260 Miles and a 3 1/2 Hour Boondoggle to Report

I love this palette.

Yes, everyone, that's what I endured in my quest for fiber during last weekend's Puget Sound LYS crawl.


Initially, let me say this is not a crawl. It's a romp. From the almost-Canadian border down to the southern reaches of the greater Puget Sound area, with a few ferry rides thrown in for good measure, this LYS tour is 25 stores strong. All in four days. Let's hope one has nothing else to do with one's time.

Of course, I had other things on my plate, so I only managed to make it to 14 stores. I would have made it to a few more had I not hit a ferry with mechanical difficulties on Saturday afternoon. Going to one LYS took a whopping 3 1/2 hours from parked car to parked car.

This is the third year of this mayhem. Each LYS provides a free pattern that can be made with one ball of yarn (store's choice), and the chosen yarn is discounted 10% the entire four days. Some of the patterns were right up my alley (a crocheted cowl and a knit scarf were two standouts), but for me, the real pleasure is in researching which stores carry specific yarns, the texture and color (!) of all the yarns, and of course the sales bins.  Here's my fibery pirate booty:


I see three shawls, two sweaters, a cowl, a scarf -
and a partridge in a pear tree.

 Now, before you let your jaw drop too far, a few things you should keep in mind: (1) half of what's on that chair I purchased from sales bins (they were great buys!); (2) all of it was purchased with specific projects in mind; and (3) this is my big yarn purchase for the year, because I believe in supporting LYSs. I'm incredibly fortunate to live in an area with an abundance of local choices, and I'd like it to stay that way.

And just in case you weren't convinced, here's the start to one of the projects:

You're looking at the beginning of the yoke of my first crocheted sweater. It's being made with Plymouth Grass (the marled blue skeins in the right-front of the photo) and it's a cotton/hemp blend. It's working up very well, and I like how the hemp gives the fabric a little added drape.

For me, the stand-out of the weekend was, far and away, the MadelineTosh Tosh Merino Light (at the right). Isn't this just the most heavenly colorway? It's entitled Plaid Blanket.

It's got a cowl for early fall written all over it.

I hope all of you had a great week of fibery goodness. Definitely check out what's on everyone's plate over at Andrea's blog - and have a happy (and long!) fibery weekend. Celebrate and memorialize someone with a fibery treat.