And I exercised it. Mostly. At Sock Summit, the Marketplace was a marvel. High-quality stuff as far as the eye could see. Hand painted yarns. Roving. Books. There were so much awesome temptation. This is all I came home with:
A respectable haul, but certainly not outrageous. Enough sock yarn for four pairs of socks, a skein for a friend, some lovely handmade soaps, some ceramic buttons, and a cute little ceramic bowl. I skipped the books, as I was worried that my luggage would be too heavy on the way home. I also skipped the roving and spindles as I'm not sure I'm willing to take on another hobby which will involve new gear and a whole 'nother stash. But those undyed rovings were really beautiful and intriguing.
The first booth I really spent time in on the first night was Sanguine Gryphon. The line of people waiting to check out wrapped around the side and into the next aisle, but I decided to sharpen my elbows and take a look inside. All the yarns were beautifully painted, and when a skein of Skinny Bugga named after the Golden Orb spider found its way into my hand, I knew I had to have it. It's mostly different blues, with a little gold thrown in. Its 80/10/10 merino/cashmere/nylon blend will ensure that the socks made from this yarn will be mine.
The other yarn I purchased the first night came from A Verb for Keeping Warm. A voice over the loudspeaker had just announced that the Marketplace was closing for the night and I sort of slowed down at their booth. They were so kind as to invite me in and let me shop. I didn't want anyone to get in trouble for any illicit after-hours sales and hoped we wouldn't get thrown in Sock Summit Jail for it. This set off lots of musing about how nice Sock Summit Jail would be, with its handknit afghans on the cots, felted slippers, and ubiquitous handknit socks. I bought two skeins of Creating, and they gave me a free pattern.
On subsequent days, I managed to get to Little Red Bicycle, where I bought a skein of yarn for a friend. His only request was that it be in a "manly" color. That would be the red skein in the top photo. The dyer at LRB is someone whose posts I read a lot on Ravelry, and at the LSG party, she wore a dinosaur suit. She's pretty awesome and her yarn is gorgeous!
I also managed to find my way to Miss Bab's booth, which was full of beautiful yarns and lots of patterns. In addition to all the gorgeous hand-painted yarns, she also had lots of beautiful semi-solids, which are probably my favorite yarns to knit - I like how the saturation of the colors adds depth to the things I knit. Anyway, I ended up with one semi-solid and one hand-paint. I can't wait to see how they knit up.
Aside from the yarn, I bought some lovely handmade soaps from Goodies Unlimited, which smell so good, I can't stand it! I think the peppermint is my favorite, but I also love the lavender soap and the almond one, too. I gave the citrus-scented one to a friend, and now that I've looked at their website, I expect I'll order some more. The other non-yarn purchase I made was from Jennie the Potter, who had all kinds of ceramic awesomeness in her booth. I only ended up with a set of buttons and a cute little bowl, but I was glad to have them. All her vessels, be they yarn bowls, vases, or mugs, had cute incised decoration: sheep (some wearing socks), squirrels, trees w/birds. They were all so cute! I was looking pretty hard at some of the bigger pieces, but I was worried about how well they'd travel home, so I just got a small bowl with a robin on the inside. It will do well for stitch markers or pins or something.
I think this is the end of my Sock Summit posts. My State Fair submissions have to be turned in this weekend, so I've been busy washing and blocking all kinds of stuff, which you'll get to see soon enough. Until next time, Friends.
A respectable haul, but certainly not outrageous. Enough sock yarn for four pairs of socks, a skein for a friend, some lovely handmade soaps, some ceramic buttons, and a cute little ceramic bowl. I skipped the books, as I was worried that my luggage would be too heavy on the way home. I also skipped the roving and spindles as I'm not sure I'm willing to take on another hobby which will involve new gear and a whole 'nother stash. But those undyed rovings were really beautiful and intriguing.
The first booth I really spent time in on the first night was Sanguine Gryphon. The line of people waiting to check out wrapped around the side and into the next aisle, but I decided to sharpen my elbows and take a look inside. All the yarns were beautifully painted, and when a skein of Skinny Bugga named after the Golden Orb spider found its way into my hand, I knew I had to have it. It's mostly different blues, with a little gold thrown in. Its 80/10/10 merino/cashmere/nylon blend will ensure that the socks made from this yarn will be mine.
The other yarn I purchased the first night came from A Verb for Keeping Warm. A voice over the loudspeaker had just announced that the Marketplace was closing for the night and I sort of slowed down at their booth. They were so kind as to invite me in and let me shop. I didn't want anyone to get in trouble for any illicit after-hours sales and hoped we wouldn't get thrown in Sock Summit Jail for it. This set off lots of musing about how nice Sock Summit Jail would be, with its handknit afghans on the cots, felted slippers, and ubiquitous handknit socks. I bought two skeins of Creating, and they gave me a free pattern.
On subsequent days, I managed to get to Little Red Bicycle, where I bought a skein of yarn for a friend. His only request was that it be in a "manly" color. That would be the red skein in the top photo. The dyer at LRB is someone whose posts I read a lot on Ravelry, and at the LSG party, she wore a dinosaur suit. She's pretty awesome and her yarn is gorgeous!
I also managed to find my way to Miss Bab's booth, which was full of beautiful yarns and lots of patterns. In addition to all the gorgeous hand-painted yarns, she also had lots of beautiful semi-solids, which are probably my favorite yarns to knit - I like how the saturation of the colors adds depth to the things I knit. Anyway, I ended up with one semi-solid and one hand-paint. I can't wait to see how they knit up.
Aside from the yarn, I bought some lovely handmade soaps from Goodies Unlimited, which smell so good, I can't stand it! I think the peppermint is my favorite, but I also love the lavender soap and the almond one, too. I gave the citrus-scented one to a friend, and now that I've looked at their website, I expect I'll order some more. The other non-yarn purchase I made was from Jennie the Potter, who had all kinds of ceramic awesomeness in her booth. I only ended up with a set of buttons and a cute little bowl, but I was glad to have them. All her vessels, be they yarn bowls, vases, or mugs, had cute incised decoration: sheep (some wearing socks), squirrels, trees w/birds. They were all so cute! I was looking pretty hard at some of the bigger pieces, but I was worried about how well they'd travel home, so I just got a small bowl with a robin on the inside. It will do well for stitch markers or pins or something.
I think this is the end of my Sock Summit posts. My State Fair submissions have to be turned in this weekend, so I've been busy washing and blocking all kinds of stuff, which you'll get to see soon enough. Until next time, Friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment