The Discontinued Blues

The photo above is my loot from an emergency run to Needlewoman East over the weekend.  They were having their Christmas sale and I really really really needed to stock up on the above metallics (which knocked my stash credits from 96 back down to 77, by the way). What you see (from left to right) are the Naturals line from Kreinik:  Green Tea #4001, Spiced Chai #4002, Ginseng Gold #4003,  Earl Grey #4004, Sugar Cube #4005 and Rosehip #4006.  These are also called the Tea Threads as all the names are inspired by tea.  I happen to love Spiced Chai and probably will also use Sugar Cube 4005 (which is a muted silver in real life) on O'jishi.
http://www.kreinik.com/articles/color_cht.html

The reason I was in such a panic about buying these is that they are being discontinued by Kreinik.  I got a note from Anne Stradal of ABS Designs last week telling me Kreinik was letting folks know they are discontinuing these threads because the raw material that makes them is no longer available.  She wanted to give me a heads up since she knows I'm writing a stitch guide for O'jishi and using one of the doomed threads.  (Thanks, Anne!)

Turns out I need not have hoarded these threads.  I got a nice note from Doug Kreinik (in response to my pathetic whining email to the company) that he's been working for the last two months to find substitutes and shortly will have samples of replacements to test.  I would imagine that the shops will have the new versions of these threads before they run out of the old in most cases.  Keep your fingers crossed that he can match them very closely!

However, the Discontinued Blues are a problem most stitchers come up against at least occasionally.  If you belong to the American Needlepoint Guild's email list, you'll see periodic messages from folks asking what thread is a good substitute for something that is no longer made.  What do you do in those instances?  Of course asking the ANG email list is a great first step.  We stitchers will always search our stash looking for that discontinued color or the thread from the 1980s that is no longer made or maybe we remember what a thread you've never heard of is like so we can suggest a modern replacement.

Another place to go is The Thread Thesaurus by Ann Caswell, Suzanne Howren and Beth Robertson.  This invaluable resource lists over 350 threads and is an excellent guide to finding a substitute.  I highly recommend this book for any threadaholic, and anyone who has to do a lot of mail ordering of threads.  There is an updated edition so you might get the original at a good price.  Both will be very useful when it comes to finding out about threads and finding substitutions for something you can't get.
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/whatsnew/books.html

Now that stitch guides are available for a great many canvases, this problem of discontinued threads is likely to grow as threads become unavailable for many reasons, often out of the blue.  I hope stitch guide writers will list DMC or Kreinik equivalents for many of their threads so that folks can look for a match easily.  It is easy to call your local shop and say you need a silk that is about the color of DMC #whatever.

If you don't want to buy a book you'll use only occasionally, try looking at online thread conversion lists.  Here is a page listing quite a few.

http://www.cameoroze.com/101/too_convert.htm

Use your favorite search engine to find "conversion chart Splendor DMC" or whatever to see what else you can find.  Note that these charts are not perfect.  Often there is not an exact equivalent of a thread in another line, but at least you can get close.

And if all else fails, ask your fellow stitchers.  We are always willing to help.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com

Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow