Rainbow Yarn and Fibers

Before we went to Memphis this Thanksgiving, I did my homework. I was visiting a city I’ve rarely been to, so I researched the Local Yarn Shops first. I found one nearby in Germantown that sold fiber as well as yarn. The Fiber part is important because when I buy yarn, I try to have a project in mind before I buy it. Fiber doesn’t need a project - it is a project. Of course I need to figure out what to do with the yarn once I’ve spun it, but that's neither here nor there.

I had to decide on one store to visit because unfortunately the family we were visiting are not fiber people so do not understand the need to visit more than one yarn store at a time. So looking for a yarn store that sells fiber was a quick way to narrow down the choices when researching LYSs in a new city. It might not be the best yarn store, but when you can’t compare stores because they don’t have websites (why don’t they have websites?!), it’s a shot in the dark anyway.*

When I first walked into Rainbow Yarns and Fibers, I thought I’d missed my target.

Well, it has some yarn.

It’s a little one room shop, and not stuffed to the gills. But upon taking a closer look, I realized that this little shop was selectively stocked. There wasn’t a lot, but it was all yarn I’d want to own.

Handspun yummy!

There was a place to sit and knit, and probably take classes.

There were these fun felted hats for sale, right next to the sidekick I wanted to take home.

Magazines and more yarn!

The register had buttons all around.

Found the fiber I was looking for, it was under other handspun, next to project bags. I wanted them all.

I've struck fiber!

I did buy a bit of white cashmere and some bamboo in a red-gold color I couldn’t resist. Although with the list of things I want to knit between now and January, I’m probably not going to be spinning anything until February. But that’s ok, it can wait.

Isn't it pretty?

I’m glad that DH and second eldest SIL were willing to go out of their way to appease my need to visit a yarn store. It was just a quick trip, but this little gem was not to be missed.


Blanket update: Five more rows of garter stitch, bind off and block. Should be done tonight or tomorrow.


*I found out about a great yarn store in downtown Oxford that we missed because they don’t have an online presence. Oh well, guess we’ll have to go back.

Pictures!

You know the glut of fiber photos I keep talking about? Well, here they are:

Yes, I live in Texas.

Wish I’d gotten some of the gray, but it was gone by Saturday when I bought stuff.

These are silk hankies.

Silk hankies are silk cocoons spread out on a square form, one on top of another. They are dyed together and then the spinner pulls them apart to spin with each individually. Knitty has a good explanation of how to spin with them.

Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.

I did not come home with a bag of unwashed fleece. It was a near thing though; it’s hard turning down that much merino fiber for ten dollars.

I love this little bear.

He’s sitting on the shelf above the white bear fibers yarn. I know the guy who dyes these, he's very nice, you should give him money.

I didn't end up getting a spindle from these guys. But aren't they pretty?

Lots of merino fiber.

There's cotton, camel, cashmere, carbonized bamboo and other wool.

This is from the Spinning Silk into Gold stall. I got a bunch of fiber from them.

This is a silk lap.

This was also at Spinning Silk into Gold stall. It’s like a giant hankie, expensive but so pretty.

I love the way they set these up, from cool to warm.

It's good to have options.

This is fiber from the Rainbow Dyeing in One Pot class.

Next year, I may buy myself one of these pots and take the One Pot class.

I loved every color combination at this stall. I'd have loved to walk home with most of these.

This is the box charkha that I talked about a while ago.

This was at the Yarnorama stall. Once I get a whole lot better at spinning cotton, I’m thinking about getting one of these. Maybe.

Me at my wheel... wait a minute.

This was kind of cool, kind of creepy, but not something you overlooked.

I love how steampunk this sock knitting machine looks.

This is the bad hair day hat, knitted out of art yarn with large mohair locks. Isn't it great?

Goat on a rope.

This goat is where the mohair comes from. He was very soft, and wanted to eat the flag that was covering the table next to him.

This is a drum carder.

 It’s a fast and easy way to mix colors and fibers into a batt. Notice the adorable little spinner waiting for her batt.

Yes, the bearskin rug is knitted. No, I have no idea how they added the teeth.

Considering all the wonderful fiber that was there, and all the fabulous yarn, I think I was fairly constrained in my purchases.

Angora, baby suri alpaca, bison/silk, camel, cashmere, cotton, carbonized bamboo, mohair white and dyed, merino/cashmere/silk superwash merino white and dyed... I think that's it.

Kid N Ewe tips.

As promised I took a whole bunch of pictures this past weekend at Kid N Ewe. Lots. So, while I’m going through them and organizing my thoughts, here’s a little list of things I learned at my first Kid N Ewe:

1. Make sure you know how many buildings there are in the festival. I felt rather silly when, after walking around one large room for three quarters of an hour, someone pointed out there were two other buildings to check out.
 

2. Bring cash. It’s not immediately apparent that you need cash. Most venders take plastic – there’s an iPhone app that allows them to swipe and send you a text receipt. (I love the world we live in.) But if you want to EAT anything, you need cash. I was booked from noon to 6, without a block of time to run to an ATM, so I was fairly loopy by the end of the first day.
 

3. If you are doing any dying, you need to bring the right supplies. Full dish gloves, the latex ones are too short, and gallon size zip top bags are a must. Also, it’s great to wear old clothes to dye in, but be sure to bring an old coat because it can get a bit chilly.
 

4. Lye itches before it burns. If you are using it (to dye or make soap) be sure to pour some vinegar on anything that itches, better safe than sorry.
 

5. Life would have been a whole lot easier, and I think I would have gotten to know more fiber folk, if I’d rented a room in Boerne rather than driving to San Antonio to stay with my sister. But I would have missed playing Killer Bunnies, watching Mean Girls, and hanging with my sister and her friends. And that would have been a shame.

Next time: A glut of photos.

Renaissance Festival

This past weekend a group of us got together and headed to the Texas Renaissance Festival. We arrived Saturday morning,  set up our tents, changed into garb, and headed in. I could go on about the mead (very tasty), and the food (so bad for you, fried and usually on-a-stick), how beautiful the weather was (until it got cold that night), but really I'm here to talk about drop spindling. And fiber, of course.

I walked around the fest with a bunch of fiber tucked into my skirt and a drop spindle in my hands. I took in the sights, talked with friends, and thoroughly enjoyed myself - all while making yarn. And fairly decent yarn at that. I had some brown Coopworth fiber that lent itself to the spindle nicely.

I haven't used my spindle much since I bought my wheel. But I think all the practice I've had spinning on the wheel has helped. I'm getting a much more consistent yarn.

 
On the way to the festival I cast on for the Southern Lights Hat using my bright blue handspun. I finished that evening at the campsite. Well, when I say finished I mean it was wearable. The ends weren't woven in, it wasn't blocked, and it was missing it's pompoms.

But it got rather chilly that night, so I was glad to have it. The hat is a bit small, so I'm going to block it bigger. If that doesn't work I'll rip back the decreases, knit another inch, and then do the decreases again. It's very quick knitting, so I don't mind, but let's see if we can block that sh*t out first.

When we were comparing notes that evening, I realized there was a stall with yarn and fiber that I'd missed. I had to go! So the next morning after breaking camp, we headed back in. And after a bit of searching, we finally found the lady with the wool. Her name is Sunni Florance, she was from Flat Rock Farm.

She also had goat milk soap, and spindles for sale.

 

There was also handspun yarn.

But, I only had eyes for the fiber.

This is what followed me home.

It's Shetland roving.

 Oh, and there was a goat. It was dressed up for Halloween.

A friend of mine bought a spindle and Sunni gave her a quick demonstration.

After that we played on the giant swings, caught the last bit of the Dead Bob show, and then it was time to head back to Austin.

On the way home we happened to go through Navasota, so of course we stopped by WC Mercantile. I may have gotten a bit more fiber.

The blue is Merino and Tussah Silk. The yellow is Superwash Merino. The green, blue and brown one is Falkland Wool.

I also picked up a new whorl.

I'm hoping this larger whorl will help when I spin silk or bamboo. I hope larger whorl will spin slow enough to prevent me from making overspun yarn when using long staple length fibers. Although, considering the bounty of wool I've recently acquired, I might not have to worry about that for a bit.

Good friends, camping, dressing up, fiber, yarn, and meat on-a-stick - sometimes the world is perfect.

Back at the wheel

This past week my ankle has been feeling better so I've been spinning a bit more. I've taken the blue Corriedale from this:

 to this:

I've misplaced my wraps per inch tool, but I'd say that it's approximately 236 yards of worsted weight/bulky yarn. And that's more than enough for a hat. I think that's what this yarn has decided it wants to be. It's squishy, but not as soft as I would want for a scarf.

I've been knitting like my friend's baby is due any minute, but I've got a couple of months. So I think I may turn my focus more to spinning. All the new fiber I've collected is calling me. Also I'm really looking forward to spinning the purple and silver merino that I got at the same time as the Corriedale. I think that if I start now I can get a little spinning in before we need to go to yoga.

Tonight is the last night in partner yoga and I'm really looking forward to it. I'll miss going on Monday evenings, but that does leave more time for spinning.

Yarn Crawl wrap up

So I didn’t win the grand prize. Nor did I win any of the prizes at the shops. I am slightly disappointed, but all the goodies that were given as gifts and all the fiber and yarn I got made going on the Yarn Crawl more than worth it.

Here’s the haul

Fiber:

 

Yarn I bought:

Yarn I was given:

Random extra gifts:

And now I’m looking forward to Kid ‘n Ewe. I’m hoping I can convince DH that he really wants to spend three days in Boerne. Wish me luck.