She Needs More Yarn—Stat!

Actually, that’s not at all true, as most of you know, but it’s fun to write. And it serves as a prelude to my discussion of the market at this year’s Stitches West, where I did indeed get more yarn that I very much felt I needed.

Because that ginormous hall of yarny goodness can be a bit overwhelming, I take a sort of short-attention-span approach to the whole event. I do try to walk up and down every aisle (though I didn’t quite manage that in the three hours I’d booked for myself this year), but I am not particularly thorough in my exploration of individual booths.

I look for three things: color, price, yardage.

The colors pull me into a booth. Sometimes the colors that draw me in are bright, sometimes subtle. Often—as my friend Jo, who attended Stitches West with me points out—they are shades of orange or green. But the right blue or brown can also do the trick—it just needs to be a bit more coquettish.

After I’ve spotted a yarn, I look at the price tag and wait to see whether or not this induces a heart attack. If it does, I back slowly away from the yarn and keep browsing. If it doesn’t, I stick around. Of course, a price that might induce a coronary at another time may seem reasonable at Stitches West, where I have the “it’s just once a year” excuse to tempt me into excess.

Finally, I check out yardage. A price just below the heart attack threshold can start to seem positively reasonable if the yardage on the skein is right. Generally speaking, for any yarn approaching $15-20 a skein, I want to be sure I’m getting enough to knit a proper scarf, a pair of substantial wrist-warmers or a hat. Anything more expensive than that, and I at least want to feel like I’m getting a vest out of that skein.

If a yarn meets these three criteria, then I ponder it a bit more: How different is it from what I already have in my stash? What’s the fiber content? (Big bonus points for alpaca here.) Is it significantly new or different from what I know I can find in my LYSs? Depending on my answers to these questions, it’s either back on the shelves or out with my billfold. (I had the good sense this year to shop on a cash-only basis. Before entering the hall, I handed both my credit cards to Melissa, with instructions that she should be judicious about allowing me access to them until we’d left the premises.)

Before I show you the “winning” yarns, I want to mention items from two sources that I didn’t purchase, but no doubt will at some point. First off, Curious Creek has some great new colorways out that haven’t yet made it onto the web site. These include Oz-inspired colors like Toto (or was it Tin Man?), a beautiful semi-solid black, and Cowardly Lion, a riot of vibrant oranges. At the Article Pract booth, I saw some beautiful hand-dyes and rovings (I will paste in the name of the company and a link as soon as I can check my notes).

And now, the yarns.

The yarn on the left was my fist purchase: 250 yards of Riverstone Twist in 75% alpaca/25% wool from Sun Fiber Yarn. This yarn mixes a range of natural colors—cream, toast, brown, black—that look just like, yes, river stones. I’m thinking something textured, but simple for this yarn, like a double moss stitch or a mistake rib.

On the right, you can see an enormous (600 yards!), delicious skein of 100% alpaca that refused to be passed by. I’ve actually purchased this yarn in some other colors from The Golden Fleece and could do so again, but I had money in my pocket and I knew no new yarn could be any more enticing than this already-familiar one. (My apologies to Carol and Margaret; I promise to be a better customer in the future.) I am thinking vest or rib-warmer for this beauty.

This is Trekking Hand Art (75% superwash wool, 25% nylon, 459 yards to the skein) in the irresistible Jamaica colorway. I’m thinking that I’ll pull out my copy of Lavish Lace when I’m ready to knit it up and go from there.

These two skeins are Tibet Wool/Silk (60% wool, 40% recycled silk), 175 yards each. This isn’t actually a new yarn for me; it’s one I’ve been eyeing for several years, since recycled silk first hit the market. Unlike the 100% silk yarns from this company, the wool silk blend is very sturdy (Jo and I both had a go at trying to break it bare-handed and couldn’t). I love the way the mustard-colored wool blends with the wild mix of silks. This yarn is a bit scratchy, so I’m thinking of using it for a bag, rather than a garment—perhaps the Brea Bag by Nora Gaughan.

These skeins were a can’t-pass-it-by deal from one of the booths—I don’t even remember which one. Ten balls of 70/30 wool/acrylic in vibrant green for only $20. (I swapped two balls of it with Jo for some of her bright green leftovers back at her place.) I’m thinking maybe a baby sweater and hat for these.

The booth Jo and I lingered in the longest was Brooks Farm Yarn. This 500-yard skein of Duet (55% kid mohair/ 45% wool) sort of latched onto me and wouldn’t let go. My one regret was that they didn’t have any real reds in their variegations—redish pinks, yes, but no deep reds. (I know there’s a reason for this—red dyes set at a different temperature than most other colors, so are difficult to use in variegated colorways—but I had a dream red in my mind that I just couldn’t despite all sorts of looking and my very best wishful thinking.)

Oh those Canadians! They know what a knitter wants. The Hand Maiden Casbah on the left is a one-of-a-kind colorway in 80% merino, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon (325 meters). In the center is Fleece Artist Marina (65% merino, 20% kid, 10% nylon, 5% silk, 160 meters). On the right you see Fleece Artist Cashlana (90% wool, 10% cashmere, 400 meters). The two lighter-weight skeins will call for more exploration in Lavish Lace and my stitch dictionaries. The heavier skein came with a great cowl pattern that I’m planning to use.

I thought I was pretty much sated after buying the Fleece Artists skeins, that I’d just wander towards the exit with a bit of cash left in my pocket. Wouldn’t you know it—I only got as far as the next booth before being swept off my feet all over again, this time by Argosy Yarns. These delicious luxury yarns come in distinctive colorways that stand out from many other hand-dyes. The two skeins on the left are both Jo Jo, an 80% merino/20% cashmere blend that comes 200 yards to a skein. Next over is Bonsai Bamboo, 20% bamboo, 65% merino, 15% silk, 195 yards to a skein. On the right is Lotus Blossom, also an 80/20 merino/cashmere blend with 200 yards to the skein. I had no specific plans whatsoever when I bought these. I just knew that if I left without them that decision would haunt me for the rest of my knitterly life.

These two skeins (560 yards each!) of 100% merino from A Star Alpacas (I know, I know—wool from an alpaca dealer, why didn’t I go for the real stuff?) were a real impulse buy (as opposed to all my other purchases which were purely rational, I assure you). The colors called out, the voice on the PA system said “5 minutes till closing,” I turned to Melissa, demanded my credit cards, and purchased.

Ah, capitalism!

I will try on Wednesday (with the help of reflections from my friend Chris) to say something a bit more intelligible about overall trends (fiber types, patterns, etc.) at Stitches West. For now I’m off to stroke my yarn.