It was a wonderful day. I worked too much (planned it that way and it was such fun) and therefore missed a lot of the 'good' stuff. But no need to despair, I got a few really yummy things and I am all in all very pleased with the day. Simply put the day was awesome fun for all. I had very little shopping time but since I had nothing on my 'I have to get it' list, that was okay. I went with the attitude that I would listen for what called to me and pick out a few special 'just for me' treats.
I treated myself with:
- An afghan pattern from Sandy's Needle Nook called Hexagon Afghan (Pattern #NN177)
- A cardigan pattern by Ilga Lega called Shorelines
- 100g of chocolate brown Alpaca fibre from Alpaca Acres, it's soft as butter and now half spun up into a lace weight singles I think for a nice light lacy scarf for me
- A litre sized mason jar filled with all sorts of fibre goodness by The Roving Spinners. It contains silk, wool, alpaca, firestar, and mohair for a total of 100g in the colourway Boysenberry which is mostly purples with a bit of grey and pink added in for fun. They call it a Gourmet Carding Recipe but it reminds me of the Surprise bags that I used to get at a birthday party when I was little. All sorts of good stuff stuffed and packed into it. Inside the jar there are all the makings for a luscious batt just not made into a batt. That's where the fun comes in. You can make your own custom 'designer' fibre batt or just spin it up as is. That is what my choice is. That is once it's finished being a gorgeous centerpiece on my coffee table LOL.
The highlight of my day though was trying out a couple wheels at Gemini Fibres. Though it won't happen for quite a while yet, I have already decided that I am ready for my next wheel and that I am outgrowing my first wheel. I love it to bits but it's just not always thinking along the same lines that I am. It seems to like thicker yarns better and I have figured out that it is going to be an awesome plying wheel, when I have another wheel with a little lighter touch and a little more speed to spin the thinner singles I love to spin. I tried out two Kromski wheels and they were both just lovely to work with. I liked the Minstrel a little more than the Sonata though. Even though I haven't touched my wheel in over three months and still consider myself a beginner spinner, just learning a bit more than a year ago, I sat and spun like I had done it every day. I plan at some time in the future to try to get up to Gemini Fibres and try out some of the other wheels. It doesn't hurt to be prepared LOL.
The only slight regrets (which I am not crying over at all cause there is always next year) is that I didn't realize that I was one skein short of the Jitterbug (Colourway 142 Sea Breeze) I was going to use for the Guild Mystery Shawl Kal. Had I known, I could have got some yummy fingering weight just for the shawl.
My other slight regret was that I had that awesome Heere Be Dragons Shawl pattern IN MY HANDS damnitall, and I forgot to go back and buy it!!!
So if I can't locate another skein to match my Jitterbug soon, I have decided to spin something up for the Kal and as for the pattern, there's always next year!
And, oh ya, as usual, pics to follow soon (hopefully)
