Stitches West: Part 2

Moving a little behind schedule here, but wait until you see what I got at Stitches West! You will immediately forgive me. I hope. This is what happens when they let me out! I did this in less than an hour. And I wasn't going to take any yarn home with me. Heh.

First up, Kristine and I were next to KCL Woods' booth, and I could not resist going over there to drool. This incredible spindle immediately caught my eye.

Isn't it stunning?

Made of Bird's Eye Maple and inlaid with shell fossil.

And look at the spalting!

I can't keep from admiring it and fondling it.

I know it spins beautifully, but it's such a lovely work of art!

I've been staring and staring. Ken and his wife are such nice people and he does such amazing work! It was a pleasure being next to them and their cheeriness.

A little closer to home, I picked up some yummy Verb for Keeping Warm yarns.

This great duo is Magic Bean and Jade, both in the Metamorphosis base, 70% merino and 30% silk. They go together perfectly, don't they? I love Kristine's greens. :)

I wish these two colors photographed well. It's actually a dusky green (Jade again!) on top and a greenish-tan (Tide Pools) on the bottom. Both in Kristine's Slick base. And they are super yummy. This one is a dk weight and I am looking forward to designing a heavier two color wrap!

Then there's my favorite Verb color (aside from Magic Bean, of course): Glenda. This one is in the Shimmering (100% tussah silk) base, and I can't wait until you see what I have planned for it!

Moving on, I have some delicious Anzula yarn. Sabrina's Squishy base in Mauve and Shitake. It's that great 80% merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon base that I love every moment of knitting up.

Then on to Zen Yarn Garden's Serenity Silk Single in Goth Pink. I love the name! 75% merino, 15% cashmere, 10% silk, and 490 yards of lovely lovely lovely!

I so wish that I could do this next one justice. It has lovely purplish undertones and is just the right shade of taupe. It will be another heavier wrap, as this is a worsted weight. I've never used Tess' Designer Yarns before, but I've always been struck by their booth at Stitches. I am thinking of putting together a collection of neutrals. Those who have met me in person know how much I love color and also how neutral my clothes are! I am a black and grey kinda gal. And taupe. Taupe is absolutely perfect with black.

Speaking of neutrality...this is the "Brindle" colorway from Little Red Bicycle. Didi dyed up some beauties! This one is in Tandem Sock and it is a gorgeous deep brindled brown.

And then there's Lisa Souza. She is a Master (Mistress?) of color. Every time I pull out one of her yarns, Mr. Romi says, "wow. She really knows what she's doing." And he is so right! This one is a cashmere/silk. 400 yards of heaven in the Cameroon colorway. It is stunning. Really just stunning.

And I am always drawn to Lisa's greens. This is marked Vert de Gris, but I don't see it on her site under the Polwarth/Silk blend, or anywhere! (Isn't it cool how there is more breed specific yarn happening these days?)

From the Royale Hare comes a yummy Toffee in Karen's new Carneros base (that delicious merino/cashmere/nylon blend I was talking about earlier.) Soooo pretty!

And "Forest Green" in the same base. It's really a lovely almost beach glass color. It makes me think of water rather than forests, but I love it just the same.

And then we're on to more neutrality. I have never used Creatively Dyed yarns but wowza, what have I been missing?! I love the two I picked out. First is a fabulous grey with undertones of steel blue and purple.

I love it deeply. It's called Ireland. I'm thinking because it's foggy there? It does look rather like a lovely deep foggy and thunder-stormy grey.

And this one is called Turf. I was so drawn to this particular color that I could not put it down. And then after that, I kept picking up similar yarns in other booths! LOVE.

So there you have it: tons and tons of inspiration!

And speaking of inspiration, head on over and take a look at Kristine's lovely booth pics from Stitches! She did such an amazing job on the booth!

I've been knitting away on some secret project craziness since I returned from Stitches. A lot of it, actually. But I'll try to do something that I can show you. ;) This continues to be an "interesting" year. I'm working on rolling with it!