This post is a little belated, seeing as how the yarn crawl was at the beginning of this month, but I thought I'd go ahead and share my finds. First off is my wonderful spinning wheel, which you can see a not-so-great photo of on my Facebook page. I was very lucky, and happened to be in the right spot at the right time, so I am now the (very) proud owner of an Ashford traditional. I've already done a little spinning, and am in the middle of lessons to teach me how to do everything. Further posts and pictures on that subject coming soon.
I think that one of the most interesting shops on the tour was Yarnia. It's a fascinating place, and I certainly plan on going back sometime. They have pre-made yarn in all sorts of colors and fibers, on cones ready for you to mix and play with. You pick the different yarns you want, and they wind them together onto a cone for you (in the amount you want) for a unique color and/or fiber blend for your use. Since I was trying to *not* buy stacks and stacks of supplies over the weekend, I settled for selecting a few cone ends of pre-blended yarns to try it out.
Of course no fiber weekend would be complete without me buying some new colors of roving to play with in my needle felting. The pictures aren't great, but you can see the colors pretty well - a range of purples and a raspberry to expand my stash.
Most of the yarn stores had displays, demos, and trunk shows throughout the weekend. At one of the stores (I can't remember which one) the wonderful One of a Kind Buttons was there with her beautiful handmade ceramic buttons, pendants, and pins. They were so beautiful I had to get a small set, even though I don't have any specific plans for them yet.
In other news, spring has sprung here in the Willamette Valley! For a week or two now, many of the apple and cherry trees have been full of pink and white blossoms, and daffodils and other flowers are popping out of the woodwork. Even one of the trees out our window is starting to bud, and what a lovely sight it is. This photo was taken a few days ago, and it's even greener now.
Happy Spring!!
