Hello Crafting Friends,

After some suffocatingly hot days in August, I am so glad for the cooler nights and mornings. Having lived in the northwest forever, it doesn't seem very gracious to complain about the sunny weather and long summer. I remember those summers with Junuary, and even summers when it consisted of one week in July. That said, there's a reason I live in the northwest and sunny hot weather isn't one of them. Hooray, sweater weather is within sight!

September is Hat Month at Indigo Purls. Accordingly the growing basket of hats for charity will be whisked off to be donated. More on our chosen charity and other charitable efforts later in the month. As soon as the hats are donated we will begin collecting hats again! And thank you to our knitters and crocheters who donated the work of their hands to warm up the community.

New sample "Sheep Heid" by Kate Davies in Elemental Affects American Shetland.

In the store we will have a number of featured hat designs on display, some from our yarn suppliers or local designers, along with the yarns, patterns, and kits both to knit and crochet. 

Michelle continues teaching! I'm very excited she will be teaching stranded knitting with the Aluma Hat pattern designed by Traci Scott, a northwest designer.

This beautiful hat with a star motif is one of many colorwork designs you can find at Traci's blog, www.fleecelovehappiness.com, or on Ravelry.com. Traci's inspiring patterns are free, most of them easily yarned in the Elemental Affects American Shetland.

I look forward to featuring more of her designs in future samples. In October Michelle also teaches a Christmas stocking class! See descriptions of these classes below.

Our Fall lineup of classes are coming together nicely, here's what you can look forward to and what is already up on our website for signups.

Classes - full description and details on our website.

Sign up at http://www.indigopurls.com

Saturday September 6 Overdye Workshop - 1 to 4 pm. 

Saturday September 6 and 13 - Beginning Knitting II Cables and Lace with Cheryl - 1 - 3 pm. 

Saturday September 20 - Square of the Month - A Year of Granny Squares meets from 10 to noon. 

Saturday September 27 - Stranded Knitting with Michelle - the Aluma Hat by Traci Scott. Part of celebrating Shetland Wool Week (Sept. 28 - Oct. 5).

Saturday October 4 we offer British Afternoon Tea and Faire Isle Film Festival - 5 pm at Indigo Purls. 

Saturday October 11 - Toe-up Socks with Kerry - 10 to 1 pm. 

Saturday October 18 - October Square of the Month - A Year of Granny Squares from 10 to noon. Our second square date!

Saturday October 18 & 25 - Gus and Augustus Ghosts; Learn to use double-pointed needles - 1:30 to 3:30 pm with this cute little ghost stuffie. 

Saturday October 25 - Christmas Stocking with Michelle. Using the pattern "Christmas Stockings" by Faye Kennington, this is a toe-up and afterthought-heel designed stocking. 

Saturday November 8 - Focus on Fit with Valerie - 9:30 am to 3:30 pm. This is a repeat of the class we held in the spring. 

Did you know you can add your name to the waitlist if a class if full? If you add your name to the waitlist we can reach out to you when a spot opens!

Groups and Other events - Just Drop In

Thursday Drop-in Knitting and Optional Craft-Alongs - 1 to 3 pm

The work table is open, come on in and bring your projects! Both knitters and crocheters come to this group for company, inspiration, and quiet conversation. Optional craft-alongs - right now folks are working on the Sylvan Tee together, a light-weight top with a beautiful cable, knit with saddle-shoulder construction. Later in hat month the project is a double knit hat with sheep motif, the Counting Sheep Hat.

This group has a dedicated Discord channel - email us at info@indigopurls.com if you would like to get an invitation to get into the channel.

Thursday Drop-in Spinning - Still at Bigelow Park as long as the weather holds

Drop spindlers and wheel spinners are welcome to gather Thursday evenings. (Even inkle loom weavers have been known to come to this group!) We will transition back to meeting at Indigo Purls when it gets too dark or the weather turns.

This group has a dedicated Discord channel - email us at info@indigopurls.com if you would like to be invited to join.

New! Crochet Fridays - 1 to 3 pm

Welcoming all crocheters to join the work table as we focus on hooks, yarn, patterns, and projects together. A great place for square-of-the-month students to come and practice. We are hoping to bring together folks interested in becoming a better crocheter, or in sharing their skills and knowledge.

Sunday Sweater Club - 11 to noon

Just want some company as you slog away on sleeve island? Need a place to do 10 miles of stockinette on that pullover your sister/niece/grandson wanted you to make for them? Want some advice on a good pattern or how to make things fit better? This is the group for making progress on those long ambitous projects.

Kerry is at the table for knitting help (optional punch card for those who need 30 mintues or more), and focus-on-fit guru Valerie Robinson drops in to share secrets to knitting a well-fitting sweater. In fact...

Sunday Valerie holds a drop-in fit clinic - September 28 - 10 to noon 

This is a free event. If you took Valerie's Focus on Fit Class (or you wanted to take it) come in and let's chat about fit. If you took her class, come in and show off your work, or commisserate with Valerie on a tune-up of your skills. Valerie will be teaching her all-day class on this topic again in November.

Sunday Crafternoons - 1 to 3 pm

We are no longer doing sign-ups for these craft-alongs. Instead we will let folks know about the projects coming up in this monthly newsletter.

If you would like to put your name down for a kit you can email us at info@indigopurls.com or join the Sunday Crafternoon Discord channel to be "in the know" about projects and ideas, just drop us an email and ask for the invite link. 

Crafternoon Project Schedule:

September 14, 21, 28 - "Ice to Meet You" by 

October 5, 12, 19 - "Frankenstein's Monster" by  Fiona Goble. This pattern is for a "zombie" Frankenstein stuffie. Parts are attached with Velcro.

Only green yarn will be supplied as a partial kit available for purchase by the skein. The crafternoon group will be using stash yarn for the rest of this project (clothes, etc.), plus your favorite stuffing.

Fall Forecast - October and beyond

Shetland Wool Week bridges us from September to October as we head into October Sock Month at Indigo Purls. Fresh from our focus on hats, we have two classes on sock knitting (toe-up and a Christmas stocking) to help you learn how to make socks for yourself or as gifts.

October 2, 3, and 4 we provide several samples of different Shetland wool yarns to taste, including our own. Sit down at our work table and knit a few rows, then tell us what you think! Shetland wool is very special to us and we look forward to a little comparison challenge!

We also embrace breast-cancer awareness month in October. Stay tuned for scheduled times to learn how to make "knitted knockers" in soft Universal Bamboo Pop (there's a crochet pattern for these, as well). We provide a copy of the free pattern and a kit to make a knitted knocker, while supplies last. We will let you know how to sign up for this worthy effort as soon as we nail down some dates and times.

In the dyehouse the Jorstad crew is working hard to prepare for Fall. Restocking our over 69 colors in American Shetland is a big task. Maddy does the test dyes, Stone does a lot of the full batch dyeing, Craig twists the yarn into skeins, and Kirsten labels them. Whew! It is a labor of love and we have the best team.

As we move into Fall we are looking forward to the supply-chain chaos to settle and we will know more about price increases for some of our yarn bases that require imported materials. Until then, we are also supporting other businesses in the area by continueing to dye spinning fiber and yarn in fabulous colors. 

In the store we continue our efforts to find the best and most-tempting yarns we can stock, restock our favorites, and add samples that inspire you to craft a new project. We share our progress on Instagram (IndigoPurlsYarnBoutique) and Facebook (Indigo Purls), so please subscribe to one of these so you can get the latest weekly updates.

Thank you for continuing to believe in our dream to provide an awesome place to learn and shop! Kerry