Fiber Friday: Stash enhancement

Before we moved last spring, I sold my old tri bike for $500. When we came back to the States for this vacation, I still had $200 left, and I had grand plans. On Monday, those grand plans came to fruition.

The first stop was Spunky Eclectic, which I now know is only 30 minutes maximum from where my parents now live. Hallelujah! I managed to fall down and divest myself of half of my cashola in not very much time. Some superwash merino came home to live with me,

Emerald Isle

Thunderstorm

and then I was swept away by some Shetland and a couple of braids of BFL.

Tundra Shetland

BFL Galaxy Jupiter

BFL Autumn

The final keeper from the vast selection in Amy's shop was a braid of merino/bamboo/nylon. I think this is going to make some unbelievable socks for someone. Probably me!

Blue Moon

The shop was lovely and chock full of gorgeous stuff. Including a circle of wheels and more spindles then I've ever seen in one place. And Grafton batts. And natural colored fibers. And, and, and...I can't even begin to list the stuff that was in there, but if I ever end up living near my parents, I know where I'll be spending large chunks of my time and (non)disposable income.

But we weren't done yet. We (me, my mother, and my non-napping children) headed to Bath and Halcyon Yarns. I was looking for some grey BFL to pair with this to make some stranded mittens. They didn't have any grey, but they did have some brown that looked like it would work.

I also got some brown Coopworth and 4 oz of merino/cashmere for something really special.

Now the problem is figuring out how to get it all back to London. I think I may need an extra suitcase. But it should keep me busy for a while!

Dilemma (partially) resolved

Because having completed this:

meant I could do this:

If I play my cards right and sneak my needles through security at Heathrow, there will be much Glynis knitting tomorrow. Yee haw!

PS - I've changed my mind about the second WIP I need to finish up. Yes, the Estes Vest is mostly done, but I really don't want to haul around several pounds of wool on my lap in August in Vermont and/or Maine. So I will be trading off a shawl for a shawl: finishing Veil of Isis in order to start Aestlight. Seems fitting, and Isis is a heck of a lot smaller/less wooly.

Top wooly reasons to love Scotland

One of our big goals in moving to the UK was to take advantage of the opportunity to do a lot of traveling. The first installment of our travel adventures is now in the books, as we went away to the Scottish Highlands for a week.

There are more details on the Expat blog, but for this audience, I want to tell you about the sheep. And the wool. And etc. Upon our arrival on the Isle of Skye, I was overjoyed to see more then one appropriate road sign.

And there, by the side of the road, was this:

A prime example of the [Scottish] Blackface sheep. These things were everywhere - those road signs were not a joke, people - and we had ample opportunity to chase them around on some of our hikes.

As we were out hiking around, I noticed something interesting.

FLEECE! Ok, not really fleece, more like sheddings or hairballs. But my first experience with the raw stuff since I started spinning. I spent more time then my family could quite comprehend picking tufts off the ground and mumbling about "double coated" and "guard hairs" and "shedding versus shearing". We saw a lot of sheep that did actually look like they were shedding their fleece, but subsequent research has not indicated that to be the case. In any event, the fiber that I picked up definitely had two types of fibers: some very coarse guard hairs, and a softer undercoat.

You can seem them a bit better in this picture. Even the undercoat was pretty coarse, and the guard hairs would be unwearable in any form I suspect (and I'm not a stickler for really soft fibers!). But I am more interested in getting my hands on some raw fleece now. Because I have so much free time you know!

I did manage to pick up some yarn in the Highlands. I managed to miss the big yarn store in Fort William, but as we were driving around Skye, I noticed a big sign saying "Handspinner" on the side of the road. We stopped, IM took the girls to throw rocks in the water, and I went in to an absolute Aladdin's cave of yarn, sweaters and handspun.

The website doesn't do the shop justice. Cashmere, alpaca, silk, handspun, millspun, knit up into sweaters and scarves and hats, or just lying around in luscious hanks. I had a bit of a chat with Teo, who claimed to have the largest selection of handspun yarn for sale in the UK. I believe it - it was certainly the largest amount of handspun I've ever seen in one commercial establishment.

I managed to make it out with only "minor" damage to the credit card (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

On the right, handspun merino/silk 2-ply, 8 wpi, 112 yds/3.1 oz. This is destined for a cowl for someone for Christmas, maybe this one?

In the middle, handspun Jacob - some of the only local wool he had. A mix of colors (also 2-ply), 10-11 wpi, 173 yds/3.2 oz. Nice and wooly, perfect for some lined mittens.

And finally, the crowning glory: a skein of the softest, most luxurious baby alpaca. Laceweight, 2-ply, 518 yds/3.2 oz. I was originally going to dye this, but after petting it for a while this afternoon, I think I'll leave it as is and make a gorgeous little shawl.

Am now kicking myself for not getting some of the handspun silk - a worsted weight single in the most gorgeous dark teal and silver and blue. I guess this means I'll just have to take another trip!

First top-down raglan

Having now moved massive amounts of yarn across several thousand miles of ocean, I am seriously motivated to do some stash-busting. Three skeins of pink Cotton Fleece have been calling out to become a cardigan for a certain wee Devil, so last week I cast on.

Size 6 needles (4.0 mm), a couple of hours in front of ITV1 with Barbara Walker's "Knitting from the Top", and I've got a finished yoke. I'm using yo increases along the raglan lines to make it a bit lacy, and I'm really liking it. Devil helped me wind the yarn cakes, so she's feeling involved as well. Good times. And it's zooming along - I'm hoping to finish it this week, and I've got some pretty flowery buttons in my stash that I picked up for just this sort of project.

The girls seem to be adjusting to the UK pretty well, particularly since we've gone to visit a Princess Castle...

What more could you ask for?

Economic stimulating

The advent of my new bicycle a few weeks ago necessitated the selling of my old bike. After advertising on the local Tri club website and craigslist (and weeding through the "I want to buy this immediately please take it off of craigslist and I will send you a cashier's check and my mover will pick it up" scams) (Seriously. Who buys a bike without seeing it and trying it out?), I managed to exchange it for some amount of cash which will do me absolutely no good in the UK. Being the wrong currency and all. So I decided to contribute it back in to the local economy.

And what was local to me at that moment was the Green Mountain Spinnery. They were preparing to head out to MD Sheep and Wool fest the next day, but right by the door were several baskets full of mill ends.

I came away with 6 oz of cotton comfort, a 80%/20% wool/organic cotton mix, in a beautiful dark grey blue (appropriately named "Storm")

and almost a pound of their wool/tencel sock yarn base ready for dyeing.

This will either become custom colorways for socks or Tempest (although not a striped version). Stay tuned.