Yarn (Store) Pr0n: Yarnorama

Yarnorama was the third stop on the yarn crawl. We had lunch while we were there. (It helps that they have their own cafe so you can grab a bite after the drive.)


Yarnorama isn't strictly yarn. They have equipment for several types of fiber arts. I was looking forward to buying more fiber. Here is a herky-jerky look at their fiber selection.


They had some beautiful drop spindles. Click on the picture to get a better look at the craftsmanship.


Here's some more spindles and other tools. I considered getting a wrist distaff that doubled as a wraps per inch tool, but I decided to save my money for fiber.


They also have a nice selection of wheels and looms. Clara bought a Louet Julia while she was there.


This is Susan, the owner. She answered a bunch of my questions, and helped me decide what fiber to buy. She also said I could come back and try out the spinning wheels on the floor before I decide which one to buy. She also helped Clara buy choose her wheel, demonstrated how the silk hankies work and how to spin them.


Speaking of silk, here's some whole silk cocoons. If you shake them you can hear the silk worm inside. (Yes, they're dead. It's gross, but that's how you get silk without breaking the cocoon.)


They had plenty of yarn as well. There was cashmere, Malabrigo and a nice selection of yarns dyed in-house. Here's some of Yarnorama's hand painted sock yarn. They also their own hand dyed linen yarn and silk hankies.


As the sign says, this yarn is from local llamas. I think it's mill spun. Very nice.


In the end, I bought fiber instead of yarn. The one on the left is Corriedale, bought specifically for testing out spinning wheels and learning new techniques.

The middle bag is Coopworth. I'm spinning it right now. After spinning Merino, I was surprised by the "teeth" in the wool.

The one on the right is Blue Faced Leicester (or BFL). I plan to ply it with the Coopworth. Susan thought it would work. All the wool is natural, none of it is dyed.

Yarnorama is a bit of drive, but it is worth it for the selection of spinning surprise. I think I'll be back.

There are more pictures of Yarnorama here.

Hill Country Yarn Crawl 2008

After some debate I decided to go on the Hill Country Yarn Crawl and take the bus that left from Hill Country Weavers. I couldn't make it today, when most of the people went and the bus went to the shops out of town. But I did have fun going to all my local shops and getting to see a new one.

You can see all the pictures I took on the yarn crawl here.


I got to Hill Country Weavers nice and early, where I picked up my passport and my tote bag for all my goodies.


Hill Country Weavers gave out skeins of Plymouth Ocean Side Organic cotton yarn and a booklet with patterns for these dishcloths.


Trish of Tanglewood Fiber Creations was there, with all her beautiful, luscious handspun yarn.


Pam got a skein of Tanglewood yarn. It was 50% silk, 50% cashmere, with beads. It was so soft that she decided to wear it as a necklace.

There were only eight people who went on Saturday, so they reserved a 15 passenger van. The van was late. Way late. So more than an hour after we were supposed to leave, this is what showed up to pick us up:


Yep, there wasn't even enough room for eight, much less 15. They had confirmed the time and the size of the van the day before. We weren't thrilled.

So we waited for another van to come.


Finally, a second van arrived. This one was bigger, but there still weren't enough seats. We ended up taking both.

As we talked to our driver in the second van, we discovered that she wasn't a driver, and she didn't have a fleet van. Apparently she works for the owner of the business, but not as a driver. She was driving her own personal van. Her boss had called her up and asked her to come let us use her van. When we needed two vehicles, she got roped into driving us all around town.

The driver was very nice despite the situation. She enjoyed the shops, and she may try knitting. (She already sews.) We had a good time talking. She said she had a great time, and I told her not to tell her boss that.

So that was the main hitch in the plan. We still made it to all the shops, but we didn't have as much time to spend. But we didn't let it ruin our day.


Our first stop was The Knitting Nest, where they gave us kits for spider headbands, just in time for Halloween. In addition to the new notion holders, they had several new yarns including Cascade Greenland (the same stuff I got from Wildfire), Laines Du Nord Calipso, Cascade Cotton Rich and Knit One Crochet Too Ty-Dy Socks. And they had this...


This is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Amy's Vintage Office, the limited edition color I've been drooling over. Stacy said they ran out of the sock weight already, and these three skeins in Shepherd Worsted were all that was left. I bought one of them.

Speaking of Stacy, there's a story behind this picture:


Stacy is a trooper. She cut her hand when she broke the vase her anniversary roses came in. Since then, she's had surgery on her hand. (She showed me her stitches.) This was less than a week ago, yet she was at the store, on lots of painkillers.

She agreed to let me take a picture, and I said I wouldn't put it up if I didn't get a good shot. She joked that I could edit her face out.

Well, I got a bad shot, and Picnik had some effects that matched the Halloween decor. So I went for it.


The next stop was Yarnorama in Paige, where we had lunch. I'll have a full entry on them later, but I wanted to show off the hand dyed silk hankies. We each got one with a little kit that had instructions for knitting a little pouch. Susan, the owner, showed us how to stretch the silk into roving that we could knit.


I bought a pound and a half of fiber. But that doesn't compare to Clara, who bought a spinning wheel. (It's in the box she's holding.)

After Yarnorama, we went to Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe. We didn't have much time because they closed at five. But we did have time to look around. Everything was 10% off for yarn crawlers. (Even the clearance yarns were 60% off, instead of the usual 50% off.)


Everyone got a kit for these little pouches and a pattern for both knit and crochet versions. They were in paper bags, so we didn't know exactly what we got until we opened them.


The final stop was Gauge, where they gave out vouchers for free classes, and their yarns were also 10% off for yarn crawlers. They still had a good selection of Handmaiden Sea Silk and Double Sea Silk. I snagged a skein of the Double Sea Silk in the "Vintage" colorway.


Cheva was there sporting her latest creation. (Also, Carly was sporting some cool felted bangles.)

I was happy to find that Gauge has some roving for sale. Now I can get my fiber fix closer to home.

I was exhausted when we returned to HCW, and my arms were full. Here is what I got on the crawl.


There are more details about the yarn here and the fiber here.

And here's all the freebies.


The bus ride is over, but there's one day left to buy your passports, get you free gifts and enter the drawing. They're at all the participating shops.