Stitches, Day One

If you ever needed proof of my insanity, here it is, spread out on the hotel room bed in dazzling yarny goodness.

Starting at the bottom, we have a mill pack of Jaeger variegated purple and cream for a clapotis and matching hat. Behind it, three mill packs of Elsebeth Lavold AL for a FLAK aran. Next to it, three mill packs of Valley Farms merino in a luscious plummy purple for another aran. Upper right, five skeins of black Berroco Peruvian to be the background color of a felted stranded bag.

Still with me? That batch I just walked you through was all purchased at the Webs booth. 75 skeins for under $300, tax included. I'm still sort of dazzled by that. Less than four dollars a skein!

All the rest of it is sock yarn. Want the rundown? Sideways, front and center, are two skeins of Shelridge Farms 3-ply Fingering Wool in black. Next to that, two skeins of the same in a nice solid mid-gray. I discovered Shelridge Farms yarns at Stitches last year and was eager to buy more this year. It makes lovely, comfy socks.

Next to that, the big blob is some purple sock yarn from Brooks Farm, absolutely gorgeous stuff.

Directly above the purple Brooks Farm is some STR in the lagoon colorway. That's the skein I had to cast on Right! This! Minute! (The sock is currently at the heel flap. I adore it. It is singlehandedly restoring my love of all things sockish. Take that, jaywalker!)

To the left of the purple Brooks Farm and the STR lagoon is something rather special. Two Somethings Rather Special, truth be told. The first is that tight, pale skein of sock yarns from Macintosh Yarns, purchased from The Fold's stall. Even at Stitches, surrounded by scores of vendors, The Fold mojo is still powerful, and the proof is in this yarn. The yarn is part of a group of Harry Potter-inspired yarns. Mine is called Invisibility Cloak, and I fell in swoony-pink-heart love with the shimmering creams and greys. Someday I will show you a close-up of this yarn so you can all covet some of your own.

The second Something Rather Special is the big multicolored hank next to the Invisibility Cloak. See that loose mass of purple, pink and green? It's sock yarn from a brand new vendor, and it's splendid. You can't see it in the picture, but there are little multicolored flecks spun into the plies. It's really yummy. I'll knit it soon to show it off, and then we can all go crazy trying to figure out how to buy this stuff, because guess what? Hand Painted Yarn Company doesn't do mail order, or internet sales, or direct-to-public sales except for at fiber shows. (I really regret buying only one skein of this stuff. I intend to stalk their company at future yarn shows to make up for my uncharacteristic frugality in their stall. What the hell was I thinking?)

The final skein in this picture is a second skein of STR in a colorway whose name escapes me. More gray. I don't know what the attraction is with gray sock yarn lately but I couldn't resist the smokiness of this one.

OK. So that's what I bought on day one. Tomorrow, I'll either show you my (not as extravagant) purchases from day two, or will give you a little narrative of our adventures at Stitches. But I've been wicked busy since returning ... please forgive if "tomorrow" stretches a few days. I do want to share -- my goodness, I've had a new BFF Lily Chin for days now, and still haven't gloated here about it. tee hee! -- but life is basically pissing all over my parade this week. I hope to be back to a normal schedule soon, but so far, no good.