Stitches Midwest Market Haul!

For someone who really didn't intend to buy too much yarn this year at Stitches, I sure bought a lot on Saturday!

Here's what I got:

four skeins of Tess Cultivated Silk and Wool (would've bought five if they had them, but nope! There are sweaters in the new Wendy B. book I can make with 800 yards though, or I could finally make a shorter-sleeved Sahara...)

three skeins (about 1300 yards) of Tess Cascade Silk - this stuff feels incredible, and is really a different color than the bright turquoise - it's more of a teal-y indigo:

three skeins (about 1300 yards) of Brooks Farm Acero:

two skeins (about 1200 yards!!) of chocolate brown natural colored alpaca - only $50 total at Yarn Barn of Kansas! That really is a great deal for that yardage. It is really similar in weight and feel to the oatmeal colored alpaca I recently got from my SP.

one full bag (about 1200 yards) of Laines du Nord Cashsilk in bright emerald green from WEBS - $75. I had never seen or heard of this yarn and it is super soft and silky, so I bought it.

And....a Namaste bag from Tess. Only $50!! No way could I pass it up.

Besides buying lots of yarn on Saturday, I also finished Dirndl Raglan yesterday and love it! Here it is drying in the sun:

All I have to do is weave in the ends. I finished listening to New Moon while I was working on it. The second half of this book was way better than the first half, and was really good!! On to Eclipse...

Speaking of FOs, I realize that there are a bunch of FOs I haven't modeled yet, mostly because they need some small thing to be finished. There's Mentionable, Forecast, Cable Down Raglan and now Dirndl Raglan, and I never showed the Sweetheart Vest that I finished a few months ago. I also am about halfway done with the 2nd sleeve on Mirepoix (but will probably have to reknit the other sleeve.) So now I'm down to Mirepoix and the recently-cast-on Silken Scabbard for "on the needles" and just finishing tasks for Silk Slip and Pasha the Penguin. This is not very many WIPs for me!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I am behind on my emails because my home computer got the "Virtumonde virus" on Friday and I have to take it in to get it fixed. I tried a number of things to fix it myself, but basically it's a huge PIA - it's like this popup comes up whenever I start Windows and won't close. It will only let me get on the internet about half the time, and I figured it was best to just shut it down. Geek Squad would have wanted like $300 to fix it, but my local Fry's only charges $59.99 to scan and remove any viruses, so that's a no brainer. I don't know if the latest Windows update addresses this virus, but I know a lot of people posted on message boards about it during this month when I googled for it. I hadn't done the Windows update, so it's probably my fault. Oh well! It'll be fixed soon!

Comments

[Andrea]

You made out nicely at Stitches Midwest. The Laines Du Nord CashSilk is an awesome yarn. I've worked with it, and one of my students just made a sweater with it. It's beautiful. I love the Namaste Bag. I can't wait to see you model all of your FOs.

[Maureen]

I ended up going back to Stitches on Sunday and I am glad that I did. One of my friends was the winner of the Grand prize. Ok my wallet was a bit lighter but I had more items to carry to my car.
I really liked it being in Schaumburg this year. I heard a number of attendees state the same thing.
Glad to see you made out at Stitches.

[Jenny]

Great haul! That is a lot for someone not in the market for anything! That is the EXACT Namaste bag I want.

[adrienne]

WOW! What beautiful yarns Robin!! I love the bag too!! Your raglan looks superb! PLEASE send me some knitting mojo!!! LOL

[Debby]

Luscious yarn! Love those colors too, perfect for all the new knits you want to do, and even better since you have so many FOs -- no guilt!

I'm esp. glad to see you bought green yarn. I have something similar that I bought a few years ago, Woolpak, and though I love dark green, I can't make up my mind whether that color is in style or not.

[sandra]

first hank is sooo vibrant!!!!

[Michelle]

OHH nice stuff! I love the turquoises! so pretty!!!

[marjorie]

Beautiful yarns. Do you have anything in mind for the Cascade Silk? I have some in my stash, and I originally thought of using it for a shawl. But I'm thinking of a sweater now.

I saw the CashSilk on WEBS website, and it looked great--but I promised myself that there would be no stash enhancements until Rhinebeck.

[turtlegirl76]

That's the same color of Acero that I have! It's beautiful!

[stefaneener]

It's so funny -- as I was looking at your haul, I was thinking how so characteristically "you" it was. Then I was thinking that I'd probably stripe the two alpacas and make a classic cardigan for a kid or boy out of it. . . just so different in approach. Then of course I started thinking about all of the varieties of knitters and knitting there is out there, and that started the gratitude/wonder train going. Whoopie!

[Zonda]

Ohh beautiful yarns! Especially the Tess ones!

[Liz]

Love the colours of those Tess yarns! You got some cool stuff. Can't wait to see the coffee and cream on you!

[Amanda]

The sweater looks great! I'm so excited to see it on you...

Great haul from Stitches! I went to the Tess booth first to copy you (gray superwash for the cable down raglan)...and I got some of that Cascade Silk to make Sizzle...I think I'm getting the knitting excitement back!

[Stacey_CrimsonPurl]

Gurl you did some damage!! :o) Luv your selections!

[Jeanine]

That's a nice haul there. You did good. I would like to see the raglan on you. I bet it looks good.

[Shelby]

What a haul!! I love the Tess' cultivated silk. I have 4 skeins sitting in my stash somewhere and can't wait to use it. It just feels SO good!

Glad you had fun. Now i can't wait for Stitches East!!

[Kim]

Is it still OK if I live through you vicariously?

[sheila]

Love all your yarn candy and the bag is to die for.

[Heather]

Hey. I am so jealous that you fly around the country going to Stitches instead of waiting patiently them to come to you! How nice that would be! You did nicely - I love the bag deal! Oh, and I have the same color, and amount of Brooks Farm Acero (heh, I also have it in blue and black). I'll be anxious to see what you do with it!

:O)

[Carol]

That is some gorgeous blue yarn! The othe ryarn is nice too, but the blue really struck a chord with me. Hope your computer gets over it's cold soon!