Elk herd, cars, and fiber – oh my

We are fortunate to have lots of locally-produced fiber in our area. I ran up to Estes to shop at Switzer-Land Alpacas. You can shop online, or call ahead and if you’re lucky they can let you shop in person. Found some beautiful, soft fiber to make shawls for two lucky folks.

On the way up I encountered a traffic jam; cars were stopped in both directions. And what caused the jam? One of the many local elk herds crossing the road to get to the tasty golfing green on the other side.

Golfing green or breakfast - you decide

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Upcycled Dishtowels

I finished unraveling a heathered blue cotton sweater from Express. Turns out it was four barely-plied blue threads instead of a tightly-plied knitting yarn. The resulting warp is actually really fun and variegated.

Formerly known as a sweater

Not sure how this will turn out using the same yarn as weft, but I want to have something for the “recycled” table at the weaving sale next week!

“Cannot people realize how large an income is thrift?” – Cicero

Space-limited Crafting, III

The crafting space is getting a bit untidy, especially with the addition of several bags of soon-to-be-unraveled sweaters. I’ve been searching for weeks for a bookcase narrow-enough to fit between the fabulous daybed and the wall. The space is less than 10 inches wide and every new thing I found was too big. And too expensive, even if it had fit into that space.

My frequent ramblings to area ARC Thift Stores resulted in the following:

46H x 30W x 9D

Scored on Saturday at 50% off. A whopping $7 for four shelves of storage for weaving supplies and cones of yarn. I’m in! I’m going to try to fit wheels onto the bottom to make it even easier to move, but it is so light it can be moved easily as is.

“I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.” – Anna Quindlen

Becoming Unraveled

I’m continuing the sweater unraveling project, sometimes casting aside one that is too fine or too challenging for the moment. I once again hit the ARC Thift store today for the 50% off tags, and scored 6 sweaters for $14. Not bad for silk, linen, and cotton.

Becoming unraveled

Merino and cashmere are tougher to unravel, so I’m trying to do those in the daytime when there’s good light and I have more patience. This week I’ll try washing the first skeins of upcycled yarn and see about measuring them for a weaving project.

“Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.” – Claude Monet