I Got Stash!

Ahem. Remember, I started with this knitting business in March. April was tax month. No surprise, then, that I didn't really have that thing that you knitting gals (and lads) call "stash." All the yarn I owned fit into one small plastic storage container. But boy, has that changed! Now, folks, my yarn requires two plastic storage containers!

This is what happened:

Before our visit to Santa Fe, my father-in-law (!) had looked up Needle's Eye and, once we were there, he actually suggested to go there. So we did. But instead of going crazy, I left the yarn store empty-handed (which makes me sound even more crazy), but only because I was so excited for my mom-in-law, who spotted a store sample of a gorgeous vest made of bulky yarn in wonderful colors. She asked me if (a) I'd teach her how to knit and (b) if the vest would be a good first project. Since the vest calls for just knit and purl stitches (and decreases and button holes--but I didn't mention that at the time), I encouraged her to get the kit for the vest. (Come to think of it, she didn't exactly need encouragement. Talk about a woman falling in love with a pattern!) Buying yarn--I did it vicariously. And in the meantime I "taught" J. how to knit. Although teaching wasn't really necessary. Just reminding. As it turned out J. had learned how to knit as a teenager and thought she'd forgotten everything. But after showing her how to cast on, knit, and purl once, she began swatching on her own.

While looking for a bathroom in Santa Fe (with a certain amount of despair), I happened to find the yarn store Tutto (which is conveniently located near a public restroom), and I love that store! The owner--either David or Gregory--was wonderful to talk to (he shares great stories about the Cologne fiber fair), and he has a huge selection of Isager yarns. As a matter of fact, Tutto is the U.S. distributor of Isager, and the owners hosted Marianne Isager during a one-week workshop last March. So, well, yeah, I got a bit of Isager, and a couple of Isager patterns.

And then I walked across the market next to Santa Fe's cathedral, and what do I see but a booth full of yarn! Frank Osborne of Oasis Fiber (in McIntosh, NM) sold New Zealand yarns he had hand-dyed, and a small quantity of hand-spun yarn from his own herd of angora goats. The oldest goat is Ruby, and Frank showed me real Ruby-yarn, and it looked so pretty, and the story of Ruby and her herd is so sweet, and... and here's a picture of Ruby wool, as it now lives in my stash:

(Frank promised to send me a picture of Ruby herself. Just wait!)

After Santa Fe came Taos, and with Taos came La Lana Wools and Weaving Southwest. I'm afraid I terrorized my family with La Lana talk during the days leading up to our Taos visit. I hereby officially apologize if I was in any way annoying. Here's me touching everything in the store:

(Wait, are you asking if the shawl I'm wearing in the photo is Icarus? Sure thing.)

My parents-in-law were so wonderfully super-sweet to completely indulge me by buying me an armload of La Lana's Forever Random Worsted Glace hand-spun yarn--enough to knit up a cardi specifically designed for it (hubs picked the pattern!). The colorway's called Flaminga--a very beautiful mix of white, hot pink, and apple green:

I was so thrilled, and so was my family (I think); they amused themselves trying on wool hats. Even the Hubs found a toy he liked and which we brought home:

After La Lana I really ought to have had enough, but hey--if the car's parked in a way that forces me to pass Weaving Southwest, how can I help it!? The store's aiming at weavers, as the name implies, but there's a happy banner welcoming "fiber fanatics," so I walked right in. I fell in love with the abandoned looking Baby Loop (a mohair mix) that inhabited the sale bin; isn't it pretty?

Enough's enough, said Miss Melanie, and grabbed some mohair on the way out, along with a copy of Sue Henry's The Tooth of Time, which is a mystery novel that features Weaving Southwest prominently. (Apparently, "Maxie" wants to learn how to weave and thus ends up in Taos. Walking into Weaving Southwest will make anyone want to learn how to weave, but hopefully one doesn't have to solve a murder to master the art.)

After all this yarn-craze, I allowed my family (and myself) a yarn store break. We accidentally (really!) walked by the Yarn Shop in Taos and Fiber Chicks in Albuquerque, but I didn't enter either store.

But now it's time to play with my stash some more.

(Again: more pics are here.)