You guys, this blog is suffering! I hate that it's gotten so lame around here. Let me try to make it better. First I need to do a stash update, since I went to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. We'll call this the knitting update, so if you don't care about the yarny stuff, feel free to skip ahead to the next entry.
Ok, this was my 1st time going to the sheep & wool fest and I was prepared to be very, very overwhelmed. It was certainly crowded, and there certainly were more yarn choices than I had ever seen before, but I did my research on the Ravelry forums and I went with veterans of many festivals (see above; not the alpaca). I packed light. I brought water. I remembered to rest. I splurged on yarn but not as much as I could have. Here be my haul.
Laceweight from Tess' Designer Yarns:
(two of these)
(and three of these)
My 1st yarn from Brooks Farms: two skeins of Acero (yes, those are my pale, pale knees).
Then, the find of the year:
I found this gigantic hank of what looks like handspun wool, in beautiful springy greens, and there was more than a pound of yarn on the hank, which smelled really nice and wooly, but it wasn't scratchy at all... It was priced at $18.95! I love it, and I want to make a simple garter-yoke cardigan inspired by this one by Knitting School Drop Out, which I can't stop looking at. I used my friend's ball winder and check out how many cakes that pound of yarn made:
I also found a steal in one of the barns: there were some mini skeins of alpaca in a box for $1 an ounce. After stopping to squish the more expensive put-ups of alpaca every few minutes on Saturday, I was really pleased to find a very affordable chance to sample the fiber. I bought three ounces in various autumnal shades. I'm thinking a cowl, maybe... I haven't photographed those skeins yet, but I needed to blog them to make them real.
Oh yeah, and I think that the festival inspired me to organize my stash, because a few days after I got back I decided to do a May Airing and to organize and catalogue everything I have. It was actually kinda fun! For my own sake, I think I'll skip posting a picture of the full monty here, but I will share with you the Sock Yarn Stash:
Click here to see it bigger, and with notes! Um, that variegated blue/purple at the top was also from the Festival. But that's it, really. Plus some food (lamb gyros and soft serve) and some soap (handmade). Plus some all natural lip balm; always a must. But that's all I bought. I think. And now, back to your regularly scheduled recession.
2 comments:
I think it's beautiful that you photograph, catalogue and discuss your yarn purchases. :)
Wishing I could pet all that lovely yarn. Congratulations on some great deals there!
I'm looking forward to seeing your garter yolk cardigan. I just made one of the baby sweaters from EZ's almanac that it's based on (well toddler sweater, for MissM, and it's not quite done with - loose ends and lack of buttons are taunting me) and enjoyed the knitting of it very much.
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