We low-keyed the Sept.10th Rya Sewing Circle day because my work tables were covered in vintage rya yarn that needed twisting into skeins, photographing, and inventorying. I wasn't sure I'd have space for people until about a week before the scheduled Sewing Circle day.

I will be taking some time off in October and will be getting the studio ready for the Nov. 5-6 class, so no more Rya Sewing Circles until they are announced in the next newsletter. But I would like to gather the email addresses of everyone who would like to be invited when the next one is scheduled. 95% of you are not within an hour's drive from me. I'd love to invite anyone who might want to come to knot with others--don't want to miss anyone.

I never know when new OLD supplies will arrive in the studio. Sometimes I get a call or email asking if I have any use for rya rug yarn.

I do.

I will take all offered quality wool rya rug yarn as long as it hasn't had cats in it (some people are very sensitive to cat hair nor having smokers around the yarn). Sometimes people offer to send me their leftovers from a single rya project. Great! Often an elder relative waiting for "free time" to start another rya project leaves a closet full of vintage rya supplies. Not everyone knows what to do with rya supplies, so sadly a rya stash could go to trash haulers.

Sometimes people contact me and offer to sell me nice rya supplies. I will buy them if the price is reasonable. I usually offer to pay the shipping fee on supplies to people who are just looking for a good home for the rya stash. I appreciate them very much. I have an "alert" set on my eBay account which informs me when rya rug yarn is up for auction. If the price doesn't go too high, sometimes I am lucky there. All the vintage rya yarn I have I offer at the same price regardless of what company produced them: Bergå, Nordiskas, Lundgren, Marks, Borgs, and Mattkonst Grunnebo . . . $10/skein. It can be used interchangeably with my new Rauma yarns to save a little money.

At the end of July, a woman named Jennifer contacted me via my website. She had googled "rya rug supplies." She and her siblings were clearing out their parents' house in Maine which contained "a ton of rya supplies." We had arranged a delivery to Bethesda, MD (about an hour away from my studio), but at the last minute the delivery option fell through. She was very disappointed, when she emailed me to tell me. But (miracle) I just happened to be taking a little vacation with my husband in Maine and was just an hour north of her parents' house which was just about empty and had to be totally emptied by the end of the next day. So my little Prius (another miracle) was able to hold all of the bags and boxes of yarn, backings with fringe, some partially made kits, and all of the graphs of designs made by Jennifer's father over the years--most of which I had never seen before. They were thankful that I could help them out, and I was thankful to be able to keep them in circulation. I asked the family to suggest a suitable nonprofit to which I could make a contribution. They chose the Maine Community Foundation which to me, was PERFECT. With my contribution, I requested, if possible, to apply the funds towards projects that helped to keep traditional arts alive in Maine.

I have arranged the yarn by general color arrays layed out in three rows: top, middle and bottom. Most of the yarn has no tags on it, so I don't know color numbers for most. Rya designers can look at these grouping as squirts of paint on a pallette. If you are in a blending mood, you can ask me to gather the "right side of the middle row in the Red-Yellows Array photo, for example. I will gather that grouping and shoot a photo for you to see more closely and price it either by the skein, or by weight if there are cut skeins involved--and there are lots of cut skeins. It is a great opportunity to increase your color selections within your own yarn stashes. Once you like what you see, tell me to send it, and I'll send you an online invoice and get your order right off to you.

I will not list it on Etsy yet. I want to give YOU first dibs.

I'm all about stories, so when Kirsi sent me this, I knew I had to share it with you. It makes a beautiful rya all the more special.

"I sewed this Southwestern inspired Finnish ryijy (rya) rug to honor my two home countries. I grew up in Finland but moved to the US to attend graduate school. I have lived most of my adult life in Colorado.

You all make my mission and work so rewarding. Thank you for your kind correspondence and friendship.

More than any other newsletter, last month, more readers told me how much they loved my garden photos than ever before, sooooo, here are some more.