A Pleasant Morning

1 Posted by - May 3, 2016 - Crochet, Knitting, New Yarns

Despite its being a bleary, dreary day, I had a lovely morning looking at new yarns for fall.  Josie Baxter, who reps for Berroco, Lang, and Mountain Colors among others, is the first rep of the season to visit me.  She also represents the company that distributes Addi needles in this country and she showed me a sample of a new olive wood needle that will be available in fixed needles and interchangeables.  I ordered just a couple so that we could all give them a try.  When they’re available, they’ll be on the table in the front room so you can take them for a test drive.

We’ll have some new colors of River Twist – hats, mitts, cowls –  and some Twizzle  – ditto plus beautiful for sweaters – from Mountain Colors in the fall, as well as a few new colors of Inca Tweed from Berroco.  This is my favorite yarn for our Warm x 2 Cowl and I have a new project in mind for it that will be fun and a little kooky – I hope to start this week!

We looked at Lang’s huge line of wonderful fashion yarns and their excellent design collections:

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How to choose??  This has been a tough year for yarn stores – as you will know if you are on any mailing lists and have seen the number of stores that have gone or will go out of business this year.  Trying to play it safe instead of jumping in with both feet, I’ve ordered a few new yarns from Lang in tiny quantities – just enough to try them out and see if I want to stock them.  No, I know I want to stock them, but I also need to have a project in mind that won’t cost a million dollars and take 5 years to knit.  How does a crazy-soft cashmere bouclé sound?  At $28/ball, it sounds too much.  But if 2 balls will do the softest cowl you’ve ever felt, will that tempt you?  It tempted me, but let’s face it, when it comes to soft luxury yarns, I’m the easiest girl at the party. And you don’t even have to buy me a drink.  One thing I can guarantee is that this store will have some lovely yarns and fresh ideas for you this fall, and I can’t wait!

We received a hefty shipment from Frabjous Fibers this week, with some new colors of their superwash sport weight Mad Hatter and some gradient packs that coordinate nicely.  We of course played around with color combinations

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(These are the same gradient packs.  The computer sees them differently because of the colors they’re with – we probably do the same. Color is so interesting.)

And for the Prince of Purple:

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Now to find the perfect pattern!  What are your ideas?