Cold day mitts are in progress!

I’m on row twenty-four of the Thanksgiving Day Mitts by TwinKnit. I like them, and I learned to cable-without a cable needle, no less-while working on them.

See more progress on: knit fingerless gloves

Main Street Yarns and Fibers, Watkinsville, Georgia

Wonder why I write so often about yarn stores I've visited? Because I wish more people wrote about the yarn stores they have visited!

Seriously, if I'm going to go out of my way to visit a place, I want to know if it's worth it! So far, I have reviewed every yarn store I've visited (few as that is)...except the one near my church! Hmm...guess I should do that, huh?

On to the review!

Saturday, my husband had to take the first of two tests to get his non-renewable provisional certification as a school library media center specialist. Since my brother-in-law and his wife live there, with my three month old nephew, we turned it into a family thing.

After lunch at the State Botanical Garden, we decided to visit the local yarn store, which I just "happened" to have directions to. My mother-in-law is learning to knit right now, so she had never been to a real yarn store.

And this was a great first visit! Main Street Yarns is such a pleasant place to visit. It's in a renovated barn, with a wonderful side porch, and has plenty of space to sit and relax. It's spacious, and everything is very well organized. Even my brother-in-law and father-in-law didn't mind the visit.

The wall to both sides of the door is full of needles and hooks of all sorts, from the plain to the fancy. By the register, they have a small display of needles with beautiful polymer clay tops. I believe they are locally made.

The yarn selection, too, is great. They had a wide variety of nice yarns; the site lists Alchemy, Art Yarns, Blue Sky Alpacas, Cascade, Debbie Bliss, Elsebeth Lavold, Ironstone, Jade Sapphire, Jo Sharp, Laines Du Nord, Lorna's Laces, Mango Moon, Manos del Uruguay, Noro, O-Wool, Opal Yarn, Plymouth, Rowan, RY Classic, Skacel, and Southwest Trading.

My mother-in-law bought two balls of Jo Sharp Infusion Kid Mohair in Twilight, to make a scarf similar to the sample in the store. I bought two balls of RYC Soft Tweed in a slate blue color, on clearance; it's been discontinued by the Rowan. (I limited myself to the clearance wall intentionally!)

The two women who were there were so nice! They chatted with the guys and offered them Cokes. The website mentions their commitment to Southern Hospitality, and I believe it! One spins, one weaves, and they both knit. We had fun talking about what we're working on, and one woman, Stephanie, is a fellow devotee of book arts, too. Who would have thought it? We exchanged links and blogs, which was fun. (Stephanie, if you read this, HEY!)

All in all, it's a definite must-visit if you're in the Athens area. It's so close (ten minutes from the Botanical Garden), and there's a wonderful orchard store nearby with delicious homemade ice cream. (I recommend the lemon custard. Yum!)

Thanks, Peachtree Handspinners!

Thanks to y'all, I have filled my bobbin! Thanks, too, for all the fiber-obsessed time, including the chance to some dyeing. I had never used cochineal, and now I have some lovely dyed yarn to play with.

Seriously, the Peachtree Handspinners Guild was so fun. I plan to go again next month, and join once I'm sure I'm going to stick with this.

Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins in Boulder, Colorado

When I posted on Craftster about visiting Colorado, everyone said Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins in Boulder was a must-visit. I was a bit confused by this, since I said I was visiting Pueblo, Colorado Springs, and Denver. Well, silly me. Boulder is only half an hour from Denver! So off we went.

When I walked in, I was floored. It was far, far more than I expected--and I couldn't even see the back area or the other room! There was fiber everywhere, in every form: cones for weaving, balls, skeins, and hanks, and roving. In front of the window: probably two dozen hats, each with a note attached detailing the pattern, yarn, needles or hook, everything! Nearly every yarn had a swatch, and the number of colors available for each yarn was astounding.

It was like a big playground, with fiber, patterns, tools, needles, hooks, looms, spindles, books, more fiber...but no one offered to help me. No one greeted me. No one even acknowledged my existence, except a nice women knitting at a table who said hello and said to let her know if she was in my way.

There were at least three employees in the store, all at the checkout and talking to each other. I believe one was on the phone with a vendor or something, so she was busy. But the other employees didn't speak to me, either, for half an hour. Ten minutes before closing, one woman asked if I needed help.

She was very nice, and when I asked about drop spindles she quickly found someone with more spinning experience to help me. The second woman was quite nice, too, and reasonably helpful. She didn't really offer me much advice on choosing a spindle; she said it was mainly personal preference. But if you've never spun, how do you know what you prefer?

I showed her the Schacht Hi-Lo Spindle, which I had looked at online. She told me it could be a good choice, since it would allow me to try both high whorl and low whorl spinning. The price was comparable to what I've seen online, so I decided to go with it. (I like to support local shops when I can.) She showed me which roving was the cheap "starter roving" and helped me decide on a quantity. (She suggested two to three ounces, but I don't have an easy local source, so I bought four and a half ounces. It will probably take at least that much before I make anything even sort of decent...)

If you're going to be in the area, I definitely recommend visiting Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins. I haven't seen a yarn selection like that since the weaving supply room at college; it simply has to be seen to be believed. But because of the service, I decided to skip buying anything I could get elsewhere, and only bought four skeins of inexpensive yarn (besides the spindle and roving) and a thread cutter (easier than scissors when travelling). Next time I find myself in Denver, I will definitely visit again. Hopefully, the service was simply a fluke, and everyone will be nice and helpful.

Maybe by then I'll be an expert spinner with a good loom. (Hey, let me have my dreams!)

Colorado Fiber Arts, Pueblo, Colorado

Colorado Fiber Arts in Pueblo was one of my planned stops. I found it doing a Google Search for "yarn store" near Colorado Springs. Well, we were going to pass through Pueblo, so...why not stop?

It was my third yarn store of the trip, and there was still new stuff to see. First, they had an actual selection of needles for needle felting, not just the standard single tool. Plus, they offered the colored roving in little one ounce bundles; many places only offer pre-packaged selections, which force you to buy colors you'll never use, and still have left over from the last package...

So guess who bought a felting needle and two different colors of roving? Yep, me: two bundles of red and one of a very dark navy. I'm thinking dragon... (Big surprise, huh?)

I also bought one skein of Candy by Artful Yarns, in Jelly Bean, which is a blend of blues, greens, and white. It's definitely going to be a hat for one of my nephews; there's an adorable baby hat pattern on the label. I saw a sample hat in the shop, and it's perfect! Candy is 64% cotton, 32% acrylic, 3% nylon, and 1% elastic, which results in a nicely stretchy fabric which returns to its shape quite readily. (Seems like a great idea, since little ones pull and tug at everything...)

The lady who helped me was very nice...which seems to be a pattern for yarn store employees! There were a couple of ladies working on projects at a table in the back, but other than that it was empty. She was helpful and knowledgable, and showed me all sorts of cool stuff!

...Empty, except for the five guys I brought in with me! Dredd and all three of his brothers came in, as well as my husband. A couple of the younger guys were amused by the copy of Knitting with Balls they found on one of the shelves. (Two teenagers and a preteen...LOL) They hung around a while, then headed down to the public library, less than a block away.

It's a beautiful library, with a reflecting pool and everything. We went there for coffee (Dredd, my husband, and I) and smoothies (the guys). Very yummy. So if you visit the store, be sure to stop by the library if it's open. There's even a museum on the top floor! Too bad I didn't get to see it.

Oodles Yarn and Bead Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

I knew there had to be a yarn shop in Santa Fe, since it's a very artistic city. Sure enough, we checked into our hotel Sunday night and I found a flyer for Oodles Yarn and Bead Gallery!

So, my husband gets to the hotel room and there's the flyer, in the middle of the floor, right in front of the door. Gee, how did that get there? Tolerant man that he is, he immediately agrees to take me there, Tuesday morning, on our way out of town.

Oodles is small, but they have good stuff! The front two-thirds of the room is given over to a sitting area and tons of fiber. When we stopped in, a good bit of the floor was also given over to yarn...there was a sale. :)

And, to my husband's delight, there was also a guy there, knitting away on the sofa. So my husband chatted with him (and sometimes the owner), leaving me to shop. The gentleman, who's a friend of the owner's, was funny and nice, as well as a skilled knitter. Very cool; glad my husband got to see a man knitting! (Though he enjoys listening to David Reidy's Sticks & String podcast, he's never actually met a male knitter! Not that he will ever start knitting...)

I found some Classic Elite Bam Boo yarn (on sale) in a bright blue; it may be China Blue, but I'm not sure. It's my first bamboo yarn! I also bought a skein of something else, but I can't remember what. Typical...

In the back, there's a big table with beads, and more beads on the left wall. The back and right walls had more yarn. I bought some pretty glass beads for my magic yarn ball swap partner, Kel. (We're doing our first mwb swap at Craft Wonderland, and I have to mail it out as soon as I get home.)

The owner was very nice. She was helpful, but she wasn't pushy. (I don't like pushy. Southerners usually equate "pushy" with "rude.") She was knowledgeable, so I could tell she knew what she was doing. The finished samples around the shop were proof!

One cool thing about Oodles: there's lots of handpainted yarn! There's lots of high-quality fiber, but she has a good selection of novelty fibers, too, if you're in the mood for something a little frivolous. I'll definitely be back if I return to Santa Fe.

Serendipity Needleworks, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

I spent about an hour and a half at Seredipity Needleworks in downtown Tuscaloosa this morning (actually, yesterday morning, but I haven't been to bed yet). I had a great time. There were so many beautiful yarns everywhere! I wasn't really optimistic when I saw the "Needleworks;" I figured it would be mostly embroidery, with some yarn thrown in. But to my surprise, there was tons of yarn and a great selection for embroidery, too.

The owner was so nice. She was knowledgeable about yarns, both those she carried and those she didn't. She greeted me cheerfully when I entered and offered help, but was never pushy. When I needed help finding a yarn substitute, she was was able to offer me several options, and give me advice on needles. When she needed to step to the back, she checked first to see if I needed anything.

The customers were great, too. I chatted with some of the women there for the Sit 'n' Stitch, and they were all cheerful and enthusiastically discussed their projects and mine.

So, my purchases... One of the projects on my dream list was the Scribblin' Shawl from Mason-Dixon Knitting. When I saw the beautiful red Lang Venezia yarn, I knew the shawl would be my next project! The owner helped me find substitutes for the Rowan Kid Silk Haze used in one of the sample shawls; I went with Douceur et Soie in black, for the body of the scarf. It's only a few rows long (I need to finish my backpack), but so far I'm happy with it!

Other purchases: Classic Elite Cotton in red and Berrocco Cotton Twist in Satin Beige (a taupe-ish color) from the bargain bin, plus three ball-ends for $1 each.

Knit Picks is taunting me!

I've been longing for CotLin in Moroccan Red for almost two months. I bought some for Ishy last month, in Royal Plum. It's very pretty, and it seems practical too. But every time I check the page, red is out of stock. I go back and it's not in yet. First it was early June, then June 15, then June 18, and now June 25.

I just want the pretty red yarn! Is that so much to ask?

Sigh. I love Knit Picks, but this is driving me nuts!

More on Kool-Aid dyeing...

Well, I have photos now. First, my dyed samples...which were originally Winter White (Paton's Classic Wool).

I decided to start out playing with cherry and black cherry Kool-Aid, because I wanted red. (Yeah, what a surprise...) On the left is my first sample, straight cherry. It turned out to be a pinker red than I like, and a bit bright. But, that was sort of what I expected.

The middle sample is straight black cherry. It did turn out darker, which is what I expected, but it was still rather pink. How to fix that?

As luck would have it, I bought six (seven? eight?) different colors (um, flavors) of Kool-Aid, including lemon-lime. I wanted it less pink, and green is the complement of red, so logically it would tone down the pink.

It worked, but I overdid it a bit, so I overdyed with a bit more cherry. I like the color--a nice brick red--but it was darker than I wanted. But I'm still very happy with it; that's my third sample. Pretty, right?

I've droned on and on about the colors, but I haven't talked about the magic of Kool-Aid dyeing, which is the most addictive part. I used the "simple" version, which I've seen on several sites. It's really, really easy.

First, soak your wool (or other animal fiber) in lukewarm water. Leave it soaking while you prepare your dye. You'll need about one packet of unsweetened Kool-Aid per 1 oz of yarn...according to the websites. I think you'll need more to get decent (read "non-pastel") colors.

Anyway, mix the Kool-Aid in lukewarm water until it dissolved. Use enough water to cover the yarn plus an inch or two more. You can use as much water as you want, but more water means more time cooking your fiber. It's the amount of powder in the water that matters.

Transfer the wet fiber to the dye bath and press it down to submerge it. Place it in the microwave, and microwave it for two minutes. Let it sit for two minutes, then repeat until the magic happens.

And the magic? As you heat the dye bath, the fiber absorbs the dye. As the dye is absorbed, the water turns clear! It's amazing...





The first photo shows the fiber with the dye about half absorbed. In the second, the dye has been totally observed; note the clear liquid! See? It really is like magic...

Oh, be sure to let the yarn cool before messing with it or agitating it. Don't add cold water water to try to speed the process, either. We don't want random felting, do we? No.

Are there not enough colors of yarn in the world?

Apparently not. Because I decided last week that I really needed to dye my own yarn.

So, it's Friday night. I've finished work for the week, and my husband is out of town. What do I do? I microwave a few yards of yarn in Kool-Aid. Then I try it again, with another color. Then I try to blend colors and make a more custom color.

For the record, black cherry with some lemon-lime added makes a nice dark red; you can use straight black cherry (lots of it, though), but it will be a pinker red. If you overdo it with the lemon-lime, you can overdye it with some regular cherry to tone down the brown.

I still haven't uploaded the photos...I guess I'll have to do that tonight.