Scratch Solstice Calendar 2021

I am ridiculously excited about Scratch's 2021 Solstice Calendar.

Is it December yet?

Craft shelf reorganization

After a series of kitty-yarn-terrorism events, it was time to move the yarn out of reach of the small fuzzy member of the family.

 

On the plus side this has provided an opportunity to look through things, and I am happier with how the space is laid out.

Prado de Lana

We were out in the Bershires last weekend, and we could not have asked for better weather.

While we were wandering around Stockbridge, MA, we stumbled across Prado de Lana, a family owned yarn store specializing in sustainable, small business, pure breed wool yarns. Their house brand yarn is made from wool from the sheep in their farm and their Prado de Lana lines call out which specific sheep contributed to each skein of yarn. Such a neat and unexpected find!

Berkshire Weekend Away

Salvbard and I took the weekend to get away to the Bershires for a mixture of pleasure and a memorial service that I wanted to attend. The weather was absolutely perfect, and that meant I got lots of outdoor knitting time.

I worked on a new hat for Diamondsoled out of Zauberball she had bought for this purpose:

I also worked on a pair of toe up socks from a bunch of leftover self striping yarn:

On Saturday we even stopped into Webs, and I picked up yarn for the Scheepjes Rozeta CAL, which my friend fiber Fiddledragon turned me on to. I am freestyling a bit with colors chosen based on my personal preferences.

I could do less with the "help" from out 6 month kitten who has never show interest in balled yarn before though.

All and all, it was a really lovely recharging and connective weekend. I am very lucky.

SF: Black Mountain Artisans

Also while Salvbard and I were in the San Francisco, we did some exploration of the surrounding area. In Marin county, we stumbled across one of the locations for the Black Mountain Artisans.

Have I mentioned what a good sport Salvbard is? When I stopped in my tracks in front of this shop, he encouraged me in and then patiently waited while I looked at all the amazing handspun. There is something really amazing about handspun. I probably give my own handspun some love too...

I picked up this skein by Feline Fibers. Apparently the artist who made it is one of the major shearers in the area, and she travels around the county in a trailer with her cats. I have no idea what I am going to make with this yet, but it is lovely to squoosh.

SanFrancisco: ImagiKnit

A few weeks ago, Salvbard and I were in SanFrancisco, which meant an opportunity to visit ImagiKnit. I had heard a lot about this shop, and so it was very exciting to have the chance to visit.

Inside it was beautiful and incredibly efficiently laid out:

The staff were amazingly kind and helpful, I went away with two DK Lucy Cowl kits with Lux Adorna Knits Fun Size Bundles DK in "Love Wins" (bottom) and "Cat Lady" (top).

In other news, I may have made faces about the name of the top kit, which is in the colors of the asexuality flag. On the one hand, I was super excited to find these kits in alt sexuality flag colors, since they do not seem to be well known on the internet. Yay San Francisco for your support. On the other hand, seriously? Aren't things hard enough that we need to stigmatize each other? Much love and patience to my asexual folk.

Still, I am excited about the yarn, and it was a lovely shop to visit. I am very glad we went. I look forward to finding just the right thing to knit these into.

Adventures in Knitting

Salvbard and I were down on Cape Cod for the weekend and found a LYS while we were there, Adventures in Knitting in Harwich, MA. It was an adorable shop, and highly worth a visit.

I had finished the pair of socks that I was knitting (pictures soon!), but needed a darning needle. I had given the one in my kit away last weekend to a new knitter who had almost completed his first wearable hat.

While we were there we picked up some souvenir yarn for myself, some gift yarn for Jasra, and I got the yarn needed for a baby project that I have a plan for.

Gore Place Sheepshearing Festival '16

We couldn't have asked for better weather yesterday for the annual sheep-shearing festival at Gore Place in Waltham.




There we cute animals. Kids chased chickens.  We ate too much fair food and got a little too much sun despite liberal application of sunblock.






Wooly activities like shearing, spinning, weaving and knitting occurred. And I even picked up a small amount of yarn from  June Pryce Fiber Arts. The worsted is planned for a requested hat, while I have just been wanting to play with a gradient set for ages. Now I just need to find the perfect patterns.



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