Stash Acquisition Post: Otherwise known as "I fell off the wagon" or something!

Several weeks ago, a friend messaged me and said, "hey, The Royal Bee is a doing a sell-your-stash event; do you want to go?" 

Um, yes. That's a silly question. 

After some back and forth and looking on their Instagram page and all that, I learned the full extent of what was going on. Basically, we would bring in things we wanted to destash. The Royal Bee would be the collectors of the money (and keeping track, of course). At the end of it all, whatever we sold was turned into a gift certificate for the shop. We could set our own prices. We could peruse destashes of others. Generally, a good time should be had by all. 

I think I had maybe 36 hours' notice on this. I hauled out the destash bins and started pricing all the things and tossing them into a bin to bring along. When I was finished, I thought, "hmmm, maybe I should pull out the project bags, too" so I did that. I wound up bringing a huge bin of yarn (in a space saver bag) and a bunch of project bags. 

When I got there, I realized I priced all my stuff way too high and went through and slashed prices by about half. 

Even after doing that, my gift certificate to the shop was about $200. 

I had a lot of yarn to destash. 

But, this post isn't exactly about that. I mean, it's important to know the story because then things make a bit more sense. This post is about what I wound up coming home with....and then what I bought with the gift certificate. 

So, on to that :) 

First up, six skeins of Temple by Alchemy Yarns in their Salt Lick colorway. It's a bright green, I have no idea what it wants to be when it grows up, so let's be honest: right now, I'm just feeding the stash.

It's about 768 yds of sport weight so I might be able to get away with making something colorwork with this. We'll see how things progress. This one came from my friend that told me about the destash sale in the first place. I'm pretty sure she went home with some things from me, as well. 

Next up are some skeins from Space Cadet Yarns. These all came from the same person. The first one is on their Vega base in Nature's Cathedral. It's less of a purpley-grey and more of a natural grey at the top, if I remember correctly. I had a hard time capturing the color on this one.

This one is a worsted weight and it's telling me it wants to be a hat when it grows up but it may wind up being mittens instead. It's a very round yarn, akin to BMFA Socks That Rock, but in a worsted weight, if that makes any sense. I believe this one (and the following ones) were from a monthly club but I could be wrong.

This one is also fro Space Cadet Yarns but it's on their Cressidea base. The colorway is Leaves Across Cobblestones. 

This is also a worsted weight and it's also 100% merino but this one appears to have a halo that the first one didn't have. I have no idea what this one wants to be when it grows up. I'm just feeding the stash. Oh well. 

I also picked up a set of minis from Space Cadet on their Maia base. The colorway is aptly named 2020, likely because that's when it was dyed.

The fiber content is 80% bamboo rayon and 20% merino. These have a definite halo and I foresee colorwork but right now, feeding the stash. Again. They were too pretty so they came home.

Then I picked up a couple seemingly random skeins but they wanted to come home and really, I'm not going to fight it too much.

This is a skein from a dyer I was not familiar with: The Wool Kitchen. This is their BFL & Bamboo sock base, which I believe is 80% BFL and 20% Bamboo. It's likely not going to become socks but we'll see how things play out.

The colorway is called The Dark Side of Ziggy which I'm betting is named after the comic strip but it might also be a nod to David Bowie. Either way, I like it and it came home with me. 

I also picked up a rainbow skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock (Lightweight) in Big Bays and I'm apparently the only person with it stashed on Ravelry. It's not quite as bright as the photo shows but it's definitely bright. It's likely going to be paired with something else to calm down the bright...or not.

 
I know this yarn will not stripe, which is fine. I don't know about the pooling. With those ideas in mind, I have no clue what will become of this yarn. Time will tell?

All the rest of the yarn came from one person. She did a flat price of $5/skein, regardless what it was. I wound up coming home with a bunch of yarn from her. And most of the individual skeins would have sold for $25-$35 each so I got a really good deal, which is important if you're from the Midwest. It's akin to saying, "thanks, it has pockets" on skirts/dresses. 

Anyway...

Two skeins of Primrose Homestead Sport, which looks a lot like Spincycle. The colorway is The Terror and it's telling me it wants to be a hat. Maybe two.

 

Because of the barber pole nature and the variegation, it's going to have to be something fairly plain, which is fine. This is a yarn company I'd not heard of, much less had yarn from so this will be something new for me. 

But wait, there's more Primrose!

 
This is the Sophia base, which is a merino, cashmere, nylon blend. The colorway, if you can't read it, is Sassy Pants, which aptly describes me. Or not. But probably. I have a feeling this one will be a cowl/infinity scarf at some point. We'll see how things go. 

And there's another one! This is also the Sophia base but the colorway is Chronic Bitch Face, which also describes me very well.

This one came wound so it's ready to go. I'm debating on what to do with it, to be honest. It's all wound and ready to go buuuuut......indecision is real, kids. Oh well. Someday.

The next four were packaged together. I think her (the destasher) original plan was to make a shawl with them so she had bundled them together. And she's not wrong: they go great together. But, I don't think that's in my wheelhouse right now. I've kept them packaged together but I don't know that I'll necessarily use them together.

These came from Woolen Boon, which I'd never heard of, on their Boon Classic base in Bedazzle. It's a merino fingering weight with flecks of brown, teal, purple, green, and blue on a very light yellow/off-white base. There are two skeins so I can likely make something a bit larger.

I also picked up two skeins of Magpie Fibers Swanky Sock. The purple is Velvet Underground and the yellow is Tupelo Honey. They go really well together but they're beautiful on their own. And both came pre-caked!

I've heard of Magpie before but I've never purchased any. So, it will likely take some time to see what these two decide they want to be when they grow up.

During that same trip, before the destash sale even started, I fleshed out my Bay Area Fiber Fair winnings. I won a skein of The Royal Bee's yarn and I decided it needed to be a sweater quantity so I bought an additional four skeins. The skeins are a light fingering weight so they have something like 460 yds/skein so with five skeins, I should definitely be able to make a sweater for me.

So I have these four skeins plus the original one. I have no idea what sweater I'm going to make but I'm sure I'll figure something out.

Now. That was just from the destash sale. If you remember, and you might not, Little Man and I went in not long after (maybe a week and a half) because there was an art fair event in downtown Pacifica and we decided to go.....which means we also went to the yarn store and I used my gift certificate. And because Little Man is my kid, he wanted to get some yarn for a project in his head. Keep in mind that he only knows how to do the knit stitch at this point. But that doesn't matter. 

I don't have photos but we picked up three skeins of Lamb's Pride Worsted from Brown Sheep in a green, white, and something else...brown maybe. They're in a project bag in his dresser right now. We'll see how things go. He's got ideas in his head, which I absolutely love. But it's going to be a bit of "trial and error" because he wants to make something for which there's no pattern. I'll help him but probably not until after we move and we have some time on our hands.

In addition to those, I also picked up two skeins of The Royal Bee's Super Bulky in Marisol is Plum Diddly Delumptious. I have a feeling these are going to grow up to be hats, probably one of my designs that I've not touched in a decade. Maybe.

They're kind of a purpley-reddish color. Not quite either one...and not normally something I'd go for but here we are. 

I also picked up two skeins from Sea Change Fibers, a company I had not heard of until then. They're local right now, in Santa Cruz. Aside from their website, this may be the only shop they can be found in. The company started out originally as The Dye Project in Portland but changed their name to Sea Change Fibers when they moved to California. So, if you have yarn by The Dye Project somewhere, it's the same people/company.

Anyway, let's see the yarn already!

This is their Seacliff base, which is a 100% Rambouillet light fingering weight. The colorway is Tarnished Silver, which this absolutely is.
 

I bought it specifically to go with this one:

This is their Montara Sock base, which is an 80/20 Corriedale/Nylon blend in Straw Into Gold. Together, they scream Hufflepuff at me. Little Man was also an enabler to the highest degree. He helped me pick the colors. 

I also picked up two that are more on the "commercial" end, which is also fine with me. The first is a skein of single-ply Aran weight from Schoppel-Wolle (which is the same company that makes the Zauberballs). This is their Reggae Ombre base in Kunterbunt which doesn't have a good translation from German but it basically means multi-colored.

It told me in the shop that it had dreams of being a hat, so a hat it shall be. I don't know if I have enough yardage but I should. It's about 110 yds. A cursory glance at projects using this yarn....most required at least two skeins so I might pair it up with something else and make a colorwork hat. Apparently I want to do all the colorwork lately?

The last skein I picked up was a skein of Malabrigo Rios in Camaleon. This also wanted to be a hat. Apparently I'm also on a hat kick? I don't know if that counts since I'm not actually making them yet. But the yarn told me it wanted to be one and who am I to argue?

So. Yeah. I have a lot of yarn. To be fair, I got rid of a lot, too. And almost all of it has a loose idea, which is delightful.

I hope you'll wander back in for my next Year of Projects post, which will probably be Sunday or Monday :)