West Michigan Yarn Quest

Ten of our local yarn shops (well some what local) put together their first shop hop which started last Saturday and ends tomorrow.  I work at Your Local Yarn Shop on Thursday and Saturday so I thought I probably wouldn't make it to many of the other shops.    Ha....wrong! 

As the ladies came in last Saturday full of tales about the other shops, I decided I would have to see at least some of them for myself.  Made a call to Jill, Lady Peddler, to see if she would like to ride along since her shop is closed on Monday, she said sure.......so off we went.

Left early Monday morning and headed to The New Ewe in Newaygo.  Arrived right as they were opening after about a two hour drive.  Really nice shop........well worth the drive. 

Yarn on the left is ALP Dazzle by Fezayarns....awesome deep blue.  I received the cowl pattern free with yarn purchase.  Yarn on right is Vail by Classic Elite Yarns and is 70% Alpaca/30% bamboo fingering weight in Charcoal. 

Then we headed to South Haven in search of The Needlesmith and lunch.  I found three balls of Terra by SWTC.   I recently purchased the Betsy's Beads book so I was searching for yarns to knit up some of the jewelry pieces and thought these would work nicely.   Also bought a skein of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Lace, just couldn't resist.


Next stop, Painted Trillium in Hudsonville.  They had some awesome fiber by CJKopec but since I'd just bought a bunch from Yarn Hollow a few weeks ago I was able to resist this temptation.  This is the free pattern I received for stopping by.....

Right up the road from Painted Trillium was Country Needleworks in Jenison.  Fun store....gifts, jewelry, beading, stamping, needlework plus yarn.  They were featuring Yarn Hollow yarns but they had not arrived....bummer!

Found some Krenik Metallic thread and white DMC pearl cotton for the knit bead jewelry as well and a beautiful deep teal skein of Scrumptious Lacy by Lantern Moon.

Short drive from Country Needleworks and we arrived at Threadbender in Wyoming where I picked up this ball of Amazing 100% corn fiber.  I plan on using this for some of the patterns in Betsy's Beads.

From there we drove to Clever Ewe in Ada.  They were featuring Juniper Moon yarns.  I picked up a skein of Findley Dappled Lace. 

This was the first time Jill and I had ever been to Ada....what a fun little town.  On one side of the yarn store was a Pottery/Jewelry studio featuring works by local artisans and on the other was an art gallery.  Across from the shop you could get some Hudsonville ice cream and right around the corner was a covered bridge.  Great ending to our shopping day. 

Left home at 8:00am......238 miles......6 shops.  I got home about 6:30, exhausted, but what an awesome day.

Since we  managed to get to 6 out of the ten shops on Monday that left me with only three shops to visit.  After having lunch on Tuesday with my mom and aunts, I decided to head up to A Grand Skein in Grand Rapids where I found this skein of Exquisite Bamboo by Fibernatura.

Then stopped at Henney's in Caledonia and bought this huge skein of Sea Pearl  by Briar Rose Fibers.

And my last stop, Lady Peddler where I picked up her pattern for a  cowl.

So instead of thinking I might make it to a couple of shops, I managed to make it to all ten.....woot, woot! 

My final purchases will be at Your Local Yarn Shop tomorrow.  I have several skeins of Studio June yarn put aside.  My plan is to take in everything I bought at the other shops not only to show off my purchases but hopefully to help me make a decision on which colors/yarn blends to choose. 


What a fun, fun, fun couple of days.  Thanks to all the shops that participated....hope it was worth all their efforts and will be looking forward to next years event.

A Day at Yarn Hollow

Last Friday Kelly planned a surprise 50th birthday party for Linda at Your Local Yarn Shop and my assignment was to get Linda out of the store for the day.   Pick her up at 11:00 and return around 5:30pm. This may not sound like a difficult task but how does one go about getting ones boss out of the store on her normal work day?  By enlisting the help of others, of course. 

I called Rita to see if she could help me out by letting us visit her studio for the afternoon.  She graciously agreed and as luck would have it, so did Linda.  I wasn't sure we could stay at Yarn Hollow for the amount of time I needed to keep Linda occupied so Kelly also added a couple of stops to our agenda for the day.  She just had to have some yarn from both Threadbender and A Grand Skein.

Everything turned out well except it took us 1 1/2 hours to drive back to Battle Creek due to an awful rain storm.  Linda did admit she thought something was up because I asked her to leave for the day but she had no idea the surprise that awaited her at the store when we returned.  Friends, family, a taco bar with all the trimmings, veges, fruit, cake, doughnuts, margarita's and sangria......what more could a girl ask for.

Birthday girl with hubby Fred

Felted birthday hat by Jone Rakoski

Pics of the Yarn Hollow fiber I couldn't leave without.....

On my bobbin is the Finn I purchased at The Spinning Loft. It was only 4 ozs. so I took it with me to Rita's and found this braid of BLF, colorway Spumoni, that I'm currently spinning  to use for plying.

These two braids are Merino Tussah Silk Top in two different colorways. Morning Spice and Electric Chai..... 

and this lovely pair of Merino superwash braids in colorways Spumoni and Bengal Bees.  I now have some colorful spinning in my future!

Thanks to Rita and Ruby at Yarn Hollow for the fun afternoon and to all who helped make Linda's surprise a success!

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!!

New Adventure

Last summer at Michigan Fiber Festival my husband traded one of our Suri alpaca fiber boys for two Pygoras and Wednesday we tackled our first shearing.

We watched several Youtube video's....read some books.....and jumped in. 

 All hooked up.......our friends from 4 Musketeers Alpaca Ranch gave us this alpaca shoot they made and then never used.  We were able to place a board across the supports which put the goats at eye level.......very little bending over.  This was a god send! 

and here we go.........snip, snip, snip....

I could not believe the amount of fiber on this gray boy....thought I'd never get done

 one blister, two Pygoras, three pair of scissors and four hours later....exhausted but done.......

 two happy boys! 

Now to do some research on cleaning and processing this beautiful fiber.  I think I feel some Suri Pygora blends in my near future.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday......don't forget to pop on over to Wisdom Begins in Wonder and check out what everyone else has been working on.

Show Girls

Three stark, white styrofoam heads transformed into show girls......

Almost finished spinning my Panda Top from Yarn Hollow.......

Just two small bundles to go to complete my second bobbin.  I'm thinking of leaving this as a single and using it to knit Citron.

And moving along nicely on my Spectra....

A pretty awesome week!

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!!

Adventures in Autowrapping

Woke up to a Winter Wonderland here in Michigan this morning.  Thick, wet snow covering the trees and it's still snowing.  Thank goodness we have power and we don't have to go anywhere today.

Really can't complain it's been a very mild winter here......keeping my fingers crossed the power stays on!

Met with some of my spinning buddies at Your Local Yarn Shop last Saturday and for some strange reason I decided I would attempt auto wrapping.  After reviewing Jacey Boggs Spin Art book, I mistakenly thought I was up to trying this technique in public. 

Wrong!!!.....well at least wrong unless my goal was to make a spectacle of myself. 

So.....I thought I'd use the orange Border Leicester I picked up from Yarn Hollow for my single. 

Went looking through my stash of stuff for something to use for the auto wrap.  I found an awesome mohair in blue with a dusting of orange, a cone of something glimmery in a lighter, brighter blue and a cone of light orange cotton/linen.  Since I found three yarns I really liked, I decided I'd try the "Tornado" technique.

Just a few suggestions:

1.  Maybe try auto wrapping with only one yarn/thread first and not mohair
2.  Jacey suggested predrafting the base fiber first......make sure to draft out all the fiber you think you will need before you begin.
3. Have a plan in mind to keep your wrapping yarns/thread from tangling if you need to take a brake.

Of course I can suggest these things since I didn't do any of them before I started.  Most of the time I felt like I was blowing around inside that tornado!.........mohair kept sticking and the blue glimmery thread came off that spool at an amazing speed.  Thank heavens the cotton/linen behaved itself.

I eventually found a certain rhythm which made me feel like I'd found the "eye" of the storm.  Then it was time for lunch.  Hmmmmmm how fast can three yarns get twisted together?  In the blink of an eye.  Lord have mercy....what a mess I had on my hands.  Spent quite a bit of time trying to get the mess untangled..... had one strand between my teeth, one under my foot while untwisting the 3rd strand. 

Miss Wonder Why wanted to take a picture of me so bad during this process!  NOOOO....I said while holding that yarn between my teeth.  It's a testiment to our friendship that she was able to contain herself.

Finally got the mess untangled and got back to spinning.  Found the "eye" again and let her take some action photos.

Collage courtsey of Wonder Why Gal

Must admit, I was never so happy to get a bobbin filled in my life.  I managed to get 44 yards before I called it quits..........

Took a much needed brake (brownie time) and then started on the Coffee colored Polypay Lambswool shown in the first pictures also from Yarn Hollow.  After my Tornado experience, I just needed an easy spin.  Spun it all up using a long draw (another new technique) and then plied it back on itself. 

Love, love, love the color! 

Since I seem to be on a spinning and Yarn Hollow kick, I decided to spin the Panda Top in Dana colorway.  Its an 8.8 oz. batt with one half oranges and the other half teals. 

One of the girls at the Spinning Loft, where I purchased the fiber, asked if I had ever stripped two colors down and then laid them next to each other when spinning the single. I'd ever even considered this, so thought I'd give it a try.

It's looking delicious.....

........now to fill another bobbin and then ply it back on itself.

That pretty much covers my week of spinning....having a great time trying new techniques (even the Tornado) and working with different fibers.

Hope you all have a great Fiber Arts Friday.....drive safe if you have to be out in this storm!!

Fiber Arts Friday ~ Keeping Busy

Spinning projects:  

Quickly finished up this yarn so I could move on to the new stuff  I bought at the Spinning Loft a couple weeks ago.  The blue is a blend of Suri Alpaca, Merino, Silk that I dyed in various shades of blue and some silver Angelina for bling,  plied with a brushed mohair that was dyed in subtle shades of white, cream and tan.  Love how this turned out.....all soft and fuzzy.

 Then I decided to start with this combo from my road trip.......

Autumn, on left, is a BFL/Silk blend.  It was awesome to spin.....might be my new favorite fiber!  The Chartreuse is a 50/50 blend of Merino/Silk.  Did not enjoy spinning this as much as the BFL.....I think too much silk in the mixture for me.

Mmmmmmm, love how the Autumn spun up.  Plied the two together

Now I have 200 yds of this beautiful, vibrant, lustrous yarn.  I'm thinking about making a hat. 

Meeting with the girls tomorrow at Your Local Yarn Shop for another day of spinning fun.  Haven't made up my mind  which color/fiber combo I'll spin next.  I'm thinking I'll just take it all and ask for some ideas.

Knitting projects:

Completed my Arroway shawl.....yup another Stephen West design.  It was a pretty quick project since it's mostly done in garter.  Hit a snag when I got to the arrows at the bottom but after a chat with KellyJ even that moved along nicely.  Now to just get it blocked! 

I made this scarf as a store sample for the Spectra class I will be teaching at YLYS next Saturday.

It was super fun to make and hard to put down cause I wanted to see what the next color would look like.  It's made with Noro Kureyon sock and Heritage sock yarns.  It was such fun I thought I should have one for myself.  Started mine yesterday while visiting my Dad....

........can't wait to get to the teals and purples!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Fiber Arts Friday!!

Fiber Arts Friday ~ Road Trip

I found out the Spinning Loft was having a special event last weekend and would be open on Sunday.    Yarn Hollow and Bricolage both were there selling fiber goodies and a portion of all sales would be donated to Forgotten Harvest to fight hunger in Michigan.  What a win, win situation!  I called a friend and off we went.

I find myself drawn to a limited palette of colors and basically spin Suri alpaca or Suri/Merino/Silk blends.  So my goal was to either find different fibers and/or colors outside my comfort zone. 

I started off with Yarn Hollow and found these.....

Coffee/Polypay and Tangerine/Border Leicester

Superwash Merino/Bamboo/Nylon

I spotted this beautiful yellow by Spunky Eclectic called Gold Digger.  Not only did I fall in love with the color but it's Polwarth.   Falls right into my plan of different colors, different fiber.  Actually I really like yellow but they seem hard to find.

Anyone who knows me, knows green is my favorite color.  Nothing new with this choice but at least one is new fiber for me......

Autumn/BFL & Silk, Chartreuse/Merino & Silk

 these are from Abstract Fiber








I got back on track when I found this Spinning Loft Colors dyed by Chelsea.  Fiber is Finn and the color name is You Love Me.  This fiber is super soft and with that name how could I resist? 

I think this is the most fiber I've ever bought at one time so I had to have a group pic.

I didn't take individual pics of the two balls of roving.  The one on the left is BFL and the right one is BFL/Silk.  Now.......what to spin first? 

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!!