Stitches West: I went...I saw....I bought...

...and bought...and bought! I met some fellow knitters, took a couple of great classes, and just had a great time!

Here is my haul from Blue Moon Needle Arts--it represents the majority of my purchases.

• The yarn in the front is all Socks That Rock, Lightweight:January One, Little Bunny Foo Foo, Midsummer Night, Lucy, Mist, Smokey Blue, and Obsidian.
• Rio in Pebble Beach and the Faux-bius pattern for it.
• Bambu in Dark Horse and the Bambuzzled pattern for it.
• Blue Moon Sock Blockers and above it a moon knitting marker (sorry, it didn't photograph very well).

Here are the rest of my yarn and knitting purchases.

• Big patterns: Leg Warmers from Oat Couture, Cookie A's Mona, Flicker, and Thelonius sock patterns, and Everywhere Wrap from Hemp for Knitting.
• Kits: Spa and Bath Trio and Shop Till You Drop Bag from Hemp for Knitting
• Books: Favorite Socks from Interweave and Dominknitrix (signed!)
• Two skeins of Sea Silk and the Storm Water Shawl pattern from Handmaiden Yarn
• Two skeins of Louet Gems for the Thelonius pattern; above them are fresh water pearl stitch markers from Zero

And finally, the class materials from the Spinning For Knitting class I took from Merike Saarniit and my spinning purchases--Coral Reef merino-tencel on the left and Evergreen merino on the right, both from Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks.


Now, I have been trying to learn how to spin (on my own) for the last year. Nothing I "made" looked remotely like yarn and I was frustrated. After the first hour of class, we had spun and plied our first yarn. And, surprise! It actually looked like yarn, rather than a globby mess or strands of roving twisted on itself. Here's a close-up:

• The brown and white yarn (Coopworth wool) on the left is the first yarn we made in class.
• The multicolored yarn (Romney wool) in the center is the second yarn we made.
• On the spindle is a Tussah silk yarn that we started.
• On the right is a rust yarn (wool type unknown) that I made today, just to keep in practice.

Now, I need a lot more practice to produce an even single, but I now feel like that's possible. Thank you, Merike!

Tomorrow, it's back to work. It's been nice to have a break and enjoy my craftiness, but now I need to pay for these purchases! However, I do have a few crafty things to look forward to. In some weird serendipity, I expect to get my first 2007 installment of the Blue Moon Rockin' Sock Club, the second installment of Scout's Indie Swag Club, and the next installment of Sundara's Petals Collection! The universe is being very good to me this month!