Finished: Kirkja & Fiber Christmas in July!

I will try to limit my enthusiasm in this post, but no promises.  I have been boasting about my four day work weeks to anyone who will listen which this year allowed me to visit Fiber Christmas in July on its opening day.  It is a smaller fiber festival with lots of local dyers, spinners, weavers, etc. This is also proof that I can overspend in ten minutes flat, and be mesmerized by animal fibers--who knew? 

While there I picked up a lot of beautiful skeins including a huge 875 yard skein from Dawning Dreams, who is one of my favorites. This skein is begging to become a Simple Lines Shawl. 

 

Also acquired was a skein of "Wooly Shoots" by Two Windows Dye Co. The owner, Deb, whom I had a great conversation with was gracious and kind and this skein was too beautiful to pass up at 600 yards.  (She even gave me a cute hand made bag to take my goodies home in.)  I haven't made plans for this skein but you better believe I will be using Rav to see what will be best for this superwash merino/bamboo mix. 

 

In attendance was Brooks Farm Yarn, which had a huge booth with lots of different bases and colors.  I had a hard time picking which color would be just right but eventually settled on two large skeins of purple Solo Silk which are begging to be a Spring Garden Tee for a KAL with my awesome boss (who has taken to knitting quicker than anyone I've ever met). These skeins are some of the most beautiful I've ever seen.  They have a luxurious sheen and are so soft; I imagine the 50/50 blend will be amazing against my skin. 

 

And last but not least, I finally finally had the chance to visit a Lost City Knits booth!  I am sure I have not shared this story before, but I have been stalking their festival page for years and somehow always manage to miss them, even at local events.  One year I ran around in the rain for about 30 minutes and couldn't find their booth and was forced to return to work empty handed and mega upset.  I spotted their booth in record time and felt insane anxiety at which skeins would be mine.  Eventually I picked a skein of their High Country DK in a beautiful rusty color aka Baked Earth.  This skein says it should be a Pasha hat for myself.. 

 

I had to have their Pathways Sock (in Extra Virgin), which is a generous skein of superwash merino.  I am not much of a green person but this jade-y, rich color spoke to me.  It reminded me of a beautiful And so are you shawl by a Rav friend  which I have dreams about. 

 

After all of the million skeins I have added to my stash over the last few weeks (including an unblogged 9 skeins of brown linen from a knitting friend), I decided to dare myself to avoid yarn buying for a few months.. perhaps until the end of the year.  I don't find the "job" of picking to be an issue and lucky for me, all of these purchases have been made without a second thought financially but I am starting to get to a point where when I start searching the store that is my stash, I itch a little with the what ifs... What if this yarn would actually be better? What if I hate this? What if I should really save this for something else?  And worst of all, I can't get rid of that... I love it too much.  MINE MINE MINE. 

And because this blog is not just about yarn buying (though I wish), I have been working dutifully all week to finish a Kirkja Shawl out of madtosh 80/10/10.  This skein is beautiful.  If I didn't wonder who read this, I would use many curse words.  The yarn is beautiful, the pattern was free and I have not one bad thing to say about it.  The charts are easy enough but still produce an amazing lace pattern, which can fool knitters and especially non-knitters into amazement. 

 

I also ripped out the finished sleeve of my Levenwick, which was pitiful looking... I am afraid I am losing my mojo on it but I will force myself to work on it in the coming week. 

Happy Knitting!