Fiber Arts: Disney

I have ridden plenty a Small World ride in my days on this earth, and I have to say, every time I get to the last scene with all the nations dressed in their white with color accents, I think to myself: It IS a small world after all.

This time through Lolly noticed, with excitement, that the wigs are made of yarn.  After I looked a little closer myself, I found this exciting too.  I have already had some yarn plans floating around in my head for Halloween this year, and this inspired me even more to go through with it.

My favorite wig is the pink one with the bun in the front.  I also loved seeing the Goats with little cotton sweaters on, the sun covering her smile, and the giant pink camel and pink elephant.

Knit Week: Sheep & Wool Festival

Sicky-kins Jason was meant to run a marathon last weekend, but I have to say I completely LUCKED OUT that he couldn’t run it, because I learned about the Sheep and Wool Festival on Ravelry just last week, and I decided we would go do THAT instead of run or watch someone run 26.2 miles. WAY better choice.I’ve never seen so much yarn in one place in my LIFE.  I was feeling overwhelmed by the Yarn Crawl, well this was just unprocessable, I didn’t buy one skein.  If I hadn’t had the fam with me, I would have totally caved to the peer pressure of this line. These people were lined up to CHECK OUT.  I must discover this yarn.

I wish I had just bought some of the yarn from loop. The girl who makes it was super cool, wore these awesome, thigh-high leg warmers over her jeans, and can you believe I actually passed up the TROLL yarn?

Lolly and Phoebe were totally into the festival–made me SO happy.  Lolly really appreciated seeing RAM-to-wool-to-roving-to-spinning-to-yarn, and they loved petting the CASHMERE goat! ooh-la-la. Fancy!  I think Jason’s favorite part was the auction. I had NO IDEA what that guy was saying, but it was exciting. I tried not to make any sudden movements, lest he think I was bidding. I really wanted to bid on the sheep that was pregnant with twins though.  What a loss for me.

An unexpected highlight of all the animal ogling was the Mama Kangaroo with the Joey in her pouch.  Truly a sight none of us had seen before, we could not stop staring.

We will definitely be returning to the Sheep and Wool Festival. I would not miss the soft pretzels or pumpkin pie we devoured. Phoebe would love to get some Shepherds Pie again and next time I will have a good big budget to buy the yarn I so envied at the festival.  Maybe next time we will stop in AFTER Jason meets us there on his bike or runs a marathon…then we would all experience an ideal day!

Knit Week: Collage Hat

Every time I saw this yarn at Purlsoho, I just wanted it. Finally I decided to get some during the yarn crawl, and I am so happy I did.  I can’t wait to go back and get another color. This hat was a huge achievement for me as I knitted in the round and also finished with double pointed needles.  I am pretty pleased with my pom-pom skills too. Here is the yarn in Boho Dance. Here is the pattern.

Knit Week: Flower Scarf

This yarn is pretty irresistible. The felted glittery flowers spun into the yarn makes whipping this up pretty exciting.

I picked up my skein of Pagewood Farms Flora in Sherbet at Stash in Memphis, TN.

Knit Week: Audrey Gloves

I met the designer of many knit patterns at La Casita Yarn Shop in Brooklyn. I bought this beautiful washable merino wool by malabrigo in rios and her Audrey Gloves pattern.

It was pretty delicious knitting with this yarn.

Knit Week: Prize Basket

Here is my 2011 yarn crawl prize basket all spread out. Seriously, it was the EXACT thing I needed to win last week after two weeks of a sick husband.

There are such cool yarn samples that I never would have bought on my own.  I tend to be drawn to confetti/crazy yarn and bright colors.  Most every yarn sample came with a pattern to go with it too.  It really inspired me to get my knit on.

I am most excited about the basket itself (it’s now full to the brim of my yarn stash), the S.Charles  “Crystal” Yarn  & Pattern (I am going to try my first crochet jewelry), Vogue Knittings’ “Knitopedia” book & Berroco’s “Comfort Knitting & Crochet Afghan Book”.  I am hoping to use some of the yarn for Lovescarf Project too.

Here is the owner of Knit-a-way in Brooklyn handing me my basket!

Here’s to a knitty winter!

NYC Yarn Crawl 2011

If you go to one yarn blog and visit one yarn store in NYC, the blog is purlbee and the store is purlsoho.  It is at this blog that I heard about the Yarn Crawl this past weekend.  I was very excited to participate.  I decided to go to stores that I had never been before, which goes along very well with my goal to visit all the yarn stores in NYC!

I did start with a repeat because I wanted to get materials for a scarf on their blog.  I took my girls and their friends with me to Purlsoho and we had a wonderful time.  We then hit a new one: Seaport Yarn, located downtown. Though the owner of the store was very helpful and there was a wide variety of yarn, I felt that the location (WAY downtown), and the vast amount of people frequenting the area (9/11 Memorial), I will not be returning.

Next we took a break from yarn crawling and went to the fashion district with one of my friends. We hit Mood first and then popped in and out of the fabric and trim offerings on 38th and 39th street.  We found materials for 3 more linen/pom-pom scarves for a better deal than at purlsoho–that’s the beauty of the fashion district. I saw pom-poms for sale that ranged from $1.50 to $6.99 a yard…you just have to KEEP LOOKING and not forget where you found the best deal.  This, as you can imagine, is exhausting…and so my children, out of necessity it seems, took a nap at the last trim store we visited.

Our final stop was to visit String on the Upper West Side.  The ladies here were very nice and helpful, but I found the atmosphere to be a bit stuffy for my taste.  However, my goal with the yarn crawl was to support each store I went to, so when Lolly fell in love with a pair of fingerless gloves, I got materials for those and then picked out a fun fancy yarn for me to make a scarf or a hat.  This store, located on the upper east side, did not post any prices.  At this point I have a pretty good idea what yarn costs, so I didn’t even ask.

When I got home and looked over my receipt, there was one ball of yarn that was about 4 times the amount of the others, and sure enough, it was the CASHMERE required to make Lolly’s fingerless gloves.  Oh dear.  I think I may be making those gloves for me instead.

On Day 2 of the yarn crawl, in an effort to not get sucked into a 6-year-olds cashmere dreams, I went to the Brooklyn stores with a friend of mine.  The yarn stores in Brooklyn are a TREASURE. The mood and attitude is much more my speed, and I hope to be making return trips.  Knit-a-way in Brooklyn is spacious and I like the way the yarn is organized in shelves and rows.  They have a nice big table for classes, and a bathroom!  I forgot to take photos of this store, but I liked it.

Next we hit Brooklyn General which is a dream. It is the Brooklyn version of Purlsoho.  The girls who work there wear little cotton dresses that look homemade (in a good way) and the dark wood and spacious building make you feel like moving in.  The selection of yarn, fabric, oilcloth (!) and books is incredible.  I ended up buying two oliver + s dress patterns.

Last stop was La Casita, and it’s a good thing, because it was a party in there!  Cafe and yarn store, it was packed and almost difficult to shop, but definitely felt like a destination.  I bought a pattern  from the designer herself and some yarn to make it with.

I loved the dissected knitted frog.  It was such an inspirational weekend. I now have 3 projects on needles and one crocheted turkey hat in progress. Now if I could just find more down time to finish!

6:30 PM Sunday Night: I just got a call from the owner of Knit-A-Way in Brooklyn.  I won one of the 14 gift baskets!  $350.00 worth of knitting products including:

Berroco’s “Comfort Knitting & Crochet Afghan Book

Brown Sheep’s Nature Spun Chunky Wool

Buffalo Gold Lux Bison/Silk/Cashmere/Tencel Blend Yarn

Classic Elite Kit:  3 skeins of “Avenue” plus Sweater Pattern

Coastal Knits Book FREE Coupon (Alana Dakos & Hannah Fettig)

Erika Knight’s New Line of Yarns

Lamb’s Pride Bulky Yarn

S.Charles  “Crystal” Yarn  & Pattern

Jumbo Lantern Moon Rice Basket

Karabella’s Cosmos Yarn

Kim Hargreaves Pattern Book

Knit Bot Knitting Patterns (2) by Hannah Fettig

Knitter’s Pride Needles: Circular, Jumbo Straight, Square DPN’s

Never Not Knitting Patterns (2) by Alana Dakos

S. Charles “Luna” Yarn

SMC Select: Dolce Vita Skein

Shibui Merino’s Alpaca & 2 New Pattern Books: Texture & Toddler Knits

Soap Samples from Soak

Stewart Tabori Chang/Melanie Falick Book

Unicorn Fiber Wash Samples

Vogue Knittings’ “Knitopedia”  – A resource to keep forever!

Wow! This definitely makes up for the cashmere mistake and the fact that 2 weeks later, my husband is still sick!

First Crochet Project: Baby Blanket

Last year Phoebe caught on to the crocheting bug.  I taught her to single crochet and change yarn colors.  She picked out the colors she wanted at the Lion Brand Studio and kept stealing my size k hook.  After a little bit of frogging and adjusting, she ended up with a teeny tiny blanket for our new favorite Baby.

Since then she has started work on two different scarves and even learned to double AND Triple crochet.  I can’t wait to show you some more of her finished projects.

PS. I think I can say, Jason’s fever has finally broke.  Two more days in bed and he’s going to try for work again.

Yarn Stores: Memphis

Yarniverse: I loved Yarniverse for it’s Southern Women talking and knitting and advising.  It was like Designing Women, but a yarn store.

Rainbow: I loved the selection, but I didn’t connect to the people enough to buy anything.

Stash: LOVE LOVE LOVE the name of this store and the fact that it was a little house layout.  Also had a few southern women there, so we bought a few skeins.