Greydient Series Pre-Order & More News

Hello friends!

It is cooling off here in far northern NY (and I am not sad about it!). Autumn is on the way and we are ready to kick into high gear. We have been working on so many things for the past 3 months, and I’m happy to bring some progress news about a bunch of them today.

1. The website got a bit of a refresh: it’s easier to read, more organized, offers more guidance on the ordering process and there is now a separate pre-order tab in the shop. If you are brand new to Vivid Fiber Arts and would like a quick orientation, this post will give you all the information. If you are a returning customer, here’s a quick overview of what has changed.

2. The Greydient series pre-order is open through next Sunday night 8/18 at 11pm EST. We have expanded the series adding two new colorways: Rose Quartz and Smokey Topaz. We have also doubled our product line to include the laceweight base yarns. Additionally, Advent and 8 Crazy Nights are available for pre-order for some who want to start early holiday projects. And I also added Pure Purple because … actually purple doesn’t need a reason. 😀 The colorways included in this pre-order are:

Rose Quartz, Smokey Topaz, Moraine, Upstate Grey, Geode, Aventurine, Casco Bay, Blue Steel, Advent, 8 Crazy Nights, Pure Purple. To go to the shop, click here.

3. VFA Maker Team: A few months ago we started informally having samples made up as we dyed colorways. I feel it’s really important not to just see how yarn looks in a product photo, but also how it works up. I design the yarns we make to look great in *projects*, not just in the cake or just to be a pretty skein that sits in your stash. We have two samples made in every colorway- one knit and one crochet. It’s been going really well. We have decided to keep that going and have a pool of VFA customers who can make sample projects when they have time. Big thanks to everyone who has participated so far! If you’re interested in learning more about the VFA Maker Team, see this page here.

4. Giveaways! So we don’t sell our “seconds”. Honestly, at this point, we don’t have a lot of seconds because we are just that damn good very lucky 😀 . But sometimes I’ll have some skeins that are fine, but maybe one too many joins, have a fuzz or a speck of something on it. Stuff that I wouldn’t in good conscience sell because I’m super picky, but stuff that anybody would be happy to have. So I’ve decided to just start giving them away. I’m never going to have time to do anything with them and I hate for them just to sit in a box. So I will be randomly sneaking them into orders as we pack them up. I’m giving away 5 gradients this month and they will be scattered amongst the pre-orders placed this week. So when you get your package, you might have a surprise in there!

5. Rhinebeck: To confirm; we will be at Indie Untangled again this year on Friday October 18th in Saugerties, NY (yes, it’s sold out). I will be teaching gradient dyeing on that Sunday at the festival itself (yes, my class is also sold out). But do not fret! We will be in town all weekend (and Monday bc we are not driving ever again on that Sunday- lesson learned). If you will be at Indie Untangled or the festival stay tuned bc we have some fun things planned for you (that will *not* be sold out) 😀

6. Are you interested in wool? We are. Many of you have been asking for wool for years. The original gradients we tested were all wool. I’ve wanted to do wool for a long time, but ran into big challenges sourcing ethically-produced base yarns in animal fibers. It’s very difficult to trace a supply chain and know that both the animals and the people that help make the base yarns are treated well. Sustainability and human rights are two of the many issues that are important to us as a company. After many many dead ends, we have found a US mill that is using American merino that is ethically-sourced from the western part of the country. We will be trialing their base yarns extensively over the next 4 months. However, we will never compromise our first love which is plant-based yarn, particularly Tencel. We will be sending out a questionnaire and seeking some feedback from you on this in a separate newsletter. So if you are interested, keep your ears and your emails open.

I am really happy to say right now the shop has the most yarn we’ve ever had in stock. We’ve been working really hard over the past year to increase our output, expand the laceweight product range – all without decreasing our quality. Tiny improvements over time have added up quite a bit! I’m enjoying having more things available for people and not instantly being sold out and stressing. We’ve also invested quite a bit in shipping and inventory management, so we’ve been able to keep up with an increasing number of orders.

Huge thanks to all of our wonderful customers who are, as always, so encouraging and supportive. And a warm welcome to all our new friends who are just joining us now. We look forward to a very fun autumn (and spring for our many Southern Hemisphere friends!).

Hope you’re having a great day wherever you are-

Amy