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Hello again, everyone, and welcome to my thoughts on Woodstock Fleece Festival 2017!
First, a huge, huge, 'thank you' to the Toronto Knitter's Guild for setting up an accessible bus charter! Without that, I could not have gone -- I don't (and can't drive), so going by bus was the only way that really would have worked. While (theoretically) I could have taken the VIA rail there, the timing for that would have been horrible, and I still would have had to wrangle an accessible cab from the Train Station to the Festival Grounds.
That said, it was amazing! There was only one hiccup, which was that not all of the individual vendors were accessible, there were a few lips in the main barn of the festival grounds that I couldn't really get over. But 95% of the festival was accessible without incident (including the bathrooms, which are often a stumbling block for accessibility), which for a decent-size festival is nothing sort of amazing! Plus, staff and volunteers were superbly helpful when things did come up!
So, what did I get? Actually, a good amount of awesomeness!
And for those that have followed me on Facebook or G+, I apologize for the repeat pictures -- hopefully you don't mind looking at pictures of awesome yarn and yarny things again!
So, lets start with something a few of you have already seen, the new yarn bowl from Patina Studios:
I know, I know, I already have one yarn bowl. and I went and got another! But this one is quite a bit wider at the top, plus it's bigger, too. In addition, it offers the option to thread the yarn right through using the hole at the top rather then the J-cut, (though I don't know how much I'm going to do that, given that I usually like to switch out projects). It's nice to have that option!
Since it's pottery, it's heavier, but a little less durable, then my yarn bowl from *Natural Knot Wood. But, I'll have to be careful to tuck this one all the way under the couch when I'm not knitting, so that I don't accidentally kick it!
Next up, is a skein of gorgeous lace weight from Canadian Alpaca Products!
Isn't this colour absolutely gorgeous? I'm thinking this will be a lace shawl of some kind -- considering it's 850 yards, it's more then enough for a good size shawl. And alpaca has a tendencay to grow, especially when wet and blocked, so this should turn out amazing. . . once I figure out exactly what I want to do with it!
My next purchase should be no surprise to those who know me -- you have probably figured out that I'm a huge fan of Dye-Version Yarns! So when I found out that they were at the Woodstock Fleece Festival, I knew I had to stop by the booth.
Their yarn put me a bit over budget, but I did get two skeins of Silver, dyed up in the colourway "Midnight". I'm glad I went over-budget for these, because this base is (sadly) no longer being manufactured!
The beauty of this particular base is that there's honest sterling silver spun right into the yarn (that's what gives it the shimmer!). Now for some of the yarns spun with silver, it means that they're actually conductive, and you can use a touchscreen with gloves made from the yarn! I haven't tried it with Dye-Version's Silver, so I don't know if it's true for this particular blend. So the first step with this yarn is definitely going to be some swatching.
Other finds include these silk/merino odds and ends from The Black Lamb. They're a set of random partial skeins, but my estimates give about 600 yards between the 3 colours. That would be perfect for a striped shawl I have in mind, so that would seem to be the best way to go!
The silk means that they've got a gorgeous sheen, plus, if I make a shawl of these, it will be nice and warm for winter!
Next was some gradient yarn from Dragon Strings! She's another dyer that I tend to go find at festivals, and once again, I was far from disappointing! I really wish I had a bigger budget for the festival (but, if that were the case
, not everything would have fit in my bag, haha!)
The colourway is as a one-of-a-kind called "Dark Crystal" and, once again, I'm not entirely sure what I want to make with it. I've got a rough plan for a gradient shawl that I think would suit, but there's always the chance for other awesome designs, as well.
And, last but not least (no, seriously, sadly, I almost forgot about these), were two skeins of Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend (70% Merino, 30% Silk), bought from the booth of Porch Swing Yarnsomniacs! I haven't yet had a chance to visit their shop in Toronto, but they've also come to the Toronto Knitter's Guild, so I've had a chance to look through their awesome yarns there, as well! As for the yarn, it's a deeper, darker blue in real life, but, no matter how I tried to photograph it, it didn't come out right. So, this was the best I could get, annoyingly. But the yarn itself is soft, squishy, and warm. I think it's going to be a crochet hood of some kind, probably in the new year when the flood of holiday knitting is done.
Well, I think that's all my haul from the festival! I had an absolute blast, and I'm really hoping I get the chance to go again next year! My apologies that this post took so long to post up -- things have been quite busy around here, especially with the holidays, but, I did get this post up, which, I figure is the important part!
Until next time, and thanks for reading!
Hello again, everyone, and welcome to my thoughts on Woodstock Fleece Festival 2017!
First, a huge, huge, 'thank you' to the Toronto Knitter's Guild for setting up an accessible bus charter! Without that, I could not have gone -- I don't (and can't drive), so going by bus was the only way that really would have worked. While (theoretically) I could have taken the VIA rail there, the timing for that would have been horrible, and I still would have had to wrangle an accessible cab from the Train Station to the Festival Grounds.
That said, it was amazing! There was only one hiccup, which was that not all of the individual vendors were accessible, there were a few lips in the main barn of the festival grounds that I couldn't really get over. But 95% of the festival was accessible without incident (including the bathrooms, which are often a stumbling block for accessibility), which for a decent-size festival is nothing sort of amazing! Plus, staff and volunteers were superbly helpful when things did come up!
So, what did I get? Actually, a good amount of awesomeness!
And for those that have followed me on Facebook or G+, I apologize for the repeat pictures -- hopefully you don't mind looking at pictures of awesome yarn and yarny things again!
So, lets start with something a few of you have already seen, the new yarn bowl from Patina Studios:
I know, I know, I already have one yarn bowl. and I went and got another! But this one is quite a bit wider at the top, plus it's bigger, too. In addition, it offers the option to thread the yarn right through using the hole at the top rather then the J-cut, (though I don't know how much I'm going to do that, given that I usually like to switch out projects). It's nice to have that option!
Since it's pottery, it's heavier, but a little less durable, then my yarn bowl from *Natural Knot Wood. But, I'll have to be careful to tuck this one all the way under the couch when I'm not knitting, so that I don't accidentally kick it!Next up, is a skein of gorgeous lace weight from Canadian Alpaca Products!
Isn't this colour absolutely gorgeous? I'm thinking this will be a lace shawl of some kind -- considering it's 850 yards, it's more then enough for a good size shawl. And alpaca has a tendencay to grow, especially when wet and blocked, so this should turn out amazing. . . once I figure out exactly what I want to do with it!
My next purchase should be no surprise to those who know me -- you have probably figured out that I'm a huge fan of Dye-Version Yarns! So when I found out that they were at the Woodstock Fleece Festival, I knew I had to stop by the booth.
The beauty of this particular base is that there's honest sterling silver spun right into the yarn (that's what gives it the shimmer!). Now for some of the yarns spun with silver, it means that they're actually conductive, and you can use a touchscreen with gloves made from the yarn! I haven't tried it with Dye-Version's Silver, so I don't know if it's true for this particular blend. So the first step with this yarn is definitely going to be some swatching.
Other finds include these silk/merino odds and ends from The Black Lamb. They're a set of random partial skeins, but my estimates give about 600 yards between the 3 colours. That would be perfect for a striped shawl I have in mind, so that would seem to be the best way to go!The silk means that they've got a gorgeous sheen, plus, if I make a shawl of these, it will be nice and warm for winter!
Next was some gradient yarn from Dragon Strings! She's another dyer that I tend to go find at festivals, and once again, I was far from disappointing! I really wish I had a bigger budget for the festival (but, if that were the case, not everything would have fit in my bag, haha!)
The colourway is as a one-of-a-kind called "Dark Crystal" and, once again, I'm not entirely sure what I want to make with it. I've got a rough plan for a gradient shawl that I think would suit, but there's always the chance for other awesome designs, as well.
And, last but not least (no, seriously, sadly, I almost forgot about these), were two skeins of Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend (70% Merino, 30% Silk), bought from the booth of Porch Swing Yarnsomniacs! I haven't yet had a chance to visit their shop in Toronto, but they've also come to the Toronto Knitter's Guild, so I've had a chance to look through their awesome yarns there, as well! As for the yarn, it's a deeper, darker blue in real life, but, no matter how I tried to photograph it, it didn't come out right. So, this was the best I could get, annoyingly. But the yarn itself is soft, squishy, and warm. I think it's going to be a crochet hood of some kind, probably in the new year when the flood of holiday knitting is done.Well, I think that's all my haul from the festival! I had an absolute blast, and I'm really hoping I get the chance to go again next year! My apologies that this post took so long to post up -- things have been quite busy around here, especially with the holidays, but, I did get this post up, which, I figure is the important part!
Until next time, and thanks for reading!
Such a lovely selection of yarns. I adore your colours. Really interested to hear about the silver yarn. I'm a big fan of audio books on my smartphone when I'm out and about, so conductive gloves sound just the thing. Bonny xox
ReplyDeleteAw, thank you. Can you tell I lean towards blues and purples in my colour choices? :D
DeleteAs for the conductive yarn, I know that Silverpun Yarns, (https://www.feelgoodyarnco.com/collections/yarns) are are conductive and will work with smartphone screens. I've got some sitting to make a pair of gloves for me, because absolutely -- the ability to type without taking off gloves is incredibly awesome! :) I'm not as sure if the Dye-Version Silver will work that way, so I'll have to experiment in the new year.
All the blues are beautiful! Fun post.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteI often joke that people can tell my favorite colours just by looking at my yarn stash :D