It’s like a reckoning, but without wool content.

Guess who’s back, back again
Cotton’s back, tell a friend
Guess who’s back, guess who’s back?
Guess who’s back, guess who’s back?
Guess who’s back, guess who’s back?
Guess who’s back?

On April 14th, we posted a shop update about how we had to shut down dying for the time being, but were fortunate enough to find a couple boxes of lost yarn from our years on the yarn show circuit. You can read more about it here. Honestly, if I weren’t so thankful to have that stock, I’d be very embarrassed that I managed to misplace and forget about Masquerade Yarn or our Mini Vacation Yarn Sets, but whatever. I’m not a proud person.

This week Megan-Anne and I were finally able to get back into the studio together, masked-up and with the aid of some comically large yellow kitchen gloves. At this point, we’re both used to wearing the fabric masks, but not having access to surgical gloves has added a new level of difficulty to the dye mixing process. But, more on that later. The good news is that despite the new learning curve on how to get around the studio while still practicing social distancing and using those cumbersome yellow gloves, we have some new stuff for you! And no, it did not come from the bowels of our storage unit or our dye session this week.

Before we were forced to stop dying, Megan-Anne and I had been working on a new line of yarn and a color palette update for an old base. We had planned to release it at the end of April with a huge to-do, but you know how it is, everything changed when the Fire Nation Attacked the pandemic hit.

We debated for a while on whether or not to debut what we had or hold off until 2021. Based on the title of this post, I bet you can guess what we finally decided. The reality is that even though we weren’t able to add as many colorways as we wanted before the shut down happened and the dyed stock isn’t as large as I’d like, we can’t afford to sit on inventory anymore. Also, I accidentally started designing with it, and it would be kinda weird to release a new pattern without the recommended yarn being available. Megan-Anne also fell prey to the allure of the new cotton yarn so basically this is a long way of saying:

YAY, NEW YARN!

Expect to see new patterns using it within the next couple of weeks.

At the end of summer last year, Megan-Anne and I removed Baah-Free from the shop, so that we could update the color palette and add a light fingering weight version of the 100% Pima Cotton yarn. It’s the perfect yarn content for spring and summer knits, especially for those with sensitive skin or wool related allergies. A few of you already jumped on it when it quietly appeared back in the shop a few weeks ago, but I thought we should probably do an official announcement instead of sliding it into the store without saying anything.

Baah-Free, a DK weight yarn, still has some of the original hand-painted variegate favorites along with some new ones and a few newly added semi-solids. This is the yarn I used to design the Versicolored Cowl when Mabel the Merciless was just a wee little thing. I only got to wear the cowl a few times before she co-oped it as a fancy bib for tiny babies on the go.

Unbeknownst to me, this was the beginning of her career as a shawl thief. Sometimes, I think Megan-Anne and I did too good of a job at instilling a love of hand-knits and luxury yarn into this child. Like, does anything even belong to us anymore? Why is this four-year-old more stylish than us? And hey, come back here! Isn’t that mine?!

Baah-Free Light, unlike its DK weight older sibling, is all semi-solids. This is the sort of yarn you use for ankle socks, breezy tees, and beach cover-ups disguised as chic shawls.

Like I mentioned earlier, I accidentally started designing and crocheting a pashmina with it. It’s gorgeous and done in gold. I’ve jokingly started referring to the pattern as the Table Runner Pashmina though since I won’t be wearing it to a beach anytime soon. Except, the more I joke about it, the more I find myself wondering how weird it would be if I used it as a table runner instead of letting it languish in a drawer until next summer? And will it be doubly weird when I start to wear it? And really, aren’t runners just pashminas for your table? These are the questions that keep me up at night.

But now, for the biggest question…

When will we be able to start dying regularly again?

Lattes & Llamas is still committed to refraining from purchasing the PPE we need in order to mix dyes and conduct business as usual until the scarcity is completely over. Since we don’t imagine that’ll be ending soon, especially when our usual supplier won’t be getting gloves or surgical masks back in stock until September, we are trying out alternative solutions like using fabric masks and those pain-in-the-butt kitchen gloves.

Our first course of action to getting back to normal is to play catch-up on the Geek-A-Long. By now, we usually have the new color palette ready to cast on next year’s blanket. We are woefully behind right now since we haven’t been able to work in the studio for months. As the weeks progress, we plan to have Geek-A-Long Yarn completely back in stock in time for Megan-Anne’s super nerdy Geek-A-long Sweater knit along. Also, as we are able to put more colorways and bases back in stock, we’ll be sure to announce it with a store update.

~ Jac

We’ve extended the “choose your own discount” on all the patterns in our Ravelry store again to August 31st. You can read more about it HERE, but here’s the gist. We want you to stay home and knit through the quarantine. Please choose the discount that best matches your financial situation:

• To receive 25% off your L&L Ravelry pattern purchase use the code: DISTANCE25
• To receive 50% off your L&L Ravelry pattern purchase use the code: DISTANCE50
• To receive 75% off your L&L Ravelry pattern purchase use the code: DISTANCE75

Stay home, stay safe, and knit on!