Category Archives: tools

Stitches South – Nashville – 2015

The Buffalo Wool Co's Miss Betsy - a travelling store.
The Buffalo Wool Co’s Miss Betsy – a travelling store.  You can see the Rose of Texas Shawl by the door.
Shaker Boxes - all sizes all hand made.  I wanted to bring them all home!
Shaker Boxes – all sizes all hand made. I wanted to bring them all home!
Glass needle tips - works of art, in Pyrex and dichromatic glass.
Glass needle tips – works of art, in Pyrex and dichromatic glass.

This was my first Stitches event.  It was a blast!

I met the Miskins, Ron and Theresa of the Buffalo Wool Co.  It is amazing that we could work together for 2 years and never meet until now – the wonders of the internet.

I saw Rhiannon’s Cloak, on stage and under lights, exactly what it was designed for!  And it was incredible.

Friday night was the Fashion Show and it was why I was there.  Rhiannon’s Cloak was making it’s debut under the lights and I just had to see it and thanks to the Buffalo Wool Co – I did.  All the work and worry was worth it!IMG_0830

I walked the floor at Stitches and saw so many wonderful things; yarns, tools and fibre.  Something for everybody and every interest.

Lost City Knits Booth
Lost City Knits Booth

There are so many talented yarn people out there.  Small indie dyers and large companies were represented.  From Plucky Knitter and Verdant Gryphon, Lost City Knits , Dragonfly Fibers, and Adirondack Yarns, and Prism – the selection was amazing – special colourways dyed just for the show, one-offs and sweater quantities – there enough yarn for every need or interest.

Ron Miskin of the BWC.
Ron Miskin of the BWC.

I don’t need any yarn – seriously I don’t – I work in a yarn store and I design for the Buffalo Wool Co.  I have enough yarn.  Really…. I do.  But that didn’t stop me from purchasing some yarn – but you will have to wait to see it!  It is being sent with the other items I purchased.  I didn’t have room in the suitcase.

What yarn tempted me?  Well it is a 100% silk laceweight, undyed, with a glitter thread through it.  I saw it at the Swan Hollow Studio Booth.  I bought 2 hanks for a shawl for painting.  I also found a hand made glass button from Sheila and Michael Ernst.

Swans Hollow Booth
Swans Hollow Booth

Colours in the shawl will come from that button!  I just can’t stop thinking about it and I can hardly wait for it to arrive here.

It was the tools that got me.  Hand made glass needles, beautiful hand made shaker boxes – I could have just spent every penny there – but how to get them home?  Sock blockers and yarn bowls, swifts and knitting bags were all there.  I was in awe and on a budget!

More boxes!
More boxes!

My other big purchase came at the Saw Dust Co. (sorry, couldn’t find a link to his website that worked) Booth.  Three little perfect Shaker Boxes – perfect for my stitch markers or perhaps other small tools.  I could have purchased everything in his booth.  I went back several times over the 3 days I was there.  Form, function and beauty – I was hooked.

I have more to share about this trip – but it will take a little time to put it all together.

Happy Viewing

Lynette

 

I’m a Collector – Really!

Books and Knitting - the best of all possible worlds!

That’s why I have boxes and bags and rooms full of yarn.

I have always been a collector.  When I was a child it was toys – dolls mostly.  As I got older I started to read and collect books – I still collect books.  My father started that.

When I was twelve he found a bookcase full of books at a garage sale.  They were all “girls” books: Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island;  Jane Eyre: Little Women and Little Men, some Nancy Drew, Enid Blyton and other assorted children’s Authors.  I still have most of those books – or my daughter has!

My Grandmother Nellie's books.

When I was thirteen my Grandmother Nellie added to my collection when she found out I liked books.  I received a very good collection of G.A. Henty’s and Zane Grey’s!  Plus a few other boys books from the turn of the last Century!

If you have never read any G.A. Henty – most of you wouldn’t have – they were written for boys and young men of the Victorian and Edwardian Era’s.  Tomes like “With Kitchener in the Sudan”, “Young Buglers”, “Treasure of the Inca’s” and others in the same vein.

My Favorites!

“In the Days of the Mutiny”, was my favorite.   It is about India in the days of the Maharaja’s and the Indian Uprising against British Rule.  You can read M.M. Kayes “Shadow of the Moon” for the female version of that book.

Reading the Zane Grey novels gave me an abiding love of the western genre for both books and movies.  The cowboy, the horse and the sunset – with maybe a very strong female character as well!  I still love Western novels and movies.  I love the fact that HBO and the independent TV Channel’s are bringing back the Western, a little grittier and a lot bloodier!  But still the Western with the larger than life situations and Characters.  For a slight twist on the traditional western, try reading Zane Grey’s book, “Wilderness Trek” and then watch the movie “Australia”.  The West is not only on the American Continent!

Currently tidy Storage options for some projects!

I was a bookworm, head always in books.  Usually different times and locales and once I discovered Science Fiction, different Worlds as well.  I had a very skewed view of “honor” and right and wrong and really believed that I belonged in a different time.  As I grew older and developed more skills my range of reading material grew wider and started to encompass all area’s of my life.

Knitting books.

Once I started knitting I went crazy trying to collect books that were “no longer available” and “out of print”.  I am so happy that many of the better knitting books have been reprinted by companies like Dover and Lacis.  They have given me the chance to acquire the Alice Starmore books, the Sheila MacGregor books and other similar out of print lace and technical books.

More Knitting Books

How did I get here?

Oh Yeah!  I am a collector.  One of the aspects of being a collector is that if you are interested in something you can go a little overboard!  Hence the Yarn Collection!  There is really not other word for it!

I recently acquired a gorgeous little – and rapidly growing – Beagle puppy named Sophie.  Because of Sophie I have had to become much more tidy and organized.  As a result I have had to work on organizing my wool room.  It has forced me to really look at the yarn I have collected over the years of knitting!  It was a sobering activity – I have holes in my collection that I will have to fill!

Oh joy!  I can by yarn will a clear conscience knowing that I am only filling in the gaps!

A small amount Handmaiden Silk - each skien unique and gorgeous!

While this was written with tongue firmly in cheek, I have had to tidy up my act and take a good look at my collection.  I have discovered that I must absolutely love Handmaiden’s Lace Silk.  I have 8 skeins that I found and I know that I have more!

I also found out that I have a perfect colour for a fall sweater.  It is actually on the Fall Pantone Guide to colours for the coming fall.  Twenty balls of Zara in brilliant Aquamarine – I see a sweater happening soon.  I need more undyed yarn to paint!  And the list goes on……

Take a little time to assess your Stash – it may have some holes as well!

Sophie says "Hello"!

Happy Knitting

Lynette