Important production and color news

To our valued stitchers, creators and fly fishing enthusiasts,

2020 has been the most out-of-the-ordinary year of our collective lives. The pandemic created regulations and upheaval on every level: economic, medical, social, personal, national, international. It has been devastating for people and small businesses. Kreinik is still here because of two factors: 1. You; and 2. Our staff. Strengthened by your patience and their dedication, Kreinik is determined to get us all through 2020 and thriving in 2021 in the best possible way.

With that goal, we are enacting an extraordinary—but temporary—measure. For the next eight weeks, we are only making the top 60 to 80 colors in Kreinik #4, #8, and #12 Braid lines.

We know that limiting the colors in production sounds drastic, and some people won’t be able to get some colors temporarily, but we need to catch up. We need to dedicate all production machines to in-demand colors. Shops need to get the most popular colors restocked. Our staff needs some pressure relief. This will do it.

The limit on color production does not apply to silk threads, Blending Filament, Medium #16 Braid, Canvas #24 Braid, 1/8” Ribbon, 1/16” Ribbon, Ombre, Micro Ice Chenille, Facets, or Japan Threads. It applies only to Very Fine #4 Braid, Fine #8 Braid, and Tapestry #12 Braid for the next eight weeks.

What can you do if you are in desperate need of a color that we aren’t producing right now? There are several solutions:

• Many retailers have stock of these “odd” colors, so search online, or contact us for names of shops that do mail order.
• Join one of the needlework or fly fishing groups on Facebook, Reddit, or other social media, and ask if someone has the color you need. Many people are willing to trade, give, or sell. There are also retailers in these groups who may see the post.
• Consider substituting with a similar color in the line. In the next week, we will share on our social media several conversion lists that may help. 

Please feel free to contact us with any questions. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding. When we are caught up, we will return to making our full color line. While our facility is closed to the public right now, we hope to restore factory tours and reopen the outlet store in 2021. 

Regards,
Doug Kreinik

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Doug Kreinik's famous Thread Talk is coming to Colorado in October

Learn everything you need to know about Kreinik threads direct from the maker himself when he comes to A Stitching Shop in Denver this October. Entertaining stories, fiber knowledge, and hundreds of actual samples/models will get you excited about your own creativity and projects. 

The details:

• Sunday, October 20, 2019 at 1 PM – 4 PM MDT
• At A Stitching Shop, 4444 Morrison Road, Denver, Colorado 80219
• Get cost info and reserve your spot by contacting A Stitching Shop, (303) 727-8500

This is a fabulous needlework store serving Colorado residents and more (they ship!). Owner Christine Hause carries a huge Kreinik thread selection (look at all of those boxes of Kreinik threads!) and will order cones or other special put-ups. Be sure to visit when you are passing through Denver, visiting friends or family in the area, or just moving to town. And hope to see you in thread class!

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20 experiences in 10 days and 2100 miles

Adventures with thread maker Doug Kreinik

Every year, my wife, Myla, and I aim the car in a direction and set off on an adventure. This year we decided to head for Vermont, my wife’s 49th state (now we are tied in the number of states visited). Along the way, we learned interesting facts and saw fabulous sites.

Hidden in the rolling hills of upper New York State driving out of Utica, you will find the Holy Trinity Monastery- a Russia Orthodox friary completed in 1946 in Jordanville, New York. Next stop was visiting a friend in Johnstown, NY, the site of the last battle of the revolutionary war taking place after Yorktown.

Our first goal was soon met by dropping into Ausable Chasm located south of Plattesburg, New York, known as the Grand Canyon of the east coast. Very beautiful, lots of walking trails, short rafting trip, and lots of rock formations. If you're going, get there early.

On leaving, we took the Port Kent Ferry to Burlington, Vermont—a very relaxing hour trip. It deposited us into downtown Burlington, a city with great restaurants, walking and biking paths, beautiful vistas and even a very busy boardwalk area on Lake Champlain. We walked the University of Vermont campus and saw the statue of Ira Allan, the younger brother of Ethan Allan and founder of the University of Vermont.

Then...aaahhh...we visited the famous Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream factory in Waterbury, Vermont. It was a very short tour, but we saw how they make ice cream and of course enjoyed the tasting room. I am lactose intolerant so I selected their Vegan ice cream (it was good).

I like to bake, especially cookies and breads, so a stop at the King Arthur baking school in Norwich Vermont was fun. I picked up some gifts and of course flour. No tour here, but if you want to go to a baking school, this would be a nice venue.

Being in manufacturing, I am always interested to learn how machinery works or was created. The American Precision Museum in Windsor, Vermont, takes you step-by-step through the development of the machinery used to create the machines we use today. This is the ultimate museum of how-they-made machines that make other things: from gun assemblies invented during the revolution creating replaceable parts to machines created for the cutting of gears, to the development of textile machinery. It was all fascinating.

When in Vermont, we had to visit the Vermont Country Store in Weston, one of Myla’s favorite catalogue stores. It was unbelievable the assortment of candies that are no longer available except there. I saw Charles Chips in a can and that brought back childhood memories.

The American Fly Fishing Museum in Manchester Center, Vermont, is a small museum that packs a lot into a limited area. It covers the history of everything fly-fishing: rods, reels, clothing, hooks, lines, and more. The fabulous non-profit organization Project Healing Waters has an exhibit on the second floor with a fish plate denoting the wars fought in the last 120 years. Colors used in the flies represent the wars fought. I noticed that the purple heart used Kreinik braids.

From the fly fishing museum, we stopped at the 301-foot memorial obelisk in Bennington, Vermont, dedicated in 1891 to celebrate the Battle of Bennington. The battle actually took place in Walloomsac, New York, but was fought by soldiers from Vermont.

But Doug, what about the food?

Kreinik friends know how much I love to find good restaurants and good food. We ate well on this trip! We love lobster rolls, and found Brown’s Seafood in Seabrook, New Hampshire, to be a very good place to eat.

Back to the interesting sites...

A surprise along the way to Boston was America’s Stonehenge in Salem, New Hampshire. This site has a lot of walking. Hidden back in the woods is an historical site more than 4000 years old. It is not known who created the sanctuary, but the on line app we downloaded walked us through, explaining all the rocks, how they lined up to Stonehenge in England, and also that it was used as a hiding place for runaway slaves in the 1800s.

We viewed the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit at the Massachusetts Fine Arts museum in Boston. The exhibit took us on a tour of his life and times, explaining who he painted, where and when. It was very exciting see all these pieces in one place. The museum also had a fantastic collection of old musical instruments from all four corners of the world. Never knew that there were so many types of lutes.

Wakefield Rhode Island, east of Newport, has a lot of small mom and pop stores including a drug store with a soda jerk. It's a fun stop if you're driving through.

Myla has always wanted to visit the Catskills, so after visiting my older brother in Connecticut we headed to Woodridge, New York, in the heart of the Catskills to visit Doris, owner of Needle Gallery and More. It was a lot of fun surprising her and getting a tour of the shop, which stocks Kreinik threads. Check out my video posted on Kreinik's Facebook page.

The Poconos are vast. Lake Harmony was perfect place to spend an evening of eating and sitting outside. We also found a hidden treasure in the town of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. This charming little town has walking and biking trails as well as rafting, kayaking, canoeing, a train ride and interesting old homes. We walked around this very old town, remarking on the wonderful old buildings and parks. We then took the train through the Lehigh Gorge.

Lancaster’s Central Farmers Market a fun market, with lots of food and Amish handicrafts. It is located in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and is a good stop for a bite to eat if you get there early.

This trip was a drive through history, and our next stop was no exception. Gettysburg Battlefield National Museum is really worthwhile. They took us through the entire event, minute by minute, covering what lead up to the battle, the generals and troops involved, and the results to the soldiers and citizens in the area. We saw the aftermath of battle and the horrors of war. There were many videos to watch while going through the museum and even a bus tour through the battlefield. We ate crab cakes in the old Dobbin house’s Springhouse Tavern. The bar was built in 1818.

On the 10th day, we got back home. Our cat was glad to see us. It was one fun adventure of experiencing 20 great things in 10 days through 10 states. I encourage you to take as many road trips as you can while you can, for the sights, sounds, food, and memories—and don't forget to visit needlework stores along the way.

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The further adventures of thread-maker Doug Kreinik

Kreinik's factory and offices are closed the week of July 4 every year for summer holiday. What does a thread maker do when he's not making threads? Find out in Doug Kreinik's tour-de-fun account here.

Summer vacations are always adventures in the Kreinik household. My wife Myla and I enjoy aiming the car and just driving and learning about an area.  We have traveled the Great Lakes, the East coast cities and beaches, Key West, the Gulf Coast, the Pacific Northwest and the vast deserts in the Southwest. This year, we decided to head west to see our daughter and her family in Los Angeles.

Our first stop was in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky to visit the Wild Turkey Distillery. I love factory tours and this was a not a disappointment. We saw grains being made into a “beer,” then moved, strained and made into a “wine.” From there the liquids were distilled and moved to charred oak kegs and aged. The scent of bourbon and whiskey was strong as we walked through their storage facilities. Yes, we taste-tested.

The next stop was Wamego, Kansas, the home of the Wizard of Oz Museum. This special place contains more than 20,000 pieces of memorabilia surrounding the origins of the story, vaudevillian creations, the movie and new movies.  It was fun and campy and we’re glad we went.

We took a break in Burlington, Colorado, at the Kit Carson County Fairgrounds where they have the Carousel Museum and an operating 1885 Philadelphia Toboggan Co Carousel with a military band organ. The carousel moves at dizzying 12 miles per hour. Tip: do not move your head sideways while in motion.

If you want to trek up Pike’s Peak, take the shuttle and let them drive up the 14,000 feet.  We had to replace our brakes, for we wore them out coming down the great mountain. It was a windy, scary mountain road, but beautiful.

We spent July 4 holiday in Aspen, Colorado. With Aspen music school’s free concerts, parades, good food, and beautiful scenery, we had fun. This is probably one of the only places where you can rent a Rolls or Bentley.

We covered three National Parks in Utah: Arches, Bryce and Zion. All were magnificent and all were different. The natural forming arches were spread throughout the park created by water and wind over eons of time. Bryce Canyon, not really a canyon for it was not created by flowing water, seemed like an alien landscape. This area is unique with it’s hoodoos, formed by wind and rain. The obelisks of rock rise above the ground and can be seen from within or above.  I walked the rim and it was stunning. Zion National Park is filled rocks weeping water, waterfalls, sheer cliffs of sandstone and granite, and great walking paths except when the temperature reaches 102 degrees F. We travelled the park in a shuttle bus—the best and easiest way.

In St. George, Utah, we stopped at a Prairie Museum.  Found out that the early Mormon settlers raised silk worms and processed silk, making threads and yarns in the dessert climates of Utah. I had no idea.

Las Vegas is not really one of my favorite summer cities at 112 degrees F, but the entertainment is outstanding.  I had never seen a Cirque Du Soleil show so Myla and I saw the Beatles version and were not disappointed.   From Green Meanies to “Here comes the Sun,” this was packed with eye candy. Love, love, loved it.

We visited Needles, Hooks, and Yarn in Glendora, California.  She has knitting, needlepoint, weaving and more.  The shop carries many selections of threads and yarns, numerous looms and a great selection of Kreinik threads. The owner Nancy gave us peach-filled donuts, a specialty of a certain nationally known Glendora donut shop.

We finished our trip with a week-long stay with my daughter (an executive producer), her husband Jon and our grandson Asher. Jon and I spent three days building patios and garden boxes.  We went to museums, saw an exhibit on the Muppets and Jim Henson and one on the life and times of Leonard Bernstein.

The last day we visited the Wayfarer’s Church in Palo Verdes, California, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. This glass edifice is surrounded by redwood and olive trees in a very serene location overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We ate at the Redondo Beach Greek Festival where Asher had his first calamari experience at 19 months old and loved it.

We had a wonderful, exciting summer vacation exploring parts of the United States. Now I’m back at the thread factory gearing up for two August events: The Lancaster Fiber Festival in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and The AmericanNeedlepoint Guild conference in Washington DC. Hope to see you there. If you are driving through Parkersburg, West Virginia, on your summer vacation, be sure to stop by the Kreinik Factory Outlet Store and say hello. 

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