DesigKnit

Fall may have fallen fast, but I think I fell harder.



I went to the Jefferson Sheep and Wool Festival yesterday with a friend (I’m not sure if she uses her real name online), and I came home with enough Shetland fleece for two sweaters, one for me and one for Branden. There’s a rule that I can only have one unprocessed fleece waiting for my attention at a time, so this is all roving ready to go. The brown and white mixed fleeces are from McGyver, the dark brown is from Magnolia, and the grey is from Harriet. I don’t know why it amuses me so much to get personal info about my sheep suppliers, but it does. There’s something fun about going up to buy a fleece and having the shepherd assure you that “she has beautiful wool, and she’s such a sweet girl, too.”

I was much more restrained in my other purchases. I got a pair of fine hand combs for finishing the fleece that I’m processing by hand. I got a bunch of dyes to replace the ones that are running low, and a few new ones to experiment with. I bought an 8 oz. skein of absolutely lovely superfine alpaca at 2400 yds that has weaving written all over it.

I was surprised to see Briar Rose Fibers at the show; I didn’t know that they would be here. I got to meet Chris, finally, after all I’ve heard about her from Jocelyn and Anne. Her fiber is even lovlier in person than it is online. I have been looking at her yarns for quite some time now, waiting for the perfect project, wondering when it would be time to try them. I decided that yesterday was the time, even if I don’t have a specific project yet, or even an opening in the lineup. I could have gladly taken home about 3/4 of the skeins in her booth, but after some deliberation settled on this one.

The poor lighting doesn’t do it justice, but I wanted to just take the pictures so that I could post today instead of waiting a week. It’s a lovely brown and teal yarn, with just a little bit of coffee icecream in there to keep things from being too dark. It’s beautiful, and I can’t wait to knit with it.

Despite having fallen down in several places, there were many more in which I was strong. I passed on some gorgeous alpaca/tencel/cashmere that looked like metal and felt like heaven. I also managed to resist buying out this whole booth of merino/alpaca:

Do you see those colors? I could have taken one of each, or twenty. I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture that included the name of the fiber artist (I think I was avoiding taking pictures of her customers, and so missed that section of the booth). She’s not online yet, but I’m on her mailing list to announce it when her fibers are available. I wasn’t ready to choose without a specific project in mind, and so I’ll wait for another day to buy her yarn. Someday, though, I will have the absolutely perfect project for it.

In a surprising show of willpower (for me, at least), I also resisted the acquisition of another hobby. There was a lot of rug hooking around the show, and it was beautiful.

I loved the detail, and the careful mixing of colored strips of fabric to get such beautifully shaded results. And it would be a great way to use all those tiny bits of fabric that I can’t bring myself to throw away when I’m sewing. Someday, perhaps. Someday.