Yarn Sale Purchases

This weekend was a weekend of yarn sale purchases. On Friday night Renaissance Yarn in Kent was having a special sale for Leap Day and everything in the store was 15% off. They also have Fiber Fest Friday which is a drop-in knitting group. So I headed over there after work, spent a couple hours knitting, and came home with several skeins of Cascade 220.




I'm going to use the black skeins to knit a vest that converts into a bag from Knit Tricks! by Rebecca Wat. It is knit with 4 rectangles, 2 long and 2 short. I'm going to try knitting it using my knitting machine.

Not sure what I'm going to do with the dark pink skeins. I got 4 skeins so I'm thinking of making a tank or short sleeve top on the knitting machine, as well.

Now, 15% off would be considered a pretty good deal at any yarn store, but this weekend it paled in comparison to the 50% off sale at Hilltop Yarn in Seattle in Queen Anne.

Unfortunately, they had an electrical fire in their basement and although there wasn't any major damage and very little smoke damage, they had to sell everything at 50% off. Its a great deal for knitters, but not for Hilltop.

This was one CRAZY sale. Charity and I got there about an hour after they opened. We were told that there was line down the street before they opened.

The store was packed with at least 200 knitters and I'm not exaggerating. You could hardly move. If the fire marshall had come by, they certainly would have had a violation on their hands.

I found 10 skeins of purple Rowan Summer Tweed and 9 skeins of a pink Rowan Summer Tweed yarn when I first got in the store. It was right by the door and I guess most people were interested in other yarns because I was able to get enough to work on 2 different projects from my copy of The Summer Tweed Collection by Kim Hargreaves that I picked up a couple of years ago. I did my first sweater out of a pattern from the booklet.

MJ just finished up Cinnamon and I'm thinking of making that or Thyme. Both are cardigans. And then I'd like to make a tank or short sleeve top like Rosemary or Amber.

I gave up trying to look at anything in the back room next to the registers because it was full with no moving room with people trying to check out. I finally went out on the back porch, where another line ended and waited in line for 2 1/2 hours to check out. Along the way I picked up 5 skeins of chunky Malibrigo and a set of Denise Needles.

I already have a set of Denise Needles which I LOVE. They are so versatile. They usually cost $50 and I got them for $25 which is a great bargain!

 

 

 

 

Madrona

Today I drove down to Tacoma with Lauren to go to the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival. I had tried to sign up during registration for a couple of classes but wasn't able to get into any. So I just went down for the vendor portion. And there was a lot to see!

This antique sock knitting machine was in the Angora Valley and Fly Dye Designs booth.

There was lots of beautiful yarn and roving everywhere!

Yummy!

I love these colors!

But alas, I'm feeling so blue and sick that all I could even muster to buy was a WPI Tool Kit

Yarn Fix

Last night, I got to touch a lot of yummy yarn at A New Yarn in North Seattle. My friend Ilauixh just started working there and they needed volunteers to do inventory.

I got to count the Cascade 220 they have. I just love that yarn. I wanted to buy some because they sell it for around $6.50 which is the least expensive I've seen in all of Seattle. I also got to count some sock yarn and the new bamboo needles they just got in.

A New Yarn is a non-profit yarn store that supports Northwest Family which is working to end domestic violence.

A New Yarn sells new yarn, books, and knitting notions as well as donated ones. I actually took some left over balls of skeins with me to donate.

We only inventoried the new yarn and books but I had a good time looking through some old knitting books and patterns from the 60's, 70's, and 80's that people donated.

Charity and I are planning on going on Saturday to sit and knit at the store. Maybe I'll buy my Cascade 220 then!

Airplane Projects

I finished Amy's ear flap hat that I started on the way down to CA while I was there, in the evenings. It was a really quick knit because I had only an hour or two at night to work on it and I still got it all done except the finishing. I had her try it on last night and it is too big. So I'm going to rip back and do it again. I may go all the way to the cast on because I don't like the hole at the top. I know I can close it up with a needle, but I'm thinking of using the same Magic-Cast On I use for toe-up socks.



On the way to the airport in Burbank from Oxnard where I was working, I stopped at two yarn stores. The first one was Stitch Cafe. They had some merino wool yarn with sterling silver in it that I almost bought but at $24 a skein, I decided it was just a little to pricey, especially since I didn't know what I would do with it.

The other store I stopped at was Unwind on Hollywood Way literally 5 minutes from the airport. Stephenie has a nice sized store with lots of great yarns. I just enjoyed walking around the store and looking at everything. I asked Stephanie about an easy one skein project I could knit on the plane. She showed me a couple of scarfs but they would have required me to think more then I had wanted to on the plane.

So she showed me a project called Beech Wood, a neck warmer, that takes two skeins of Manos Silk Blend . She gave me the pattern (which is no longer available on the Ilga Leja site directly but is available, without pictures, on the web archive site here) and a stitch marker.

She also let me use her ball winder. Here it is after it was wound. Stephanie showed me a trick on how to undo the knots/wraps on the Manos skeins so that you don't lose any yarn.



This is a really lovely yarn. The colors are great and I love the sheen that the silk gives the wool. It knits up pretty too.

I started the neckwarmer in the store on size 5 needles and it was way too small. So I traded in those neeedles for a size 8. I think it is a better size but they are 16" length (I meant to get the 24"... but this will be better for hats) and I can't really tell. I may move it onto my Denise needles so I can get a better look at it.

I got about 3/4th through the first repeat which is a 32 row pattern stitch while waiting in the terminal and on the plane.



Now, I've got 5 WIPs (a first for me I think!) and I need to get back to my Mr. Greenjean for my sweater along too!

Noro Sock Yarn

Yesterday, in our quest to get out and check out different neighborhoods, Amy and I went driving around West Seattle. So, of course, I had to stop at Seattle Yarn on California and get some Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn.



It is color no S40, dye lot A. 100 grams, 420 meters. 70% wool, 30% Nylon

While we were out, we also got me a Garmin nüvi 200 GPS. I was really hesitant about getting one because they are really pricey but I'm so glad we did.

It is weird but since we've moved here I have been less willing to get out and explore on my own. And I really love to travel and learn new areas. So this hasn't made sense to me. I think the problem is that, unlike when I'm traveling and have time to kill, when I need to go somewhere or think I'd like to check something out, I have limited time. So I don't want to get lost.

So it is easier to stay at home and not get lost?!? WTF?

I think this disturbed Amy more then it did me. She is used to me being so self-reliant and last week when we got lost trying to get on the viaduct (there is only 2 exits from downtown,grrrr) and I got so frustrated that I stated crying because I nearly ran over some guy riding his bike in the crosswalk who came out of nowhere and then honked at me like I was the idiot who came out of a tunnel into a crosswalk, she insisted that we get me a gps, one that tells you turn-by-turn directions.

The GPS comes loaded with over 6 million addresses and locations. It can show where the closest restaurant or gas station is. It also has the phone numbers and addresses for lots of different businesses. And once you select a destination, it calculates the route and then talks you through the directions as you arrive at the places where you need to turn.

And the best featured? You can load your own map locations. So I converted my Seattle Yarn Map to the right format, uploaded it to my GPS, and now I can be anywhere in the greater Seattle area, turn on my GPS and see the closest yarn stores. Cool!

Reclaimed Yarn

Last night I got out my swift and wound up the yarn from one of the wool sweaters I unraveled. I got the sweater, along with a couple of others, last month at a thrift store with the intention of reclaiming the yarn to add to my stash.

It is a sweaters worth of yarn at least since it was a men's large sweater with lots of cables on it. I need to wash and hang it now to get all the kinks out. Then I plan on dyeing it but I'm not sure what color(s) or how. I'm going to a dyeing party on the 15th with women from my Wednesday night knitting group. So I want it all prepared by then.

After dyeing it I'm not sure what I'll do with the yarn. It is kind of scratchy as wool goes so it would be best as an outer garment. Or I might use it for felting projects.

Blue Moon Fiber De-Stashing Saled

Charity, Ialiuxh, and I had a wonderful time at the Blue Moon Fiber De-staching Sale at the Scappose Creek Inn in Scappose, OR yesterday. The inn is a cute B&B with 3 houses with several bedrooms in each. We stayed in Lindy's Loft which had a Queen sized bed and a daybed with a trundle bed. It was a good sized room for the 3 of us but the bathroom was tiny.
They have a couple of llamas on the property. I feed the completely black one, who is the female, right from my hand with llama food they have for sale. She wouldn't let the male get any food and when I tried to give him some, he was so agitated with her that he just spit! Well, having lived with alpaca for the last 2 years, I know better then to tempt fate and try to calm him down. The spit would just get more noxious! So no more food for them!
It was a bright sunny, beautiful day with the trees and landscape in full autumn colors. It was just nice being outside in the bright morning sunshine. The inn also had chickens and a rooster walking around the property.
But as nice as the B&B was and as beautiful the day was, we didn't go to Oregon for that. We went for YARN! Luckily, we were first in line at 9 am for the 10 am opening because, the place was crazy packed with people within 5 minutes. Here's Charity loaded up with yarn to sort. The best method was to grab what you thought you'd like, walk away from the mayhem, and sort it at a table away from the crowd. Then you take back what you don't like and get more to sort. I did this several times. Ialiuxh has it down to a science!
Here is what Charity and I ended up with. Mine is in the lower right hand corner. I bought 7 skeins of the lightweight Socks That Rock sock yarn and 2 skeins of De-vine, a worsted or bulky weight yarn, in pink.

The yarn Charity bought for her friend in England is in the lower left hand corner. And the new yarn for her stash is above.
Ialiuxh was very good by sticking to her "rules" for the sale. She only bought sock yarn which had purple, green, or orange.

After the sale we drove back home via two yarn store stops in Tacoma. We went to Lamb's Ear Yarn which is in a cute little house that has several rooms of yarn. I bought a couple sets of cable needles for my cable class next week at the Yarn Stash. On set is by Brittany needles and are straight birch wood. The other set is plastic in a "J" shape. I bought both because I don't know which type I'll end up preferring better.

The other yarn store we went to was Fiber etc. It was packed from floor to ceiling with lots of wonderful yarn. But by the time we got there I was whooped and didn't really look around much. I'll have to make another trip there when I have more energy. Who knew that yarn shopping could wear you out so much?!?

More pictures in my Google Album

Reclaimed Ball Bands

Andi has posted a PDF for yarn ball bands for reclaimed yarn.

It includes a place to write:
Weight in oz and grams
Yardage
Source
Fiber Content
Care Instructions
Trade Value

This is great because there is only one fiber content care label on sweaters that when unraveled/ripped produce a lot of balls of yarn. Now each ball can have its own ball band.

Makes me want to go out to the thrift store and get some more sweaters for recycling. I haven't frogged the ones I've gotten so far, so I better not. But the temptation is really there!

I've Fallen Into The Malabrigo Black Hole

Today Amy and I took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island and went to Churchmouse Yarns & Teas. They have Noro Kureyon and Silk Garden on sale for 20% off. So I thought I'd buy some.

Well, some how I ended up getting two skeins of Malabrigo instead. A couple of people in my Wednesday night Knitting group just love the yarn. I hadn't even heard of it before I moved here to Seattle, go figure.

This yarn is so soft and the colors are so vibrant. I'm afraid that I've fallen into a Malabrigo black hole that I'll never be able to get back out of! :)

But first I want to try it out on a couple of small projects before deciding if I want to spend $12 a skein for a sweater or garment that will use at least 5 or 6 skeins. I'm going to make a set of wrist warmers each for both us.

We also went to Poulsbo. I just love the main street there with all it Norwegian influenced businesses and restaurants. We browsed in both Wild & Wooly and Amanda's Yarns & Spinning. Both had a lot of yarn to look at but I didn't end up buying any. I think the Malabrigo will keep me busy along with my two other knitting projects.

Yarn Galore!

Not only did my box of yarn for my Silver Bell come from Knit Picks yesterday, I also got some swatching samples from Sarah's Yarn.

Plus, Charity was having a stash reduction and I bought some great Lane Cervinia sock yarn. I just love the color! And it feels soooooooft.

Along with the 6 skeins I got yesterday from Knit Picks, I now have enough yarn to make 4 pairs of socks. I still have to finish my Monkey first.

I'm planning on working on my swatch for Silver Belle soon. I'm still working on mom's Wickedly Foolish Cardigan. I got more knitted on it last night at knitting group. And this time I remembered to knit the mock cables so I don't have to rip out again.

Pictures to come (I broke my camera last week and have to use my cell phone camera which only takes adequate pictures during the day in natural light, argh!)

Two More Sweaters To Recycle

Okay, this is getting addicting. I hit 2 thrifts store yesterday after I went to the Renaissance Yarn Fall Fashion Show in Kent. I was on the look out for sweaters to recycle.

I didn't find anything at the Children's Hospital Thrift store in Kent. But there was a great little bookstore, New Earth Books, next door that I checked out. The ladies in the store working there were really nice (maybe a little too nice, I felt a little overwhelmed by all their attention) and I ended up getting a reading from Ginger.

I wanted to know why I'm here in Seattle and what to expect. She gave me some good insights to the real reasons I left Texas, which I hadn't fully articulate for myself.

I've wanted a new beginning and just couldn't seem to get one going. I mean, a lesbian, non-Christian, democrat living in deeply Christian rural Texas Bush loving country?!? What was I thinking? Don't get me wrong. I love Marble Falls and my friends there. But honestly now that I'm finally ready to settle down somewhere, it really needs to be in a BLUE state.

She also told me that I need to make sure I got out in nature everyday. She suggested that I find a tree to hug (maybe literally but I think also as just a place to get to) and to get a little bit of sun each day (how I'm going to do the later, I don't know since it isn't necessarily sunny in Seattle that much right now). She also said I needed to add another time of prayer/meditation to my day in the evening. So I'm considering taking yoga since I already journal/pray/meditate in the mornings.


I know that lots of people don't believe in psychic readers, but having learned and read the tarot a little bit myself, I know that HP can talk to us through lots of ways. I've had friends in the past who were gifted readers. I take what I like and leave the rest.

Anyway, back to the sweater hunt. I did find two at Value Village in Burien. They were both men's sweaters in wool. One has a strand of purple and a strand of red yarn plyed together. I'm thinking I'll make Amy a cardigan that doesn't have a high neck since she hates having anything touch her neck and this yarn is a little scratchy.

The other sweater has natural/white yarn. It has great cabeling done on it. I almost hate to take it apart but I'm never going to wear it in its current form. I want to practice dyeing with the recycled yarn. I hoping it isn't superwash, but it seems to scratchy to be that. Don't know what I'll make with the yarn, it will probably give me enough for several projects since it is a men's large sweater.

Oh, and you know, ripping out a sweater when it is not one you knitted yourself is very meditative and satisfying.

Renaissance Yarn Fall Fashion Show

I went to Renaissance Yarn in Kent this morning to see their Fall Fashion show featuring garments knit from Louet yarn.

Right after I walked in and started browsing, one of the owners, Nancy, welcomed me and spoke with me for a couple a minutes about the store. She was really sweet and made me feel right at home!

Renaissance Yarn was packed with lots of women (and a couple of men) for the fashion show. There is a great corner up at the front of the store filled with sitting chairs that are used for classes and drop-in knitting. Today the chairs were all facing toward the center of the store and there were other chairs set up around as well.

I sat in a chair near where the models came out with the garments on. I particularly like Tori. It was knit from Euroflax which is 100% Wet Spun Linen yarn. I'm not a big fan of how linen feels in the skein but knit up and washed it sure does soften up!

Another one I liked was Madisson. Although, I'd change the way the button are attached. And the cardigan looked a whole lot better on the model at the store today then it does in the picture for the pattern.

I was disappointed that two of the patterns in the guide, Fei and Shauna, weren't at the fashion show. They both look like wonderful patterns and I'd love to have seen them in person.

I really liked the Gem wool yarn that Louet has. It comes in 4 different weights and has a great selection of colors. I bought a skein of light/worsted weight in Teal. I'm planning on making a set of wrist warmers with it.

Yarn For Silver Belle

I've order Knit Picks Swish Superwash yarn in Jade today for the Silver Belle cardigan pattern. Hopefully, it will be here by next week. I really want to get started on it.

I also ordered some Essential yarn in several different colors. I want to make a pair of socks for my mom and for Amy. And, of course, for me! I figured since I was spending over $45, I'd order some sock yarn so that I'd get them without having to pay shipping. I did have to pay tax though. What's up with that? They must be in Washington.

So if they are, why is it going to take 5 - 14 days for my yarn to get here?!?

Seattle Area Yarn Stores

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There are nearly 52 yarn stores in the Seattle area. If I visit just one a week, it will take me all year to see them. That's a lot of yarn! But what better way to learn my way around the Seattle area and get to meet a lot of knitters along the way!

This list is taken from the Ravelry Sheepless in Seattle Group's Puget Sound LYS List post. (Sorry, if your not a member yet, you'll have to sign up and get on the waiting list. Maybe soon they will be out of Beta and everyone can get in!)