors of fingering weight yarn (about 1595 yards).
As you can imagine several dyers have put their creativity forward and created beautiful colorpacks for this knitalong. We have ordered from two of our favorites dyers Dream in Color and Frabjous Fibers. Here are a few pics of the two from Dream in Color that arrived today…. They have two color packs – and both are equally beautiful! (Cost is $140)
The next fun knitalong is Ewe Ewe Yarns Double Your Fun Summer Knitalong! Which one do you pick?! There will be a lot of support online via Heather from Ewe Ewe on Facebook, Ravelry, Instagram – and you can share electronically if you wish via nifty hashtags #DoubleTheFunKAL and #EweEweKAL
And of course – we will have regular sessions here at the shop to encourage and help over any bumps you may find on this summer journey!
The Shift (pictured above on the left) is an asymmetrical triangle edge cowl that is a great project for knitters of all skill levels. The project is a bit smaller and lighter – and would be great to have ready for this Fall… The knitalong begins on July 17th.
Heather has also done a great job putting together great color combinations of her sport-weight yarn that is a joy to knit with – and on a US4 or US5 will be comfortable knitting.
The second project is an adorable sweater – Guildenstern – with an ombre color effect and split hem. The knitalong will give instruction on how to knit this in the round – as the original pattern called for it to be knitted flat. The kickoff for this one is on July 19th. YEAH! The colors for this cutie are equally full of summer fun.
If you had a chance to read the crochet section, you will have seen that we now have Scheepjes in the shop. Mom has been having a blast knitting with Secret Garden. She has created two lovely shawls so far – and still has a queue of great ideas!
The first is the Fuss Free Festival Shawl – and it takes 5 skeins of Secret Garden. She used the colorway Fallen Blossom, and it is just so rich. Wish you could feel the squashy-ness! The tassels I made also are pretty nifty…
The Shawl of Secrets is also another amazing on to knit – and the color combinations are endless! Just need six colors (7 total balls)…
What could be cooler than a beautiful piece of hand-dyed linen, your needle and a few gorgeous fibers?! Your right, not much! We have gotten in so many great new patterns and linens – I am sincerely not sure where to start. Today – I will stay with the whisical!
Plum Street Samplers is one of my favorite designers – and she has several new designs that just make me smile and want to find a quiet bit of time to stitch. The Cow Pile is one of a series of great animal stacking pieces that carry great names! Snort Stack with piggies, Goat Load with goals, etc., etc. Blueskin is a lovely patriotic piece – and is named after George Washington’s horse, Blueskin.
Also recently arrived are the new editions from The Primitive Hare – straight from Italy! These are just fun and stunning pieces.
Hands On Design also has a beautiful series of Christmas ornaments in a cool green palette.
As well as the newest Where Liberty Dwells that will make a great pin cushion – and yes, we have all the pieces needed for this one to include the pins and the chenille edging!
And punch needle continues to be buzzing with great new honey bee patterns….
In closing, you can see why my summer will not be so lazy. This is only a smattering of the wonders out there to create and make that we have come across… Please know we do have regular support groups for those who have too many projects and not nearly enough time! Ha, ha!
Thank you for reading to the end. Hoping that you will celebrate the wonders of summer – and perhaps a cool peach fridge pie – and a cat on your lap (or one playing with his new toy) until we next connect!
