Saturday, November 15, 2014

Yarnish News

I realize I totally skipped posting my SAFF haul. Mom and I went with two other wonderful ladies from the Smoky Mountain Knitting Guild and spent a wonderful Friday morning jostling from one woolly vendor to another. I had one main goal. Get one of these guys:


That's one handsome wee Peruvian alpaca. Unfortunately, I paid cash for him and can't remember the name of the vendor. 


These skeins are 100% alpaca from Morning Moon Alpacas. The brown pile are small skeins of yarn made from hair on the alpaca's neck and legs, which is coarser than what you normally find in a skein of alpaca. Nevertheless, they are pretty soft. They were only $2 a piece, so we couldn't help but scoop up some. The larger, white skein is 100% baby alpaca. Super soft. 

I also discovered Miss Babs. Apparently Miss Babs is a non-secret in a loop from which I'd been excluded. I've been living under a rock. She is located not far away; her dying studio is in Mountain City, TN, on the NC/TN state line (north of here). Her mystique comes from her wonderful sense of color and a bit of exclusivity that comes from the fact that she does not work wholesale with LYSs. You can only get her dyed yarn online or at shows. She puts on a grand vendor display indeed. I was totally bowled over by the sheer quantity of color and variety of bases!  And the line to check out was huge! She also designs special dye lots for events in limited quantities. The SAFF colorway was sold out in hours before we even got to the Miss Babs booth. I still don't know what it looked like. 

I have a small issue with overstimulation, though. I simply couldn't pick out a single skein. So many colors...so many bases! But I had to get something from my new-found fav dyer. 

So I did this:




This is Polydactyl yarn set in "Funny Papers". These are sets of 7 mini-skeins (133 yards) in 7 different colorways, named after one of the distinct colorways, on her Yummy 2-Ply Toes. In addition to "Funny Papers" (the multi-color), it contained "Coral", "Coos Bay", "Cloak", "Forever", "Oyster", and one other that I can't remember because Mom threw away the wrapper. I was so in love with the colors that I was compelled to cast on something. I finally decided on a very simple shawl that is longer than a basic triangle, one with ends that are more acute. I'm just finishing up a stretchy bind off today.



I also picked up this giant cone of yarn from Miss Bab's:


That is approximately 3800 yards of undyed ("Ecru") Tarte yarn base (fingering weight in 75% superwash merino / 15% nylon / 10% tencel). It was a deal at only $38.00. Mom and I've been playing with the acid dyes again! This is the cone from which I've been niddy noddying some big skeins. 

I've also been working on a new shawl, Briargate by Jen Lucas, in Berroco Boboli Lace (on the needles in the picture below) and Berroco Folio. 


I'll leave you with some nice pictures showcasing our fickle weather. November has been a trip.
 

Just before the winter snow tease.

The Japanese maple through the craft room windows after the winter snow tease.
Just don't mind that un-curtained window...it's a WIP.


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