Wool & Words

I figured I'd get this part out of the way first. SAFF is a small, but growing, fiber festival held in North Carolina every fall. Last year I didn't make many purchases. This year, I decided that I would only look for shawl pins, interesting buttons, and useful knitting tools. I only purchased one thing that fits in these categories:

This is Nancy Shroyer's Knee-sel, an ingenious and utterly necessary tool for any knitter who follows any kind of pattern/chart. It made knitting in the car on the way home a breeze. I never have to worry about having a flat surface to hold my chart; the Knee-sel is always there, always standing at the ready. I love this thing and am so thankful to Nancy for making and marketing it.

So what else did I buy? Why yarn, of course.

From Jojoland comes Melody, a variegated fingering weight wool. I got two skeins in a beautiful blue/brown colorway. It will become either socks (hand wash only, but lovely) or a scarf. Very soft and lucious--and 220 yards on a ball.

I also purchased an Entrelac Shawl pattern from this vendor. I liked the way the model draped, but will likely use a different yarn than the pattern calls for.

Next, we have Just Our Yarn's Almaza:

This is a laceweight tencel yarn. I fell in love with the colors in this skein, particularly since the yarn's properties catch the light. I see a shawl, of course.

I purchased 2 skeins of sportweight from Bovidae Farms in black. I have two cones of a deep red in sport that I bought a couple of years ago from Webs. I'm hoping for a sweater with some stranded work on the cuffs, yoke, and waist.  No pic or web--it's almost like it's top secret! Nice stuff, though...trust me!

What did I do before Brooks Farm? I can't believe I was restrained enough to walk out with just two skeins.

On the right we have Four Play, a merino/silk blend hand-dyed and utterly gorgeous. These folks know how to work some color.

On the left is Acero, a new yarn for Brooks Farm. It's a wool/silk/viscose blend and it's Just. Freakin. Gorgeous. I touched this stuff for two days. I want to make a pair of pajamas from it. This photo doesn't even begin to illustrate how this yarn catches the light.

Scarves, I think, from both, or a small shoulder shawl from the Acero, since the skein has a generous 420+ yards of sporty goodness.

From Interlacements, I purchased a kit for their beaded scarf. I bought a silvery grey yarn with black beads.

Now, the yarn purchases were fun and lovely and all, but there was one thing that I was absolutely OBSESSED with getting my hands on this year. About 1 hour after we left SAFF on Sunday afternoon, we got half a dozen of these babies:

 Frog Jam is the best damn thing in the universe. Fig, Raspberry, Orange and Ginger--can you stand the flavor explosion that's happening in your head right now? This morning we made whole wheat biscuits and enjoyed a bit of this delicacy on them. MMMMM!

Next time: Classes and Knitters!