Filmed on Sunday, Sept 29, 2019

Western CT Yarn Crawl!

• This is an annual yarn crawl put on by the Western CT Yarn Council for 6-7 stores in Western CT. This year, the crawl ran from Thursday September 19 – Sunday September 22.
• This year, the passport was free and there was a $5 tote bag designed to hold a pin from each of the seven stores.
• Friday
  • Westport Yarns – Westport, CT
    • Didn’t buy anything at this location. It’s a smaller store in a wealthy area, so their stock is very targeted to the local clientele and is more expensive than other stores I’ve been to.
  • Nancy O – Ridgefield, CT
    • This store moved locations and the new location is really nice. It’s in this sort of plaza with lots of other small stores. It’s a larger space and this space is more handicap friendly with wider aisles inside the store. I didn’t end up buying anything at this store either, but Mom bought something.
  • A Stitch In Time – Bethel, CT
    • Gabby from Once Upon a Corgi was having her yarn crawl trunk show at this store and we ended up turning into the parking lot at the same time. Mom and I helped her set up for the day. The yarns had been out the day before, but that table needed to be cleared for knit night. I think we overwhelmed the shop staff a little because we just dove on in and got her set up.
    • Meadowcroft Dyeworks Yarn Rehab Rockshelter Sock in “Rembrandt’s Prodigal Son” – just leapt out at me and wouldn’t let me leave it behind. It’s been a while since a single skein did that for me.
  • New England Yarn and Spindle – Southington, CT
    • Usually we visit this store with the other northwestern CT stores, but the Mum Festival was happening in Bristol that weekend and the area of Bristol affected is right on our route to and from the shop. Friday during the day was likely to be less of a traffic issue than on Saturday.
    • Also, there’s an IHOP just down the street and pancakes for lunch in the best.
    • Cascade Yarns ® Heritage – 5881 — I’ve been trying to supplement specific items in my stash and when I took stock early this year, I found that I had exactly 1 light colored skein to use for contrasting colorwork.
• Saturday
  • Stars Hollow Yarns – New Preston, CT
    • New shop! They just opened last December and it’s a nice shop. They’re currently showcasing BIPOC dyers, so they had The Farmer’s Daughter, Lady Dye Yarns, and Cashmere People front and center in the shop for the crawl. Pretty sure the whole shop was small dyer and small mill operations, but I can’t be 100% sure.
    • Just some accessibility points – There are steps to get into the store and an upstairs loft, so it wasn’t wheelchair friendly. I don’t know if they have an accessible entrance on the side or back of the building, but it wasn’t readily apparent to me. Also, the lighting upstairs in the loft is dim, so that may be an issue if you have vision considerations affected by lighting.
      • A note on this — I have, in the past, identified accessibility issues in yarns stores I’ve been to on Yarn Crawls before, but if you have questions about accessibility at the yarn stores I mention, please ask! I’d rather answer repeat questions or revisit the stores to confirm accessibility so that you don’t end up wasting your time visiting a store that you physically can’t navigate
    • The Farmer’s Daughter Fibers Juicy DK “Porch Pumpkin”
    • Round Mountain Fibers Spruce Fingering “Dark Gray”
  • In Sheep’s Clothing – Torrington, CT
    • 3 balls Noro Ito for a blanket
    • PRIZE!
  • Kit & Pearls – Avon, CT
    • Finished out the crawl!

Dye Stuff

• Indigo Dye – Used pre-reduced indigo crystals from Dharma Trading Co and followed the directions on their website. In the future, I’ll be reducing the amounts in the recipe to half or a quarter because after all these items, I was still getting strong color within 5 minutes of the materials being in the dye vat. I wasn’t in a place to store the vat properly, so I ended up disposing of a lot of good dye.
  • Fabric – would absolutely do again
    • Solid/semi-solid dye
    • Muslin shibori/resist dye – thread drawn
    • Shibori/resist dye napkins – pressed tiles
    • Shibori/resist dye other fabrics – pressed tiles
  • Yarn – like the colors, but problems rinsing out the excess indigo particles
    • Sweater Quantity Targhee
    • BFL/BFL overdye
    • Mohair dye/overdye
    • Cellulose fibers/overdye
• Pokeberries
  • Three stalks of berries, mashed with water in the sun for two or three weeks – deep reddish purple
  • Approximately 8% alum to water in the sun for two weeks

FOs

• Two stranded colorwork hat – Brother KH836e knitting machine – punch card 2D, Dial 8 – Once Upon A Corgi “Dark Like My Soul” and “Snow Scout”
• Comfort Fade Cardi by Andrea Mowry – Once Upon a Corgi Handmade yarns (Queequeg/Briny Beach,Tomorrow I Shall Be Fetterless/Lemony Snicket, Miracles and meatballs/ Ghoul Haunted Woodlands of Weir, Dark as a Crow at Night/ Dying to Burn at the Stake) – US 4/3.5 mm needle
• Simple Seed by Toni Lipsey – Blue Ridge Yarns Kaleidoscope Worsted leftovers – US J/6 mm
• Weaving pattern GW T001 S-XXL from GetWeaving – Sampled yarns, made a muslin, warped the loom, wove the fabric, reinforced and cut the fabric, assembled and hand-sewed – Cascade Yarns ® Ultra Pima Fine “Armada”, Classic Elite Yarns Bella Lino “Natural”, Classic Elite Yarns Firefly “Silver”, Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy “Palm Springs”, “White Beach”, and “Peacock Luck”, Plymouth Yarn Nettle Grove “31”, Schachenmayr Catania Solids “0419”, Scheepjes Catona “Emerald”
• Altar Cloth – Ashford 24” loom, low contrast houndstooth – Cascade Yarns ® Ultra Pima Fine “Armada”, Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy “Palm Springs” and “Peacock Luck”, Schachenmayr Catania Solids “0419”

WIPs

• Redford by Julie Hoover Machine Knit – Swatching and making mistakes at this point, decided to use the LK150 instead of the KH836e – Green Mountain Spinnery Lana in “Gris”
• FAIRY RING embroidery kit by cozyblue
• Yellow/White rolags – Electric Eel Nano wheel
• 501st fluffs – Electric Eel Nano wheel
• Half Square Triangle Quilt – Moda 5” charm squares, HSTs trimmed to 4”, started assembling motifs

Other Stuff

Stuff I’m Watching:

• The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

Stuff I’m Listening To:

• White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo narr by Michael Eric Dyson
• Race Matters by Cornel West narr by Cornel West, LD Jackson
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller narr by Frazer Douglas
• Dracula and Carmilla by Bram Stoker, L Sheriden Le Fanu narr by Clive Hayward and Alison Larkin
• Eldest by Christopher Paolini narr by Gerard Doyle
• The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis narr by Michael York
• The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis narr by Alex Jennings

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