Cotton yarn at SAFF

I looked early in the day at some lovely hand dyed yarn at a stall close to the main door.  

http://www.stonyhillfiberarts.com

Cindy's cotton yarns are breath taking.  But I didn't buy.  Later someone asked me if I had seen the amazingly soft yarns and described Cindy's booth.  Still I didn't buy.  Then everyone got tired about 2.  And it was decided that we wouldn't come back the next day. Hmmmmmmm.....Which of the baby kits was I going to buy for Mary?  I needed to go ahead and make that decision!  And I went back while everyone waited on me and bought from Cindy.  I am not one bit sorry even though I have still not decided for sure that these are the colors to be used in Mary's baby's blankets.  But here are some photos.  Some are patterns that I bought for the inspiration in color ways.  Some are the WONDERFUL natural color yarn that would be great baby blankets done by using aran patterns or basket weave or some such texture patterns.  This yarn is incredibly soft!




























And here is the shawl that Cindy had hanging in the booth.  It is crocheted.  However, I found inspiration in the color way.  It reminds me of the shawl that Mitzi knitted that Sally and I coveted.  Mitzi said that it was too heavy and gave it to Mary Jane.  So my thoughts are that these fingering yarns from Cindy might be perfect to use in that shawl to make it lighter!  The color way reminds me of that shawl.











And it didn't occur to me at the time, but as I review the photos, I see that the crazy soft yarn does come in colors.  We could just order the yarn from Cindy in any of the colors we choose.  I think that THIS is the project Sarah and I want to make!  YEA!  Cindy says that this yarn is best knit on size 6-7 needles.  I am very excited!

I am going to put this yarn upstairs in the playroom in one of my big, African baskets.  It is too pretty not to display!  I have put the patterns that I bought from Cindy in a folder in the kitchen that is labelled Cotton.

Dar's Socks

Dar has the most amazing socks that she is finishing now.  The pattern is Priha.  It is a pattern by Tiina Kuu.  It is available on Ravelry.  The color work pattern is included in the pattern.

The pattern is free, so I downloaded it and stored it in drop box in folder labelled socks.  It is also available in my Ravelry library.

Christmas Project

Before we left for SAFF I thought about what I would most like to buy.  No doubt about it, I thought that I was most interested in a Christmas project.  Hmmmmmmm....a Christmas project.  Perhaps I should hunt around in my stash to see if there wasn't already some yarn that I own that would work as well or better than what I might buy.  And, of course, there was more than one quantity of yarn that would work perfectly.  So I crossed that idea off my list.

Mitzi and I were walking down the middle aisle and I was telling her the above.  And I added: "unless I find something that I just can't resist".  And five steps later, there was that yarn!  Christmas yarn that I just could not resist!

It was in what turned out to be one of my top three favorite vendors.  



So the cowl that I couldn't resist is a silk cowl made out of Serenity fingering weight yarn.  There are three wonderful colors that one holds together and knits on a size 6 needle.  Claudia explained that one can use basketweave or knit plain.  Below are the wonderful colors and the cowl in another color way:

While I was in Claudia's booth, I saw some terrific cotton kits for baby blankets.  

The directions for the Square One Baby Blanket are inside the package and it looks like below:

Mary liked most of the colors, but the package that I had chosen included orange and purple that she did not like.  So I am not convinced that this is the project for Mary's twins.  Although if this is what Sarah and I choose, we could order more yarn from Claudia in colors Mary likes better.  I had liked the kit that was meant for a girl baby so well that I bought one of those as well.  This yarn is meant for needles between 3 and 5.  I have plenty of yarn that could be used as a shawl just as easily.  100% cotton.

I also bought some wonderful linen from Claudia because the woman in front of me checking out had chosen colors that I could not resist.  That information is in my knitting slideshow.

Displaying Shawl Pins

One of the thing that I bought at SAFF is a Snap Dragon Scarf that the vendor Sheepish Creations had on display.  I had been noticing all of the ways that different vendors displayed their shawl pins and
thinking about the way that I want to display my own so that I wear them more often.  So this scarf kit
was bought with that in mind.  I have filed the pattern in the kitchen in cowls and scarf file.  The button is in the knitting drawer in the chest in the hall near my bedroom

Here are some other ideas for displaying shawl pins that "grabbed me"  at the festival:

Trip to SAFF

Mitzi, Carla, and I made plans to visit SAFF in Fletcher, NC for the last weekend in October.  Carla took care of renting a very historic and charming house in Montreat.  And Mitzi agreed to be the driver.  I am the enthusiastic “moocher”…..Sally met us in Fletcher as she and her husband had already planned a trip there in their motor home.

SAFF is a huge fiber festival.  Next year it will repeat its date of being the weekend after Reinbeck in New York.

Here is the link to see the fun for yourself at SAFF.

https://www.saffsite.org

We drove through the mountains of Kentucky as we chose to go the shortest route that is not necessarily the quickest.  But it is definitely the most scenic.  We drove down 23 past Lousa headed for Ashville.  Montreat is a town next door to Black Mountain, NC.  Black Mountain is a darling small North Carolina Mountain Village.  Black Mountain is the Village that has grown up next to the neighborhood that includes Montreat Anderson College and the Presbyterian Conference Center that also goes by the name Montreat.

It 

We arrived in Black Mountain about 5PM and decided to drive by the little yarn shop that Carla frequents during her summer visits to the area.  It would probably be closed at 5PM, but we couldn’t resist.  And lo and behold, it was not only open, but packed and jammed.  Donna and Don who own the shop hosted what seemed to be half of the ladies who might be on their way to SAFF and stopping at the Black Mountain Yarn Shop on their way.  (Well might seem to be half until the next day when we say how huge SAFF really is!)

The house was charming and the neighborhood at Montreat is lovely.

Sweater detail done by Suzanne Byrom

The knitting group was very pleased last week when Sarah brought a new person to the knitting group:  Suzanne Byrom.  Suzanne was Mary's speech teacher at Barboursville High School.  It was very good to see her again.

Suzanne was knitting a green sweater.  I particularly liked the trim down the front of the sweater.  It was formed by adding another yarn for JUST the trim that made it heavier than the rest of the sweater.  So the main yarn was somewhat a mohair while the added yarn was more like a wool.  It is a very good look.  The pattern Suzanne is using is a Lion Brand pattern called Free Spirit Topper.  It calls for the trim to be in Seed Stitch.  I like Suzanne's variation much better.  I have filed the pattern in drop box as Free Spirit Topper in folder named sweaters.



Below is a photo of the two yarns.  However the color below is not true.  Both yarns were close to the color above and match each other well.  However the below photo gives an idea of the difference in the texture of the two yarns.  The body of the sweater is the fuzzier yarn (mohair?) while the added stability of the trim is caused by the addition of the second yarn which looks to be a worsted weight.

Mitzi's sweater out of ALP yarn

Mitzi made a sweater out of a very funky yarn that has brand name ALP.  I have stored the pattern in drop box in folder named sweaters.