New yarn

When I was out west, I wanted to buy yarn that was at least a little bit local -- that originated from B.C. animals, or was spun and/or dyed there. I'm happy with what I ended up with: yarns that speak to me (and will remind me) of the west coast.


This wool is really special. Remember the sheep photos in this post? Those sheep (specifically, the white ewes in that group of sheep) made this wool. They live on Cortes Island; a lovely woman named Joy raises them and dyes the wool (which is spun at a mill in Alberta). Each skein measures about 50 meters; I thought I'd make striped mittens with these colours.


At left is a 820-yard skein of laceweight silk (Silk Tree yarn #60), which I bought at the Silk Weaving Studio on Granville Island, in Vancouver (where I watched silkworms munching on mulberry leaves for a while). It's very thin and has a thready feel.

At right is a skein of Handmaiden silk-wool Mini Maiden, which is dyed in Vancouver (by Fleece Artist's daughter). I bought it at a cute shop called Mad About Ewe (no website? really?) in Nanaimo. I think I'll use it for a Flower Basket Shawl (Ravelry link).

And in the middle is a ball of laceweight alpaca that I bought at Birkeland Bros. Wool in Vancouver. (That store has really changed and now carries tons of yarns.) This yarn had no label, but I was told it came from Golden Fleece Alpacas in Mission, B.C.

And that's it! Clearly I'm all about teal and lace, either separately or together.

Plus, while I was gone...

1. Holy February Lady Sweater! According to Ravelry, about eleventy gazillion knitters are working on Pam's awesome EZ-based design, including me. Many are using soft, pretty yarns; me, I'm using slightly scratchy wool. I like the idea of the juxtaposition of lace and heavy wool -- like a winter bed jacket for a pioneer woman. I'm not entirely sure it's going to work; plus, due to increasing humidity, I may put this whole project away for a few months. (No need for progress photos, since my version is solid black.)

2. I thought I'd lost her! But Cari, formerly of Dogs Steal Yarn, is not gone -- just moved to a new spot: Dispatches from Utopia. Whew!

3. I had a look at this here blog from a few different computers, and much to my horror, the colours in all the photos looked really bright and garish. Everything looks perfect on my laptop. How do things look to you? Have I been posting garishly coloured pictures lo these many years? Or is my computer right and everything looks OK?