Category: Reviews

The Fiber Haul

Posted by zyllah – May 29, 2008

So with all the sales going on (which so far I have managed to not order from) my initial plan was to pick up two items and some handmade soap. I wanted to get Color in Spinning and a niddy noddy. I was however DENIED. There had been one copy of the book and it had sold the day before. Claire and I stuck to our plan for all vendor laden events. We do a pass through to see what everyone has and then we decide which to head back to. First place we actually shopped at was Fiber Denn. I got some sock yarn, some fiber and the fast whorl for Siouxsie. I had been meaning to get the fast whorl for a while and hadn’t gotten around to ordering it so the fact that she’s a majacraft dealer was to my benefit.

The first up is the 4 oz of Optim I got. Oh my god this stuff feels incredible.

The purple is a merino/silk blend (65/35) in a colorway called Phlox and the green is corriedale in a colorway called Forrest. The noddy came from Little Barn.

This is a Quasi-Solid sock yarn in a colorway called Sangiovose. It’s a wool/bamboo/nylon blend.

Next up was Deer Trace Farm. They have some gorgeous alpaca but I still haven’t used up the 8 oz I bought before so I gave that a pass this time but I did get this amazing 50/50 Merino Silk blend.

Lastly I hit Little Barn. They had FANTASTIC pricing. They sell 4 oz of optim for 9.95. So hell yeah I got more. Anyway compare those prices to other vendors….Anyway from them I got the Noddy I showed you up above and all this.

From left to right is another 4 oz of optim, 8 oz of bfl, and 16 oz of tussah silk. That day seriously felt like Christmas cause when I got home the books I had ordered had gotten there. So now I have yet more stitch dictionaries (Knit/purl and Lace/Eyelets) from the new Harmony guides and the book that hopefully will teach me to sew. The Sew Everything Workshop comes highly recommended and from what I’ve read so far its totally justified. It seems to be the SNB of sewing.

Tennessee Fiber Fair

Posted by zyllah – May 28, 2008

So Saturday Claire, Judie, Phil and I headed down to Dickson to the Tennessee Fiber Festival. We planned on doing some shopping and then going to plant world and then finally lunch at boobies. Home of the famous boobie burger. We went there last year and everyone loved it. So first up was the fiber fair.

Animals were seen like this cashmere goat:

Fiber and yarn were fondled and bought from Fiber Denn:

Friends were met but I forgot to snap photos.

Overall it was WAY better than last year. Easily twice the size. I think the organizers deserve a great big round of virtual applause for putting that much effort and work into it. My favorite vendors this year were Fiber Denn (as usual) and Little Barn (SUPER FREAKING CHEAP). Plus it’s always nice to see folks I don’t get to see too often since I am just lazy enough to consider Nashvegas a wee bit too far to go to knitting groups there.
So we were there about 3 hours I’d say and then off to plant world we went. I know this isn’t a gardening blog but oh my god did they have gorgeous plants and lots of them! We have nothing like that here. It was almost like being at a botanical garden. I took so many pics. However I’ll only bore you with my two favorites.

Lunch was had and then we took off for home. Next post the Fiber HAUL.

Swatching and books and oh hey I bought a wheel!

Posted by zyllah – November 2, 2007

So I picked a pattern, Vee. I also went through the stash and came up with two possibilities that wouldn’t wreck a sweaters amount of yarn and I swatched them. We’re going for 4 spi, which we did not get (as usual) but we did come close. Swatch 1 is Classic Elite Renaissance in a color called Plum. Its kind of an odd yarn in that each ply is a different but harmonious color.

It’s not dry yet so I am reserving final judgement till morning. Our next contestant is a discontinued yarn by berroco called Pleasure. It’s mostly angora and has a cabled construction that supposedly minimizes shedding.

At this point I’m leaning towards the classic elite even if its not as squishy.

Today was a good day, my vogue sock book came from zooba. Zooba rocks, how can you beat books for 9.95 including shipping. Sometimes they even have good knitting books, I got SKS and this vogue book through them. It is very similar to sks but with different and perhaps better stitch patterns. I haven’t had as much of a chance to look through it because I was swatching and well buying a wheel. So anyway I forgot while at the fiber fest I picked up No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting by Anne Macdonald. I’ve just paged through it but so far it looks really interesting.

Ok now the big big big news. I have been wanting a wheel and I kept putting it off as they are a huge expense. I came close a couple of times with some deals on various babes. However…I’m a big believer in buying something that will last. Which is why I have expensive cookware and sheets since I would rather buy something once. Anyway I considered buying a so-called beginner wheel and I just thought that seemed stupid. None of them are cheap you know? Might as well get something you could conceivably keep forever if you are going to invest that much.  Anyway…so today I happened to glance at an email from the spin sales list and saw this deal.

I am now pricing my Majacraft Suzie plus many accessories at $XXX
with free shipping. It is excellent condition, with the exception of
two scratches on the left peddle. Runs great. It comes with 6 plastic
bobbins, 2 jumbo plying bobbins, a fine fiber flyer with attachments
and a high-speed whorl and belt, a Wild Flyer for funky spinning, and
a non-tensioned Majacraft lazy kate. I’m willing to break up the
accessory package if I don’t get a buyer for the whole thing. The
whole package has a retail value of around $850, so it’s quite a
savings.

So I emailed her and got pictures and decided it was too good a deal to pass up. Siouxsie arrives tuesday.

Knitting Bags- A Review or In which your humble Narrator admits she has a bag problem

Posted by zyllah – May 23, 2007

I know after reading this and seeing the pictures you’ll never believe this, but I used to only have one purse at a time. Seriously! I wore all black what need for more than one. All I asked was that it not have some tacky logo splashed all over on it and that it be big enough to shove a paperback into. Why should I pay extra to carry advertising for the company? Well Ok there was one more thing I really prefer long straps so I can have it on one shoulder and have it hit my hip but you almost never see those anymore so I’ve unhappily adjusted. My everyday bag is just a wee bit too small I can a sock in it if its using a yarn that takes 2 to make a sock (Claudias, koigu, etc). However the big pr0n- alicious yarn cakes? Forget it. At any rate so after I started knitting, my bag broke. I had spent a fair bit of money on this bag so I was a wee bit well distraught my funds at the time being vastly less than I was used to. I also started wanting to bring my knitting with me when I left the house so I was really looking for the perfect bag. I tried a bunch of cheap bags from big box stores and they were all uniformly disappointing. I kept buying them though thinking this one will be the one to work. Then I saw some of the knitting purse combo things and thought I’m saved! I bought one and it was nice except it didn’t have a separate area for pursey items so I kept trying them and trying them. Recently I got yet another in a long line of items and one thing struck me that I hadn’t really grasped before when I read reviews on other blogs so I figured I’d throw this up for anyones future reference. So we’re going to go in order of acquisition since well why not. The ball winder is included for sizing perspective, the need for which will become quite clear soon enough.

1. Art Bin

This was obviously the first one I bought. I got it half off from joann and it came with a needle holder thing too. I needed something to shove my wips in and move from office to living room. It’s basically a big canvas covered bucket There are exterior pockets but I found them too small to be anything other decoration. So it is fairly roomy but its a total pain in the ass to bring with you to a store to shop with. It’s also despite being a perfectly lovely shade of purple, ugly. It has a canvas drawstring top that kept my projects safe from my destroyers kitties for quite some time. However it was the suck for bringing anyplace else so I quickly looked elsewhere. For now my so small it can’t even be called a stash fiber and spindle lives here. So I did find a use for it.

2. Lantern Moon Palm Leaf Tote

I love this bag. I got it in green at an lys near me. Then this one came up for sale somewhere so I snatched up the black. I also still half want the burgundy. It has become my basket in the house bag that I can also take to SNB. It makes a fairly stylish purse. My two complaints is that there isn’t a separate pocket for pursey items so I do usually have to carry a purse as well. Also the magnetic closure isn’t that strong depending on what you have inside it.You can really stuff these if you need to but then you can’t close them. However like I said I do love this bag.

3. A very nice Leather bag from Tj Maxx

When I got this bag I thought AHA my search is over. It was beautiful and very nice real leather. I thought for sure this will be large enough. That was sort of the problem the bag weighs a lot even empty because of that oh so very buttery Italian leather. Also its incredibly narrow so even though its tall and wide its about as thick as a ball of yarn. It has tons of pockets and nooks and crannies so I found that I was constantly misplacing my cell and keys. Also and maybe this only bugs me but I felt it made me look like a lawyer which is just not me. However it is a very nice bag and for small-med projects it works well.

4. Namaste Executive Bag

This bag is so nice. It has a separate compartment for pursey junk. It stays on your shoulder and it makes an excellent bag for carry on while traveling. Its also fairly affordable. The best part is that its tall enough not to have to bend/fold up patterns or magazines. However I do not carry this one too often because its large. I could easily carry a sweater wip and my pursey stuff and that feels like overkill for everyday. I’ve had it about a year and its held up decently I guess. The pleather on the edging on the sides has flaked off a little but you’d have to look hard to notice.

5. Jordana Paige Knitters Satchel

I can’t remember where I first saw these. All I knew was I had to have one. Last year I had a purple dress I wanted a bag for so I convinced my mom to get me the grape one as a present. Then I got this one as a birthday present. I love love these bags. I understand some people have had quality control issues with them but I haven’t. Now I also understand that some people would find these rather old fashioned but that’s why I love them!  Seperate area on the outside for pursey junk. I’ve found that area to be a little small for a wallet, cell, ipod and make up case but that’s mostly not such a huge thing. Because of the construction they do not carry as much as the Namaste bag but they are much more attractive imo. The biggest flaw I’ve found is that it is not tall enough for a pattern and so my patterns end up curled up a bit when I use it. I do think they are a tad overpriced though. However I love this bag so much I even want a red one. I do wish they had come out with a true black instead of this graphite though.

6. Lexie Barnes Lady B 

I just got this so my review is perhaps a tad early. I swear this is possibly the last one of these in this fabric in the country. Only reason I got it. A couple of weeks ago I got the mini bag set from lexie’s site since they were on sale. I was really impressed with the quality of the construction so I thought about it and went ummmm and my mom agreed so thus this was soon on its way from webs. I however did not realize just how freakishly large it was. The description read something like ‘this darling bag with retro styling’ now I did see the dimensions but I don’t think it really sunk in. I was picturing something about the size of a bowling bag. Instead its this sized.

For the record that is a 2 liter bottle. It makes it look almost as small as a 24 oz bottle. It is suitable for the very largest of projects. It is not however something you could camouflage as a purse.  The construction on it is excellent. I love the bag I just wasn’t expecting something almost the size of a suitcase. I have 60 days to return it so right now I’m letting it mariante for a bit before deciding either way.