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When we found out Vogue Knitting Live in Seattle was canceled, we did a lot of pouting. Yes, we agreed it was the right choice, but dang we had a lot of yarn! And were so looking forward to hanging out with fellow knitters and dyers. So we threw ourselves a pity party and then we got an email from Partners in Health, the charity we donated to last quarter:
“The current reported case fatality rate, whether 3.4 percent or not, cannot be used to predict how this virus will devastate many areas globally where there aren’t existing, functioning health systems that can respond to an aggressive infectious disease.”

So, we decided to put our extra inventory to good use and raise some money for one of our favorite charities.

We will be donating 15% of sales made March 13-15 to Partners in Health. That is $4 per skein of yarn!

We have so much new yarn! New colors of Vintage Vixen and Mohair Moxie, Atomic Love, Six Month Half Life, and You Say Tomato, I say Bloody Mary. There is also new Ultra Merino Fingering in Breakup Bangs and So Much Emotional Baggage They Made Me Check it At the Gate.

Kathy bought a knitting machine and programmed it to knit fair isle patterns of her very own design! And what could be better than project bags made out of this fabric? We only have a handful of these!
We also have some super fun screen-printed bags that have one of our favorite sayings on them: “Yarn and Tacos Never Stood Me Up!”

We have a new colorway dyed up on our Single Ply base, I am NOT Doing This Sober. We also have two extra special one-of-a-kind yarns! We’ll Always Have That Weekend in Bellevue is a super squishy silk and mohair blend, naturally dyed with avocado pits. Indoorsy is an alpaca wool blend that was spun just for us at Eweful Fiber Mill in Halsey. It is farm to fiber festival and so soft!

August 25th is National Kiss and Make Up Day!

Here it is. August 25th. You’ve had the date circled on your calendar all year because surely today they would say those three little words you’ve been dying to hear: “You were right.”

But it’s okay, because once again, we are here for you! And this survival kit, this one is our favorite. Like the third date, this one says “I was a sap to stick it out this long.”

Or maybe the third date finally brings you chocolate. Kiss and Make Up!

This clubs includes:

• A hand-painted sock blank as the yarn,
• An extra special locally made fabric item,
• And something we are so completely enameled, errrr, enamored with, it might be hard to part with them!

The quilt picture above is the inspiration and theme — #grellow

We need you to know how beautiful the yarn for the next Faux Holidays Yarn Club is, without actually showing you and giving away the surprise! So, we’re resorting to trickery! If you want a really sweet surprise — both in terms of the yarn, and the other lovely items we’ve selected — run don’t walk to our website! Subscriptions close the end of the month!

The second installment is “National Wine Day!” and will contain:

One skein of fingering weight yarn on a sparkle base (SPARKLES!!!)
A pattern
Two other carefully chosen items, one of which is locally sourced
Some other things (I feel compelled to tell you that, once again, we will NOT be sending you any alcoholic beverages…)

Subscriptions close May 1. Ship date is May 16, 2019.

In other Despondent Dyes news, Vintage Vixen is officially here! This is our brand new non-Superwash sportweight yarn. It comes in a gorgeous palette of 15 colors and is perfect for everything from cables to colorwork. The semisolid colors might be different from our bright speckled sock yarns, but you’ll find the same hilarious names with a fun, 1950s housewife twist. To say we are crazy about this yarn would be putting it mildly.

The second installment of The Faux Holidays Club is celebrating “National Wine Day” which is May 25! We realize that this is one of those holidays that can trigger bouts of anxiety in the general populace, so we’ve put our heads together and come up with some lovely things to help ease you into the celebration!

The second installment will include:
One skein of fingering weight yarn in a sparkle base and a pattern
Two carefully chosen extras – one of which is from a local source
A little something else (I feel compelled to let you know that, once again, we will NOT be sending you alcoholic beverages!)

The photo is part of the inspiration board for this installment, and gives a couple hints as to what will be in the shipment.

Signups are now open and will remain open until May 1st! Unlike with the Margarita Club, we do not anticipate having any extras, so don’t miss your spot!

If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to email us.

We have been working on a thing. A big thing. When it comes to dying yarn, nothing is more exciting than adding a new base to the yarn family. It is like having a baby, without all the cleanup. Vintage Vixen is unlike anything we have ever had at Despondent Dyes. It is our first non-Superwash base, our first sportweight, and the first yarn we have specifically designed to use in garment knitting/crocheting.

Our first palette of colors includes 12 stunning colors and three neutrals. This yarn is plump and soft and works up in colorwork like it was made for it. We cannot wait to knit all the sweaters, crochet all the tops, and of course, colorwork all the mittens in this amazing yarn.

The yarn officially launches April 15, but this is your special invitation to preorder, because we have a plan….
Maybe you have seen a sweet little top from Pom Pom Quarterly — the Water Clover top? Maybe you thought, gosh I would love to crochet that in a brand new sportweight from Despondent Dyes! Well guess what? Your dreams are all coming true! We are going to be hosting a crochet-along on our Instagram, Ravelry and Facebook platforms and we want you to play along!

The crochet-along will start April 15, the day the sportweight yarn launches. For the next two weeks we will have pre-orders up in our webshop! You’ll get a 15% off discount on two or more preordered skeins of Vintage Vixen, just use the code CROCHETALONG at checkout!

February 1 is the last day to sign up for the first installment of the Faux Holidays Club, Margarita Day! This one-of-a-kind club curated by Despondent Dyes features a very special skein of self-striping yarn with heel and toe mini, a pattern written for the yarn and some fun goodies centered around a comforting beverage.

And we get why you might be holding out — you don’t like surprises, you like your yarn with security. You like your cake naked, so you can see the filling. You never let anyone else put milk and sugar in your tea. But we promise, if you take a chance on this skein of self-striping yarn, you will not be disappointed! And this is just the beginning — there are three more Faux Holidays after this, and trust us, they are gonna be soooo good.

The Holidays can be rough!

If you need a little “something” to help you get through all that cheer and family togetherness (cue grandma asking why you’re still single…) we’ve got your back!

We picked four of the toughest holidays to get through and we’ve put together a special skein of Despondent Dyes yarn and some thoughtfully curated extras — locally sourced whenever possible!

National Margarita Day – February 22, 2019!

This installment will contain:
* One skein of self-striping sock yarn with a coordinating heel/toe skein
* A pattern
* Two other items based around a soothing beverage (hint: I am NOT mailing you a margarita!)

Subscriptions for this first installment close February 1!

Despondent Dyes has gone Coastal! We are pleased to announce that Black Sheep Knitworks in the village of East Hampton, New York, has just received a large shipment of Despondent Dyes yarns. They join Stash in Corvallis, Oregon, and Wool ‘N Wares in West Linn, Oregon, in carrying our regular colorways.

Black Sheep Knitworks also has a sampling of our special Christmas color. If you are anywhere in the area and in need of some slightly irreverent, but beautiful yarn — go see them! They’re at 47 Newtown Lane.

Offering hand dyed yarn to fiber enthusiasts. During our 2nd year of business, we will be donating $1 — for every skein sold — to charity. The designated charity for September through November 2016 is Hope for Paws, an animal rescue operating out of Southern California.

We are a cheerful mother and daughter duo seeking a creative outlet for our despondent alter ego. Dead serious about color and knitting, but we tend to be a touch irreverent about almost everything else.