Sunday, March 30, 2008

New Yarn!

I figured my taxes and found I was getting a sizeable refund back, so I've splurged on some lovely yarns to get me through 2008.

First there were two purchased from The Woolen Rabbit. I fell in love with Susan Pandorf's Moroccan Days (the yarn colorway has the same name) and Magic Carpet Ride (the yarn colorway is Moroccan Spice) designs, and decided to order the yarns she used for each of them in hopes that, when I knit them up, they look a bit like the original. The yarns are just beautiful! Lovely, soft merino, gorgeous colors. The Moroccan Spice (reds) is particularly incredible, looking very much like the reds from the tiny pseudo-Persian rugs in my apartment. Both patterns are available as kits through the site. I'm sure Kim was inundated with Ravelry folks pre-ordering kits from her; still, the yarn was shipped in a timely manner (one was sent out before the projected ship date, one was sent out about five days after, but I don't consider that a horrendous time lag).

But was that enough? No. I decided to try out a couple of dyers that I'd read about on the Mystical Creations Yarn thread on Ravelry (that thread is like a soap opera, and has been dubbed things like "As the Yarn Turns" - it's great! You can also find recipes for a faux crown roast made with hotdogs - doesn't get any better than that). One was Enchanted Knoll Farms, who was highly recommended by a couple of people. I went to their Etsy shop and found some gorgeous zephyr dyed in a colorway called Sedona - beautiful greens, a bit of teal, and some wonderful cedar red/browns, something that definitely calls up forests to my mind. I'm not going to post a photo today, but I may add one when I finally try to photograph it for my Ravelry stash. It has a beautiful silky sheen (sure, it's zephyr, but not all zephyr colors catch that silky gloss), and is yummy to handle. Great service, shipped out quickly, and included a wee gifty as a thoughtful way to thank a customer. A worthy seller, to be sure - check them out the next time you're looking for nice hand-dyed yarns!

I also ordered some yarn from Colorful Sheep's Etsy shop. I was impressed with her attempts to set the dyes from some of MCY's unhappiest customers. She seems to have an excellent knowledge of dyeing, and is very generous in sharing it. So I decided to check out her shop. She had 1750 yards of stunning merino in a colorway named Altair - an appropriate name for something in deep blues and blacks, very much like the night sky. Unfortunately I left it at my parent's house, so I don't have it to fondle - I'll have to wait a couple of weeks to get it into my sweaty little hands. Again, though, gorgeous colors, soft yarn, and incredible quick shipping with a nice thank you note. I would recommend Sheep as a purveyor of fine yarns!

I purchased one more bunch of yarn, but I won't write about it until I've received it and fondled it for half an hour or so. These are all lace weight yarns.

Maybe I'll just clip photos from these sites of the gorgeous yarns and post them, rather than subject people to my lack of concern for properly lit photos.

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