It's that time of year. New colors from Lorna's Laces.
Shown below, all in Sportmate, left to right and top to bottom: Flushing, Arlington, Rippey, Reno Worcester, Louisville, Monrovia, Rockaway.

I asked a few questions about this new batch of colors to Beth, owner and dyeing diva at Lorna's Laces, and thought you might be interested in learning more too. Here's what we chatted about via e-mail:
Allison (@SSYC): I'm noticing earthy, putty and purple tones in the new colors. What inspired this batch?
Beth (@Lornas Laces): Ha! You make it sounds like we're super organized when it comes to creating colors! Sure, sometimes we take a look and what we have and see if there are holes in the palette, but often it's more organic than that. We work on colors all the time. I might notice something on my walk to work that gets my creative juices flowing and I'll try and get the mental image onto yarn as soon as I get in the studio. Or someone will mention a fabulous meal they had at a local restaurant and we'll work backwards from that. We keep a basket of happy experiments in my office. Sometimes a color will be in that basket for years waiting its turn. Reno (shown below) was one of those.

Allison: I'm also noticing non-Chicago names, like Worcester, Flushing, etc. Is there a particular reason? I'm so used to seeing you name colors after Chicago landmarks and avenues.

Beth: We decided to move away from Chicago this season and let everyone at Lorna's Laces tell a little bit of their story. Each of the colors reflects something in one of our pasts. One of us was born in Louisville, KY (the gold skein), another in Monrovia, Liberia (the dark purple gray). One of our group started school in Flushing, NY. There was a first date in Worcester, MA. Rippey is a town in Iowa, and one of our crew met her husband there.

Allison: Arlington seems, to me, to be a bit of a departure of the style of dyeing that I notice from you guys. Usually, the colors seem so defined on the skein (bittersweet, rainbow). This color reminds me of how I see Baltic Sea, which the colors seem to blend together, making new colors. What's the inspiration for Arlington?

Beth: I wish I had an awe inspiring story for you , but it turns out to be sort of mundane. I was doing a hands on dye workshop a few years ago and wanted to show the students what each of the colors we'd be using looked like, so I put them all on a skein of yarn. It turned out to be really pretty and voila, a star is born. Sometimes colors are serendipitous. It's important to keep your eyes and heart open to what the world puts out there for you.
Allison: To me, that's a great story! I especially like Arlington on the Sportmate base- that little bit of sheen from the Outlast fiber makes it even more interesting. What projects do you think really shine in Sportmate? What trends do you see when knitters are using this yarn?
Beth: A few favorite project that we think really show off Sportmate are Sazerac by Mercedes Tarasovich Clark, Aitana by Ruth Garcia Alcantud, Fall Fields Cardigan by Beth Neilson, and Sportmate Cowl by Amy Christoffers (photo is courtesy of Amanda @ Lorna's Laces). The price point and yardage are great for big projects, and the temperature and moisture control of the Outlast fiber makes it cozy for accessories. Sportmate knits up beautifully at a DK or Sport weight, so it's flexible for a variety of projects.

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Thanks to Beth, for taking time out of her busy dye schedule to answer my questions. Right now, I have all the new colors in Sportmate, and a few each in Solemate and Sock. More to come soon with our next shipment from their Chicago-based dye studio.