Like You’ll Never See Me Again

Reference

Ok. I know I said that I wasn’t going to do this; but I figured that if I didn’t show you the stuff that I got at Sheep and Wool, you may never see it at the rate I move.

But first, let me tell you what my philosophy is when shopping the festival: “Shop like you may never see it again!” As you may have guessed from that statement, I am not one that goes into these things with a budget. My thought is that the festival is my only chance to actually see, and in some cases, buy, the yarn and fiber from some vendors. There are a lot of independent dyers and farms that are at the festival, and in some cases, MSWF is the only festival that they do. I rarely get things at the festival that I could get at my LYS or from a general Internet retailer. (This wasn’t always true, as when I first started going to the festival, there were no Internet retailers. But that was over 20 years ago.)

In any case, this is my haul:

Sock yarn from MSWF

This blurry pic is of the sock yarns I nabbed. Starting with the one that has already found its way to my ballwinder and work clockwise:

  • Purchased at The Fold Socks That Rock mediumweight in the Carbon colorway. I got this because I have heard so much about STR, but have yet to work with it. Since very few places carry this, I figure that I would pick up a skein and see what the fuss is about. Luckily, one of the colorways that I liked was still available late in the day on Saturday.
  • Purchased at Spirit Trail Fiberworks – ‘Brigit’ which is 100% superwash merino. I see these as winter knitting. The change in color in both skeins seems subtle enough that I might be able to do some pattern work in it. We shall see.
  • Purchased at Cloverhill Yarn – From Unique Sheep: Luxe (silk and wool) in Sunrise on the Sea and Tinsel Toes (tencel and wool) in Fireworks and From Chewy Spaghetti – 100% superwash merino sock yarn in the Pragmatic colorway. These are going to be summer knitting, I think. If summer is long enough….

And, of course, there is Sheila’s yarn that I also got at Cloverhill to make the socks for my mom.

Progress on my mother’s socks

Hopefully, my mom will have them before Father’s Day!

And then there is the spinning fiber:

Rovings from MSWF

Starting with the bag and working clockwise:

  • Purchased from Tintagel Farms – 1 pound of 50% Romney – 50% mohair in the Tide Pool colorway
  • Purchased from The Barefoot Spinner (sorry, no website) – 1 pound of 50% Romney – 50% mohair in a blue-green
  • Purchased from Cloverhill Yarn – 4 ounces of merino from Mama E’s C*EYE*BER Fiber in the Black Watch colorway
  • Purchased from Spirit Trail Fiberworks – 4 ounces of merino in brown, red, and orange.

and something that I have already started spinning

Merino roving in Woodland from Gale’s Art

That is one of four ounces of merino from Gale’s Art in the Woodland colorway. I am spinning it from the fold (thus the pieces that Mr. Penney calls troll hair.) I have an ounce of the stuff already spun up.

Woodland spun as fine single

Not a quick spin, but I am liking the result.

When I met up with Roseann and my enabler, my enabler gave me this:

Gift from Opal

Ain’t that sweet! Mr. Penney and I have to make it out to Hawaii some time!

Now all of that, was done in about three hours on Saturday. Then, on Sunday, I had to go back out to pick up my entries in the skein and garment competition, giving me a chance to pick up this:

Laceweight silk to weave scarf

Lots of laceweight silk from Spirit Trail Fiberworks. They joked with me, asking if I would like to buy the rest of what was there (they were in the process of packing up the booth.) My idea for this is a weaving project. Exactly what design, I am not sure yet, but it should be on the loom in a few months.


Comments

5 responses to “Like You’ll Never See Me Again”

  1. Mmm. Such fibery goodness. I’m glad I missed all that laceweight. I had to really squeeze everything into my second suitcase as it is.

    I’m so glad you like the goodies! It was so much fun putting it all together. 🙂

  2. Yes, you should go to Hawai’i. I highly recommend spending a lot of time on the Big Island, as it’s the most varied. A late night hike out onto the lava fields was truly one of the most sublime experiences of my life.

  3. I thoroughly enjoyed admiring all your new stash additions. I can’t wait to see the sock yarns knit up and what you weave with the gorgeous silk yarns. I bought a similar colorway at the Barefoot Spinner, but there is no mohair in mine. I’m curious to know what you think of STR. I like them over all, but I knitted a pair of lightweight socks on size 0s and have nearly worn a hole above the heel.

  4. oooohh! Good stuff! I take my Spirit Trail Fiberworks laceweight silk out and whisper secrets to it about once a week.

  5. Wow! Great haul. And I really like your shopping philosophy!