So There Was This Yarn Crawl

Abby went to a fiber festival while I was in DC at the Frozen Four in early April. There were many text messages and phone calls while she was there and so I had to go to Ohio this weekend to pick up the loot.....and do some other things....

There was an undercover visit to the Woollery to check 'em out. I'll be less than modest at this point. I like my shop better. But they did have a few out of print books and a couple of books I don't have in my shop and so I needed them for research purposes. I've been thinking about weaving a lot and it shows in my book purchases. The Weaving tapestry in Rural Ireland was a book i was so excited to find. I had it in my shop many times and kept selling them thinking I would keep the next one but then it went out of print and I was crushed.

I also picked up a cute little true high whorl spindle. The shaft is level with the top of the whorl and the hook is very tiny. It's fast and light.

Then there was a visit to Lambikins Hideaway in Hamilton Ohio. They have a great selection of books, a lot of needles to choose from, and a really nice yarn selection. I think I would have definitely been able to find a project here. Maggie did find something...in a couple of stores. The Lambikins project was a hat. Her first on circular needles. We bought some yarn and a couple of sets of circulars to get her needles stash started. It's not pictured here. She's been knitting.

The next shop was Woolly Bully in Springboro. Pretty good yarn selection. She did have a little handspun and so I bought a skein in a show of solidarity. The needles are for Maggie's stash. I know I sell the Addis but I don't carry the 16 inch size right now and I wanted to be supportive of the shop I was in.

My favorite of all was Ball and Skein in Germantown Ohio. No website yet but I did stress the importance of getting one up and running soon. She also carries Abby's Batts and there were some there for sale. I almost bought some but I got the stink-eye from Abby.

Susan has fiber and a great yarn selection including local yarns, plenty of good quality needles and fiber from a local source as well as Fleece Artist. She is lovely and friendly and helpful. Her shop is miniature but the space is well used. I don't knit socks but you can see she put a spell on me and I came out with 3 skeins of sock yarn. Maybe I better weave it.

The fiber in that photo is a Romney/Mohair blend. How could I resist. The bag is from Lantern Moon and I picked that up for Chelsea who was holding down the Spinning Loft fort while I was gallivanting.

There were also gifts and things from Abby. Three Sheeps.

These are the fleeces I ordered...including an East Friesian which had me very excited. The linked website talks about them as a Marsh type. I will be doing more research into this breed. the fleece is very beautiful. I need to look at it more closely but it reminded me of the Down breeds with a crimp that is not very organized and a bouncy feel. Others in the pile include Icelandic and...I forget. You'll have to wait and be surprised when new fleeces show up in the online store.

Abby darling made me some lovely yarn. The underneath one is Polwarth that she bought from my shop and spun from the lock into a beautiful cabled yarn. There is enough there for a hat but I think I'll be squooshing it for a while first. The pink one is a 3 ply sock yarn. Abby made it specifically for me because I have a horrible time with handknit socks wearing out very fast. She has assured me that this will wear well. No I hafta knit the socks.

Here's what I worked on last night. Plying. The far left skein is spindle spun from top I bought last spring at Romney Wools in Toronto when i was visiting Denny. I broke it into 2 pieces and spun it on one of the lovely Bossies. Plied it on Abby's 30" wheel. 350 yards total.

Here it is in progress. It was 50 grams to begin with.

The other yarn which is bright Red/Orange is also spindle spun on my 10g bossies. I started out with 2 ounces of 50/50 Cashmere and Silk dyed and blended into batts by my BFF. I then spun silk to ply it with on Thursday and Friday night. That is one ounce of the Cashmere/silk plied with the red silk. I don't have enough silk spun to ply the next one so I pocketed another ounce of red silk from the house of fiber. That one ounce of spindle spun cashmere plied with silk gave me 650 yards. if the next spindle full is the same (and I think it is) I should have plenty to make a lovely large shawl.

Edward showed Maggie how to weave and he made this pot holder for Ryan.

Chad also had a gift for me. Nice right? Well, it's better than you think.

A mirror, perfume bottle, sewing kit, pen, scissors, file with a measure on the other side, cork screw, tweezers and flashlight. It's a pink girl's dream.

All in all it was a good weekend. I learned some new things about myself and my shop. Got plenty of spinning done. Had fun with my friend. Went on secret spy missions. Ate good food and home made pulled pork.

Now I'm ready for a nap.