Big Tease

I ummed and aahed about whether I should post my holiday/birthday loot on the last post.  You see, I went a little crazy and I'm a touch embarressed :o( 
(You know you've gone over the top when the owner of one of the yarn stores asks if you've lost your mind!)

But here goes.  It is good stuff and so definately worth sharing.

In Tutto they had these wonderful Tyk and Tynd scarves on display that used a combination of Kauni Effektgarn and a lace weight alpaca.
 


The Tyk and Tyn scarf pattern was written by one of the chaps in the store.  It is a simple, and yet very effective design:  the alpaca provides a colour wash that helps smooth the transition of colour changes in the effektgarn.  The other advantage of the laceweight alpaca is that it really 'lifts' the Kauni.  Kauni is great, but it is not the softest of yarns.  However combined with the alpaca, this scarf has an airy and snuggly feel to it. 

I'd also picked up a couple of patterns in Tutto.



My favourites are:

• Olive
• Starling
• Coral

Go check them out on ravelry :)

And finally in Tutto they had this Shibui yarn on super sale.  Anyone that knows me well, knows that I love a bargain.  And this is where it all started to go downhill.  In fairness, it started innocently enough with a couple of skeins that I could use to make something for a friend's baby boy. (I have a simple striped cardigan in mind).



But then I saw the olive colourway... ooh Joe loves olive. 



And then there was the red/coral colour that just called to me.
 


Hmm willpower out the window, I left the store armed with more yarn than one person should really purchasing!

Not letting that stop me, we went onto the next store.  In Oodles Yarn and Beads, there were these fabulous Dyelot hand dyed hanks that consisted of a variety of yarn types.  They looked cool, but I wasn't sure what you'd do with them.  It was Joe who pointed out one of the sweaters that was made from said hanks (like how I did that... totally trying to shift the blame :o)))  He was right - the sweater was fun and different... and the hank also came home with me. 



The owner of the store advised that the hank was enough to make a tank top.  But that you really need to add another skein to it, to make a long sleeve sweater.  Lo and behold, look at this lovely Mad Tosh that was already in my stash - I think it will work perfectly!



Santa Fe craziness over.  The next day we went to Taos.  New day = clean slate.  Right? ;o)))

In Lori's Yarn and Fiber I picked up the following Schaefer yarn.  Pretty isn't it.  No plans for this one as yet.



The fabric I purchased was a variety of fat quarters that were primarily designed by a local Taos artist.



Here's an apron that we picked up for our Christmas gift box, that was made by the artist, using her fabrics. I thought it was cool, and am loving the deep rich colours.



Whew!  What a haul.  Now back to knitting and making good use of my stash.
Have a wonderful weekend friends,
Sam
xxx