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 :)

Stash Enhancement: FOMA

Happy Saturday!

I went through my labels for stash-related stuff for 2018 and I was surprised to see that I only had four posts. That's a far cry from past years where I had.....well, a lot more than four. So, this is only my fifth stash post for the year, which means I've been a lot better about working from my stash.

Anyway, I only have a couple of things that came in recently. I picked up both of these from someone destashing in one of the Facebook groups I belong to.

This is a skein of Show Stopper from Leading Men Fiber Arts in the Yarn Hoarder colorway. The lovely people at LMFA are quite good friends with Amber Lindeman of the Yarn Hoarder podcast (which I highly recommend - you can find it on YouTube) and made this colorway for her. I thought about getting my hands on it at one point, passed on it because I'm trying not to hoard all the yarn....and then it came up in a destash and it wanted to come home. No idea what I'm going to do with it but I'm sure I'll think of something.

This skein came from the same destash. It's from Adella's Crochet Cottage on her Cozy Fingering base. The colorway is called Dark Fairy and it's a 75/25 Superwash Merino/Nylon. I have no idea what it's going to be when it grows up but for some reason, Sockhead seems to be calling to me.....not sure that it's right, though. Maybe.




See? I told you I didn't have a lot come in.

I should be back tomorrow for my weekly Year of Projects update. I even have an FO :)

Stash Enhancement: Vogue Knitting Live and Other Things

Happy Saturday! It's time for a Stash Enhancement/Acquisition post because....well, obviously it means I acquired new things and we need to show them off :)


Up front, there are a few things I have that I haven't photographed. I suppose we can talk about those first.

I picked up two skeins of Premier Serenity Sock in black. It's nothing fancy. It's just some big box sock yarn in black, mostly for things like cuffs, heels, and toes. They were on sale so I ran with it. I think I got two 50g balls for $1.50 each.

The other one I have failed to photograph (mostly because I'm too lazy to pull it out and actually photograph it) is a skein of yarn I acquired awhile ago. I couldn't tell you exactly when but it has probably been in my closet for at least six months (though I literally just added it to my stash page the other day). It's a skein of Sea Turtle Fiber Arts Ridley Sock in Rainbow Brite. It's a grey color with a rainbow bit at the end. You can see others that are stashed here.



The rest of my acquisitions I've photographed and have added to my RavStash (I think...).

The following five skeins I acquired from Carrie Sullivan. She was posting a destash via Facebook/Instagram and I know her tastes.....so a few pretties came to live with me.

Plucky Knitter Scholar in One Hit Wonder. It's a merino/cashmere worsted weight. I have no idea what i'm going to do with one skein of worsted but I'm sure I can think of something.

Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted (the tag says Primo Aran) in Nightlight. It is a merino/cashmere/nylon blend. This one is screaming at me to become a hat of some sort. We'll see.

Zen Yarn Garden Superwash DK in Chocolate Dipped Strawberries. It's a superwash merino. Generally speaking, this may wind up as a hat but I might use it as a contrast color for some colorwork (if I can find something that everything contrasts with....maybe white?).

Bare Naked Wools Breakfast Blend Fingering in Morning Smoke. It's a merino/alpaca/nylon blend. I don't know about this one. I have a feeling that fingerless mitts may be in this yarn's future but maybe not...maybe some colorwork.......I'm all about the colorwork (I blame Julia Farwell-Clay and the class I took from her at Vogue Knitting Live in San Francisco).

Silver Creek Yarns Superfine Merino in Suede. It's a sport weight merino. This is originally distributed by Ashland Bay, which I really like....but cannot often find. This one hasn't had a conversation about it's adult life yet.



So, five skeins of yarn from Carrie. Oops.


And then Vogue Knitting Live happened......

I went back and forth about this. In the end, the Delores kit came home with me from the Webs booth. It's only available via Webs and it only comes as a kit (meaning I can't just buy the pattern and use yarn I have). It comes with it's own project bag, four skeins of Valley Yarns, her little sunglasses, and the pattern. There were also kits available for her Rhinebeck sweater, designed by Amy Herzog, but I resisted. I also picked up two 16" circular needles from the Webs booth (that I haven't photographed) in US #0 and US #1, both Knitter's Pride.

I visited Brooke in the Sincere Sheep booth because I have no self control sometimes. I had just finished up my class on Fair Isle Knitting and the yarn we used was her Cormo Worsted, which was lovely and delightful to use. So, I picked up two skeins of her Cormo Sport in St. Bart's and Cumulus. Again, I have no self control sometimes.

I'm 99% sure I picked up this skein of Long Dog Yarn Bounce Sock in the Black Squirrel booth. They're a relatively new shop in Berkeley that I've not managed to visit (yet). The colorway is New Growth and it was the last one. It spoke to me. When doesn't yarn speak to me?

Dragon Hoard Yarn and Yarn Cafe Creations were sharing a booth. I picked up one from each of them, though I had some difficulty deciding which ones to get. The Lore Sock from Dragon Hoard Yarn was right on the end and is called Sweater Weather. I think if I hadn't required 2500 yds of worsted to make an actual sweater for myself, I may have considered the worsted weight, instead. But, I got a skein of sock yarn, which is lovely and I can always make socks. The Biscotti Sock I picked up from Yarn Cafe Creations is part of their Autumn Halloween Horror 2018 Collection and is inspired by Poltergeist (and is called Poltergeist), which is one of my favorite horror movies. I went back and forth between the Poltergeist colorway and The Ring colorway. I think The Ring may have been more "me" colors but I've never seen the movie and I love Poltergeist so in the end, Poltergeist won.

Lady Dye Yarns was very new to me and I'm so very glad I found her. She's based in Boston so coming across the country for a show is awesome. I picked up a few things...seriously, who wouldn't want to? The top is the most fabulous project bag, a mini skein and the kit that is laid out in the second photo (and the soap that also goes with the kit). The kit comes with a pattern to make fingerless mitts and the yarn colorway is Summer of Love, which was exclusive to the show in San Francisco. From what I can tell, all the minis are the Superwash Fingering base and I don't know what the green one is called (it miiiiigggggghhhhht be the Oscar colorway but I don't think so). The soap is made by a friend of hers so I was glad to have handmade soap from another small business owner.

The very last item(s) I bought were these two skeins of Neighborhood Fiber Co. Studio Worsted in the Charles Centre colorway, and are 400 yds each. I was looking for a contrast color for the Forest Cardigan and I figured this could go well with the blue I've got. I'll need to wash the blue first, to make sure it's not going to bleed. That's the last thing I'd want to have happen. I'll have plenty of leftover yarn for a hat, at minimum (I'd need, at most, 650 yds, which leaves 150 yds...and that's if I make the grey the main color, and I've not decided whether I'm going to do that or not...I might just because I have more of it than I do of the blue).



So, there's all my recentish acquisitions :) I shouldn't have anything major until Stitches West and that's not until February :)

I hope you're all having a lovely Saturday! I probably won't get to my Year of Projects post until Monday since we're traveling this weekend.

Stash Enhancement Saturday: Spinning at Retzlaff Winery

Happy Saturday! 

In my continuing effort to be transparent with my fibery purchases, it's time for another installment of my Stash Enhancement Saturday.

I recently took my spinning wheel to Retzlaff Winery, in Livermore, CA, for their annual event: Spinning at the Winery. It took place on 19 May and this was their 21st year. Yes, I realize that was two weeks ago. Still recent in my mind :)

The event ran from 10am-4pm and included vendors, a raffle, and, of course, wine & food.

I heard about the event originally from Jasmin & Gigi of the Knitmore Girls podcast but another knitter brought it up at knit night a few weeks ago and I had said I was considering going....and lo, I was able to go. With Husband having been out of town most of the week prior, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to go or not. But, something in the heavens worked out correctly because I was able to go.

Anyway, I loaded up my car with a few things including Viktor (my Majacraft Pioneer spinning wheel) and my EEW Mini (my mini electric spinning wheel), as well as a couple of pre-bagged fibers to spin while I was there, and I was off. I wasn't sure if I was going to know anyone, and really, I didn't know anyone. I mean, there were some people I recognized but I didn't really know anyone.

With that said, I did find a lovely group to spin alongside. After my initial peruse through the marketplace (and my second pass, in which things were purchased - see below), I set up Viktor in an open area in the sun. Of course I was alone and there were groups forming here and there but I just set up shop. Nearby, the ladies that had run Purlesence Yarns were set up with a couple more friends of theirs and asked if I wanted to join them. So, that's where I wound up.

But, enough about all that......onto the fibery goodness!

For a fibery event, I didn't buy a ton of fiber. Don't misunderstand me; fiber came home and I bought it but I didn't buy a lot.

These two 4 oz braids came from Pan's Garden Yarns. They are both an overdye on black & white merino. The top is a rainbow and jumped at me first. The bottom one was purchased right before I left. I saw it earlier and left it, making the decision to buy it if it was still available at the end of the day. So, they came home with me.

The next booth was Black Diamond Alpacas (aka Black Diamond Creations), and while they were not selling spinning fiber, they were selling yarn....some of which came home with me.

The black gradient and the gold are both DK weight. The gradient is about 625 yds (125 yds each) and the gold is about 250 yds. I am imagining a shawl of some sort but I'm not sure yet.

I also picked up these two skeins of fingering weight, approximately 250 yds each. I think they're going to be fingerless mitts for me but we'll see how things go. They're not going to be socks; that much I know.

Further around the marketplace, I came across Ewe and Me 2 Ranch. She didn't have a lot (in fact, most of them didn't have a ton) but these four balls of fluff popped out at me.

They are both Romney & bamboo blends (the natural is the Romney and the blue color is the bamboo). The balls are about an ounce each so I think I'm going to spin two balls onto one bobbin and the other two balls onto another bobbin and then ply them together. I think. I'm not 100% committed to that yet.

Lastly, I purchased this from Dreamy Goat Design Studio:

It's going to require a bit of pre-drafting and TLC before I spin it but the colors were calling to me, telling me to bring it home...plus, I've never spun Targhee before. So, there's that.

In addition to the photos above, I also bought a t-shirt from the 20th annual Spinning at Retzlaff Winery (which was 2017) - it's tye-dyed and lovely. I don't have photos of that, however. I also bought this:

It is a wooden yarn bowl. I have a ceramic one, which is on a shelf in my bedroom, away from my destructive children. This one is a bit more hearty, being wood and all. I expected to pay a good amount of money for a hand-turned wooden bowl.

I turned it over to find that the bowl is made of ash and that it was expensive: $15

It took me a few moments to realize that the bowl was, in fact, $15 and not $51, as my mind was insisting because, seriously, $15 for a hand-turned wooden yarn bowl just did not sound right in my head.

But it was just $15.

I also participated in the raffle by buying tickets. And I won something. Well, two somethings as part of the same lot.

Color in Spinning by Deb Menz, because I need another book in my life.

It came with a zippered tote that actually fits over my arm, which is wonderful. It may become my new favorite bag. We'll see. It's a bit too large for everyday toting around but when I have to haul things, I think it's going to be my go-to :)

Oh, I also bought a bottle of Rosé, which was consumed in its entirety the following day. Oops.


In addition to the haul from Spinning at the Winery, I also had a couple other things come in....but they're all for existing or planned projects.

I picked up two more cakes for the granny square blanket I'm working on. I also picked up three skeins from Slipped Stitch Studio, three different colorways, in colors I already have, to finish a sweater I've not even started yet. Make sense? Good. And then I picked up two skeins of sock yarn to finish my FrankenSocks and I found someone willing to sell me a skein of a discontinued yarn to finish a hat for Little Man. No photos because I'm kind of lazy for those. But I have them in my stash.

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend :)

Stash Enhancement: Stitches West 2018

Let's get one thing perfectly clear: I did something incredibly stupid this year. Or maybe incredibly wonderfully good. I'm not sure yet.

If you've been following along here, you'll know that I'm running Little Man's school's auction this year, which is in two weeks. That means I schedule meetings, I schedule events, I schedule everything......including the big weekend where we spend three days and nights in the gym, putting baskets together and making all the things pretty.

When we were looking at the calendar, we scheduled the auction for March 24th. That was fine. The weekend we spend in the gym has traditionally been three weeks before the event, which would have made it last weekend (the first weekend of March). I looked at the calendar, noted when Stitches West was happening, and scheduled it for the first weekend in March.

Okay fine. A few weeks go by and we were looking at the calendar again and both the former auction chair and I said, "why are we scheduling it three weeks out when we could schedule it four weeks out and not kill ourselves?" and we moved it to the last weekend in February.

During Stitches West.

And I didn't realize it until it had already been made public (in print and online) that the weekend we were doing it was going to be that weekend.

Sooooooo, I lamented that I was going to miss Stitches West this year. I had come to terms with being an idiot.

But something happened.....I noticed that if I played my cards right, I would be able to sneak down to Santa Clara on the Friday of Stitches West and go to the marketplace. It would depend on someone picking up Little Man from school, some printing being pawned off on someone (in this case, Husband did it at work, saving us a bunch of money), and traffic behaving so I could get home at a decent time before I had to go to the gym all weekend.

And it worked. Barely. But perfectly!

So, I went to the marketplace on the Friday of Stitches West. Because I hadn't been planning to actually go, my budget was about half of what it has been in past years (and no, you don't need to know what my budget was). I would also like to say that in past years, my budget didn't include food or travel and I almost always went over. This year, my budget was used on food and I even came in under budget (only by $10 but it was still under).

I had no plans to hang out with anyone in particular (because short notice) but I found Stefanie in the Barrett Wool Co./Never Not Knitting booth and bummed around with her, enabling her quite a bit (because why not?).


Okay, enough, let's see what I bought already!

Two skeins of Home from Barrett Wool Co., a worsted weight wool. These are slated for a Fornicating Deer hat (yes, I know this directs to mittens....but I'm planning to make a hat).

My next purchase came from Oink Pigments. I've had a little notebook for a few months now and I'm keeping it "Bullet Journal" style with numbered pages and no real direction. I have a page where I've been listing yarns I want to try that others have suggested or I've seen somewhere. Oink Pigments was on my list (@skeincocaine on Instagram has had it in her shop and I've never gotten in early enough to get any). So, I was delighted to find their booth and I may have picked up a few things that weren't on my list (also in that little notebook). Really, though, who am I kidding? I had a list and I did get things from my list...but I went a little willy-nilly in the Oink Pigments booth....as one does.

This one caught my eye because apparently I want to punish my eyesight with dark yarns. Whatever. This is their Targhee Sock base and the colorway is The Dark Knitnight.

I also picked up their Stitches West exclusive colorway, Cool Beans, also on the Targhee Sock base.

In addition to the two full skeins, I also picked up four "pigtails," which are mini-skeins. Three are on their regular Sock base and one is the Targhee Sock base.

From the top: 4 Play, Purple Reign, and Slime Time (all on their Sock base).

......and Spider Pig on their Targhee Sock base.


I also may or may not have fallen into the Leading Men Fiber Arts booth. They also had a spot in my little notebook of yarns to try (Amber Lindeman of the Yarn Hoarder Podcast is fully to blame for this one). They are delightful people (so were the ladies over at Oink Pigments, don't get me wrong).

Anyway, I came home with things...

This is their Spotlight base, which is an 80/20 BFL/Nylon blend. The colorway is called The Great Sweater Debate. I'm sure there's a story behind it but I don't know it right now.

I also came home with some mini-skeins from them, both on their Show Stopper base (75/25 Superwash wool/Nylon):

The top colorway is Moonlight and the bottom is London Fog. I bought them for possible contrast cuffs/heels/toes (or maybe just cuffs/toes because the way I do my heels doesn't necessarily lend itself to contrast colors, though I've certainly seen it done). I matched them with the full Spotlight skein but I don't know that they're necessarily going to be paired with them. We'll see. The mini-skeins run about 92 yds each. So, actually, I could get a pair of socks out of the four minis. Maybe. Or not.

I also took a little stop in Little Skein in the Big Wool booth, upon hearing about them on a weekly basis during the Knitmore Girls Podcast.

This is their House Sock base in the You Gotta Give 'Em Hope colorway, which is a Harvey Milk quote. If you're unfamiliar, Harvey Milk was the first openly-gay elected politician in California history (he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors), and was assassinated in San Francisco in 1978. Little Skein in the Big Wool is a San Francisco based company, so it all makes sense.

While Stefanie and I were meandering along, we came across a booth that caught both our eyes because we could see Harry Potter something something in the booth......the booth was the Forbidden Fiber Co. This is a company I am not familiar with, prior to Stitches West. They are also not listed in the Ravelry database (yet), so this yarn was entered as a personal yarn. Whatever. I'll fix it when the time comes.

This is Nargles on their Gluttony Sock base, which is an 80/20 Superwash Merino/Nylon base, 435 yds. These are totally my colors. There were plenty of other ones that thought about coming home with me (and I'm pretty sure at least one skein came home with Stefanie in a different colorway). I may have to get more of these. They have a Harry Potter club that is calling to me...

I also fell into Stunning String Studios again this year. Last year, I came home with five brightly colored sock yarns (230 yds/skein). This year, I came home with some worsted weight, destined to become a sweater for Stormageddon:

These are all on their Legacy Worsted base, which is a Superwash Merino, 215 yds/skein. So, I'm really close to the yardage for the size sweater I'm planning to make.....worst case scenario is that I have to order more yarn. I think it'll be okay, though.


Now, of course, I didn't just buy yarn. There are other things to be had......and I may have had a few other things.....

I'm not going to lie: I do not swear by my Lo-Lo bar. I love my Lo-Lo bars but I do not swear by them. However, I've been using my little travel size ones (the mini ones that are super small) and while I like them, the smell can be overpowering. It's not offensive, just strong. So, I was looking for something milder and came across this one. It came home with me. I was actually tossed between about three of them. I had extra help as I ran into another knitting acquaintance, Jeannie, who worked at my LYS before it closed. Between her and Stefanie, we decided this one needed to come home with me (and Stefanie got her own).

And, of course, no trip to Stitches is complete until I find a project bag or two (or three)...

This one I found in the Never Not Knitting booth. She has them available two ways: a kit for you to sew yourself or one that's already sewn together. I don't sew so I got the completed one. It's a tiny little bag, perfect for my wallet, keys, and phone (and nothing else, really, as it's not that large - though there is a pocket inside). It's not my style but I fell in love.

In addition to that, I also found these:

New Sheeple bags from Erin Lane. They're both Sheeple Quotes from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. One is a sock bag and the one with the see-through section is a viewfinder bag (I think). I think if Slipped Stitch Studios had been at Stitches this year, I would have gone over budget.


So, I managed to stay under budget and I didn't buy too much in a willy-nilly manner. Okay, maybe a little. But I can always make socks with sock yarn :)


I should have two different stash posts today and I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with my Year of Projects update.