I first started my relationship with Paintbox Yarns back in 2017. I was starting to come in to my own as a designer, but my aspirations were slightly outside of my income. I was hoping to start a relationship with a yarn brand, be it wholesale or whatever, but I was thinking it would be great to not pay full retail price.

There are lots of yarn brands out there. A lot of you will have seen your favorite designers work a lot with one brand. I did a lot of research before I reached out because I wanted to work with a brand that I thought would be the best fit for The Queen Stitch… you know… if they said yes. I loved Paintbox immediately because of their color palette. I don’t want to be limited by 20 colors, I want the full rainbow. (Cue Veruca Salt’s “I want the wooooorld, I want the whole world!” Not to mention all the different fibers they have available from cotton to wool to acrylic to metallics! I think my relationship might be a little different than most designers and brands (though I have limited comparisons) in that it was I who reached out to them first.

Starting with my first collection with them in 2017 ‘The Bralette Bonanza’ to the latest 'Men’s Collection’ up through today, our relationship and both of our brands have continued to grow. I like to think we both support each others creative endeavors, and I never have a gray day - unless I’m using neutrals ;) .

So when they asked me to fly out to London to be a part of their ‘Color Your World’ campaign. I ‘squeeed very loudly, forwarded the e-mail to my husband, made a few more high-pitched noises, and then replied with a “FURSURE”.

I was really nervous. The night before the shoot I had one or two or three glasses of wine to calm my mind. When I arrived the next morning, I was sweating slightly from lugging my huge suitcase full of things I had made with their yarns, and a bunch of bottles of water up several flights of stairs to the studio. (Okay it might have been more than a few glasses of wine). I met Emma of @steelandstitch and Katie of @katiejonesknit . Talk about star struck, I had literally attended one of her pom pom workshops two months before! I also met the rest of the Paintbox Yarns team. It was like a bag of Skittles had exploded all over the studio. When they say Color Your World, they mean it!

Each color had it’s own shoot, accompanied by little tag lines like “When Life Gives You Lemons” or “Paint the Town Red”. When you’re stepping outside your comfort zone (before this weekend I had never done video) I find it’s best to throw yourself outside. Everyone was so supportive and funny, and there were props, and outfits, and the whole works. So it was really easy to pretend we were doing a play, and I was a character. Instead of Katie-who-never-did-video. I was Katie, the designer, who loves Paintbox yarn, wearing my Lemonade Bralette, drinking-a-fake-margarita-made-with-apple-juice-and-salt-around-the-rim!

Did I mention there was a dog? The day was awesome, but so is the campaign! For the next few weeks there are tons of giveaways, free patterns, and ridiculous videos featuring not only yours truly, but some of your other favorites as well!

I myself created this FREE PATTERN for Ketchup Packet Pillow, just in time for Valentines day! Because nothing says ‘I love you’ like fast food condiments to decorate your home with. I’m half kidding. Peter loves fast food, and after I made this pillow he asked “can we keep that? Don’t sell it or gift it”. So romance isn’t dead to say the least.

Though that day was my first video, it wasn’t the last. Starting shortly after that LoveCrafts and I started a new endeavor - tutorials. Though I may not be wearing a bikini top or drinking fake margaritas, I am teaching lots of crochet and knit projects! I chat about Johnny Appleseed, pie, growing up in Western New York…. oh, and also knit and crochet tips, tricks, and basics. See that ‘Video’ label on the top of my website navigation? OH yeah. Coming soon, baby.

xx Katie

P.S. If you want to learn even more about my design process and color love - check out this interview over on Love Crochet!