Successful yarn shopping in RI, and my new jewelry blog

yarn from Yarns at Lace Wings in RI
Originally uploaded by saintlex

While my fiance and I were in RI, we found this amazing yarn store called Yarns at Lace Wings. Oh my goodness. They had really nice yarn, at prices I could actually afford! I went bonkers, as evidenced by the photo. ;)

The purple tweedy yarn in the box is Tatamy Tweed. The photo didn't quite capture the color, which is a gorgeous mix of warm purples. I got enough to at least make a shrug. :) The other yarn in the box is Debbie Bliss Cathay. It was on sale, so I bought all that was left in these 2 colors! Should be enough to make something nice and stripey. In fact, I'm kind of wondering if the spiderweb cardigan would work in 2 colors, since I think I have enough to do that. We'll see.

Outside the box: the sparkly stuff on top is Berroco Jewel FX. I got 2 skeins of 2 different colors (more sale yarn, so that's what they had). SHINY! To the right of that is this AMAZING rayon boucle yarn that my beloved fiance bought for me (in a very sneaky manner, I might add!). I don't think any photo could ever do it justice. It's made by Blue Heron Yarns, and I think the colorway is called Sandstone? Anyway, I will have to figure out what I want to do with 212 yards of it. I want to make something I can wear, but 212 yards isn't enough unless I do a scarf or shawl (which I might), or mix it with another yarn.

To the right of the Blue Heron yarn is Berroco Boho Colors. I have been drooling over this stuff since I first saw the Java Jammie pattern on the Berroco web site. :) I don't think it was on sale, but I want my Java Jammie, goshdarnit! ;D The light green yarn directly to the left of the Boho Colors is a ribbon yarn by Artful Yarns. I'm a little confused about what it's called. The price tag covering the labels says "Cinema 193" and "Norman Bates." The dark green yarn directly below it is a ladder yarn, Berroco Mosaic FX.

Finally, the yarn in the plastic bag is an adorable eyelash yarn from Sweden called Funny, made by Pelsgarn (or is it the other way around? I somehow doubt that the company's name is "Funny," though).

I also bought some pretty buttons and some stitch holders, not pictured.

Then we went to Joann. Boy, was I askin' for it. :P Needless to say, I am now beyond broke (gotta love credit cards). I bought the box in the picture there, and I found the yarn I'd been looking for for the Snuggly Scarf! It was indeed Corinthian, and they had 5 skeins that looked just like the one I'd bought to make my scarf. I snapped 'em up. A pic is somewhere in the near future; right now, my camera's batteries are recharging.

I also bought a lot of beads. I used to make a lot of jewelry. Then I stopped. Now I've started up again, mainly because I am tired of wearing the same old stuff. ;)

If you'd like to see the beaded earrings I've been making lately, please head on over to my handmade jewelry blog at smiling-turtle.livejournal.com.

I also moderate a community over on LJ about fair trade/ethically made beads and jewelry supplies, which I started a long time ago when I first realized that most beads are made by people working in the worst kinds of conditions. If you bead and are at all concerned about such things, hop on over--I just posted a list of suppliers of good fair trade beads. It's a good start, even though the list hasn't been updated in a long time (but I did check the make sure the companies are still around!).

At long last, some pictures.

I just uploaded a whole bunch of pictures to Flickr, so I guess it's time for some show & tell. :)

Here's my work so far on the Spiderweb Cardigan (crappy yarn and all):

The yarn has a tendency to split, so there's some funky stuff going on, but I still think it looks pretty. If it continues to work up like this, I think I may come out with a decent sweater. :)


This is a bag that I'm working on. Nothing too fancy. No real pattern, though it's loosely based on this.



And another bag:

That is my work thus far on the Donnell bag. (Click here if you'd like to see another pic of mine.) I will post a picture or two when it's finished, of course.


I have more pictures to post, but I'm saving them for other entries. Yes, it's another Image Bombardment Day, courtesy of Alexis. Enjoy! Hope your connection is fast...

Smiley's Yarns makes me all smiley!!

Remember that load of yarn I ordered from Smiley's Yarns that I posted about just the other day? It's already here! Granted, it didn't have to travel far--they're in Queens, NY--but I am so very impressed. And overjoyed. The Bernat Sox colors are only OK, in my opinion, but it was cheap and now I get to make socks. :)

The Red Heart Symphony yarn is nice and fuzzy and should work well for the capelet I want to make with it.

The Bernat Handicrafter Cotton? YUM. Will have to make some nice things with it. I have some good colors for stripes. Hmmmm.

I have been working on the Spiderweb Cardigan from my last post. It took me a relatively short time to realize that my gauge was actually WAY smaller than what the pattern called for! Frog time. Ribbit. I am going to try using my K hook instead of the H. I even wanted to try my L hook, after what people have said about too-small armholes; but I can't find it! *gasp* I'll just have to see what happens with the K. This pattern is going to be quite the experiment for me. Maybe not the best choice for my first sweater, but I love a challenge. ;)

nice yarn versus...

Yesterday, I decided that I really wanted to make this sweater from the spring 2007 issue of Interweave Crochet:



I had already known I wanted to make it, but I had thought I would bide my time. Suddenly, yesterday, it became "Now now NOW!" Oy vey.

I did not own the amount of sport weight yarn called for in this project, much less the amount of fancy-schmancy sport weight cotton yarn called for. So I made a deal with myself. After spending some time at last night's KUTI meeting (which was lovely, but I had to leave early 'cause I wasn't feeling well), I decided that, if I could find suitable yarn for the sweater at the Wal-Mart across the street for $10 or less, I could make the sweater.

Imagine my excitement when I found sport weight Red Heart "Baby Soft" yarn, and enough of it only cost me 7 bucks! Sweet, right?

Not really.

The yarn is crappy. I mean, maybe it's OK for certain other projects, but it is not soft (funny that), and of course it is not at all cotton-like (100% acrylic). I am making the sweater out of it anyway--it's my first sweater, so I may as well use a very affordable yarn because I may well screw it up. And if it turns out right, it will still look pretty, but it won't have anywhere near the same nice drape that the cotton would.

*sigh*

I am considering getting enough worsted weight cotton yarn for the sweater and just using a smaller hook, but I'll see what this one comes out like first.

Are there any affordable, easy-to-find sport weight cotton yarns out there? I haven't seen 'em, but that doesn't mean they're not there... ;)