Yummy yarns

One of the wonderful things about Stitches East was the market. I had a few constraints for the yarn I bought: it had to fit in my luggage (no cheating by buying another bag), it had to be on sale/not available online, and it would not exceed my spending limit. I managed to fall within those boundaries and still walk away with some fabulous yarns. Without further ado, prepare to drool.

The first purchase of the trip, fingering weight yarn from Liza Souza in the color "Gold". The skein is 1750 yds / 8 oz.!


Based on the famed long lines at all Blue Moon booths at other fiber gatherings, we stayed for the special market preview for attendees on Thurs. night. I could not resist the subtle coloring of the green "Rio" (rayon) yarn. I was debating whether or not I *really* wanted it when I saw the name. Come on now, with a name like "Pond Scum" there was no way I could walk away. I was a total fiber nerd and showed Jane Sowerby the yarn while she was autographing my copy of her new book, Victorian Lace. She recommended one of the simpler patterns so that the yarn would be the center of attention. (She laughed when she read the name on the label.)

(I apologize, I took multiple pictures of the yarn and none of them really capture how lovely this yarn really is.)

I kept circling Tess' Designer Yarns booth. Their yarns were so heavenly soft. Although they are quite affordable for what they are, it was going to be hard to justify spending so much of my budget on yarn for one project. However, I just couldn't stay away. Luckily, Alice noticed a stash of alpaca labeled at 150 yards/skein for $3. I believe that Alice, Pam, and I all walked away with about 10 skeins each. It is destined to be a cardi for me. Perhaps it will be one of my first original designs, we'll see.

It is so soft, even Cam has to see what the fuss is all about.

Again, my obsession with lace dictated that I find out what the Habu Textiles yarn was all about since it is used on a couple of different patterns in Victorian Lace. I was not disappointed. These yarns were not just well-packaged but they were also a good buy.

The Tsumugi (silk) yarn in colors #35 and #46:


Close-ups so you can better see the flecks of color in each of the yarns:


I can't wait to knit these up--I even got beads to go with the yarn but you'll have to wait to see those.

I couldn't resist some of there other great deals. In particular, I got these two cones (747 yds / 1 oz each) of fine merino wool in color #77:

After taking the picture, I realized they didn't quite look like the same color although the labels show the same color number. I didn't see any dyelot information so I may use them stranded together or for two separate projects.

The other yarn I got at Habu was their ramie yarn. The bloom from this yarn (they had swatches and project samples hanging above the yarn displays) was phenomenal. I don't know what this will be but it will be very wispy when I'm done with it.


Now, I just need to get cracking with the knitting. I have made a deal with myself, I have to use at least half of all this yarn before I can buy more at next year's event. I'll be spending lots of time trying to finish off some of my UFOs this weekend so I can start knitting for me, me, me. :-)