Tags
2018, canon hand dyes, cashmere, geek socks, Kunihiro, Lisa Souza, merino, miss babs, RedFish Dyeworks, silk, socks, spinning, stitches west, stray cat sock, yak, yarn
Well today has been so much fun, I can’t remember the last time I went to Stitches. It’s such an amazing event with great vendors, people, yarn, fiber, you get the idea. Usually when I decide to go to an event like this, there is some planning that I do. What I do is if there is a map I either download or print it out and then I will go through all of the vendors and mark on the map where I want to go. Once I know that, I figure out which booths will be the busiest and go to those first. Which usually means once I’m inside I’ll bolt to those booths in order to beat the crowds. Usually this works pretty well, the last time I was at Stitches West I remember there were so many people it did help but not that much. This time it seemed like there were less people, maybe they all had to work and will be there this weekend, but all I know is that i was able to move around pretty easily. But with the bolting plan, I met up with two of my knitting friends in line to go in, and then promptly lost them once we got inside. Oops, but it worked out I suppose, I went on a 2 hour yarn buying spree of sorts and by the end of those two hours I was tired and sore. I was carrying a lot of yarn and other goodies I decided to call it quit and head home.
But what I did buy is pretty great, I stopped by Plucky since I wanted to possibly buy a sweater quantity from them. I found a beautiful rich blue in a good worsted weight, then I started calculate how much I would need and the cost. I had a budget and this one sweater would go over 50% of that budget (which I went over anyways, more on that in a little bit). So I decided to move away from Plucky to a favorite dyer of mine, Miss Babs. I needed to get some yarn for a thank you scarf for French coworker, who was gracious enough to cover my work while I took a vacation. So I went into that booth with a mission, first I looked at the Cashmere and Silk to find a good grey, but did not find one I liked. Which is ok because I had a few options when it came to scarves. I found a great grey in fingering but could not find any more of them, so I pressed on. Then I stumbled upon the color way Escamillo in the Woodbury base, which is a gorgeous Merino Tussah blend. This grey has a slight purple undertone, which I think my coworker will like (and hopefully bribe others into covering me when I want to go on longer vacations).
While I was looking for that grey I found a skein of Yummy 2-ply in Zombie games and I knew I had to have it, even though I don’t know what I will make out of it.
Then I wanted to still get a sweater quantity for a really cozy and versatile sweater that I have been thinking about knitting for a while, so I looked at the Yowza. I found a color I knew would be perfect, but there were only 2 skeins, but I looked around more and found the third skein I would need (these are huge skeins). So I picked up some Blue Slate in the Yowza base and it’s this steely blue grey and I think it’s going to be a handsome and cozy sweater.
I then darted across the way to Canon Hand Dyes and had a nice talk with Aimee (I think that’s how you spell her name, apologies if that is wrong). Then I started looking at the yarn and the first thing I saw was a skein of the Bruce base which is a Merino, Yak, and nylon blend. I am a big sucker for a good yak yarn and this is a good one. The color way for this one is Dracula and it’s stunning, when I was buying the yarn, she said it was one of her favorites and she enjoying dying this one a lot.
Then I did not stop there, I saw this really vibrant yarn and I knew this would need to be a sock, just for fun. This one is the Charles base in the colorway Rainbow Bright and it is very bright.
Then another skein of Charles in the Nevertheless, She Knitted color fell into my hands.
But I was not done there, oh no I saw sets of 6 colors and knew this was on my list. So I grabbed more Bruce in natural and a set called 80s dance party and it makes me so happy. I am really looking forward to knitting this into a Joker and the Thief.
But wait there is still more, I had to stop by RedFish. I wanted to do a Color Gamp, but I wanted to make one that would be a scarf. There were so many colors of beautiful 20/2 Silk yarn that I couldn’t choose the 20 colors I would have needed, so I decided to get three colors for different weaving projects and yes they are all that silk. I think the one on the right, the more teal is going to be for my mom. Once I get the current weaving off of the loom I am going to do a beautiful plain weave silk scarf with two 12 dent heddles, for a 24 DPI weave. I felt this woven into cloth and it is everything that I have wanted. I was kind of stunned, constantly touching the sample and in my own little world of silk ecstasy.I didn’t just buy yarn I bought some mugs too, from a really talented ceramic artist, Mel Kunihiro who makes stunning ceramics. I fell in love with the colors and the interesting ways the glaze was put onto the mugs. I found one I wanted and then decided to buy two more, one for my mom and one for my partner. They really are stunning and one of a kind, I knew I wanted to support this artist, because his work is stunning. I wish they had ordering on their website, but they do not. If you can see them in person I highly recommend it. And they are very reasonably priced, to be honest I think he should charge more for them.
I did visit a few booths, but did not pick anything up at them. I did stop by the Bar Maids and picked up a few things for me and my mother. I asked if she wanted anything while I was there and she said just one or two things. I think she will be happy with what I brought. But my last yarn/fiber booth was Lisa Souza and I always visit her and her husband at this show. They are so nice, personable, and they have great yarn and fiber. I knew I didn’t need more of her yarn, even though I love it. While I was talking to them both I saw a braid of fiber that reminded me of some Redfish that I bought the last time I bought a lot at Stitches. But this was a gorgeous bit of purples in blue and red dominant purples, on a gorgeous Merino/Tussah base. Then there were some undyed fiber in the front and when I saw the sign, I had to get some. It was Merino/Cashmere/Silk and it is as luscious as it sounds.
After that, my arms and legs were getting a little sore, not to mention I was getting hungry and I knew I was over my budget. My credit union even called me to make sure these purchases were me, I thought they would have known by now, yarn and fiber are normal for me. So I left around 1:30, tired, enjoyed my time there, but I needed to eat and rest at home. As an introvert, theres a limit I can reach and I reached it fairly quickly, but I did pretty well. I think I’ll work more on my new Geek Socks out of Stray Cat.