Mystery Color Revealed!

One of my favorite things about doing a Mystery Sampler is working with suppliers to make custom goodies for us! There are SO many creative people behind the scenes at an L*K Mystery!!!

I've been working with Miranda and the talented gang at Weeks Dye Works for many years. We've created several cool colors together...clockwork (Spooked! Mystery Sampler), Busy Lizzie (Things Unseen Mystery Sampler) and Oscar (Holly & Hearts Mystery Sampler). Not only do I get to request and collaborate on a NEW overdyed thread color, I get to help with the new color name...so fun.

This year Miranda agreed to create a new color especially for Spirit of Christmas Mystery Sampler. Our new color will be a part of the Spirit of Christmas Thread Pack, along with 8 other lovely WDW colors. There will be 10 skeins in all, including 2 skeins of one color. 

And....drumroll...the NEW COLOR is...OYSTER!
I'm not sure OYSTER is a holiday word, but hey, I guess lots of people make oyster stuffing? Here's how "Oyster" became a part of the L*K/WDW family.

To begin the process I described the color I was dreaming about to Miranda. It's not a traditional Christmas color, but I thought it would blend beautifully with the muted pinky reds and greens in the sampler. I gave Miranda several DMC numbers that were similar. Since WDW threads are overdyed, they incorporate several beautiful hues.

Then Miranda got to work, mixing her color magic, and sent me 5 sample colors. I'm sure this is a really time consuming and tricky process, but Miranda is a sweetheart. Those of you who have met her know this already. And she has that charming North Carolina accent and politeness that makes me just want to call WDW to chat with everyone in the office. **There were originally 5 color samples,  but I played with 2 of them - stitching, taking out, restitching on sampler -  before I made my final decision.

What color is oyster?
Just like a real oyster, it's a beautiful blend of muted colors...lilac, taupe, pink and gray. It's just yummy (no pun intended)! Do you like to eat oysters? Being a Kansas girl...not so much for me.

I love playing with words, so I originally sent Miranda a list of about 30 possible color names. Maybe I was inspired by the oyster shadowbox hanging in my hallway - from my favorite source, Home Goods?! The colors at WDW are often named after something organic...plants, flowers, birds, animals, fish, food...you get the idea. When we finally chatted on the phone, we both agreed that OYSTER was perfect for this color. 

       

Fast forward to the exciting day when we received a couple GIANT boxes from Weeks Dye Works with our threads for Spirit of Christmas Mystery Sampler. **Thanks to your generous response, we had to order a couple more BIG boxes, and the WDW gang is busy at work dyeing more threads, putting them on cards, and readying to ship us next week.

The beautiful threads arrive conveniently packaging in a bag of 100. Inside the bag are 10 bundles with 10 skeins each and a label with name and person who packed it. So organized!

Then the fun begins! We set up 3 work stations to assemble thread packs - 2 in our basement and another in the L*K office. It's a little tricky to get the threads into the plastic bags, but we've developed a system involving that piece of cardboard you see in middle of table.

Then the finished thread packs get stacked in big totes (on loan from the US Postal Service!). Eventually they will find their way into orders from shops around the world...and finally to your house!

Our Spirit of Christmas Thread Pack is available to order NOW! It's an optional purchase, but so convenient to have full skeins of all the threads you'll need. For now, it's the only place you'll find WDW Oyster. Oyster will be available in general distribution in March 2018.

The Thread Pack will have enough threads to complete your mystery sampler. **If you stitch the 3 BONUS charts (you'll receive one with each of the 3 mystery parts), more threads may be required. 

Here are some of the friendly (camera shy) staff hard at work at Weeks Dye Works in North Carolina. We asked them for a few pics, and they sent us these colorful views.

Getting the orders to shops

Beautiful threads and gorgeous wools

Those giant cones of colorful floss!

I've got 100 more thread packs to assemble before the next big boxes of threads arrive next week, so back to work for me and Netflix in my basement.

CHECK BACK SOON for more behind-the-scenes peeks at our upcoming Spirit of Christmas Mystery Sampler!

**One more thing...we keep getting questions if it's too late to order Spirit of Christmas. Definitely not! Just let your favorite needlework supplier know. We will be shipping needlework shops around the world on September 1. That shipment will include Part 1 charts with thread key, 1st BONUS design, thread packs, fabric precuts, embellishment packs, and Spirit of Christmas Needle Nannies. 

HAPPY OYSTER, everyone!