Shopping Spree!

Due to a number of different circumstances, I have found myself supplementing my fiber stash over the last few weeks.

Retreat Vendors and Seattle Friends
As one of the coordinators of the Men's Spring Knitting Retreat, there are quite a few fiber-related vendors who send items as door-prizes or give-aways to the guys. (Here's a list of them if you'd like to support them).

The good part about this, is that the guys get awesome swag when they come to the retreat. The bad part is that I exclude myself from being able to win prizes, so I can only look with envy at the lovely yarn, books and roving that come to my home.

Well, perhaps a bit more than look.

I can certainly order from these vendors...right?

If that wasn't enough incentive, friend Brian took me to a yarn store favorite of his while I was in Seattle last week, and I supplemented the stash there too.

Here are some of my recent purchases:

Knitivity Order
Ray at Knitivity was very generous to the retreaters. In addition to other yarn, he sent a "Pride Yarn Pack" in rainbow colors. I loved the idea and had to order one for myself.

In addition, since I wanted to make sure I had a full box for postal efficiency, I ordered some of his custom dyed wool in "Dark Roast Espresso" colorway. I LOVE this yarn.

Puff The Magic Rabbit Order
Mindy (of Puff the Magic Rabbit) sends some of here goat fluff each year, and when she posted on Facebook some pictures of roving she had recently dyed, I knew it was the time to pounce. I got this amazing roving from Mindy.

I loved it so much, I had to start spinning it right away, and it spins like a dream.

Unfortunately, I had to stall a bit on the spinning because someone decided Mindy's roving made a comfortable napping spot.

Weaving Works Order
I met up with Brian, one of the coordinators for last year's west coast men's knitting retreat while I was in Seattle. In addition to having some great Thai food, he also took me to a wonderful yarn store (Weaving Works...but it's definitely not just for weavers!)not far from where I'm staying.

I ended up getting some Rowan Felted Tweed in a muted blue/gray...the color is incredibly rich and will make a fantastic sweater.

I also bought some Manos silk yarn...I couldn't resist this green color yarn and thought the complementary color was perfect...for something...not sure what.

Finally, I bought the third "Simply Knit 3" book from Unicorn books. Like the first two, this one has a lot of Carol Lapin's designs, which I have always loved.

Current Knitting
I continue to make incremental progress on the Malabrigo Silky Merino pullover and I've decided on a sleeve treatment (even though I haven't gotten to that point just yet.

I'm thinking about doing a single band of the twisted stitches up the center of the sleeve, and extending that into the shoulder up to the collar.

Not sure if it will work, but I'll try. I'll post a progress picture in my next blog post.