WhiteStar

I Promised Fibery Goodness

And I deliver.

I spent yesterday evening at the Convergence Twilight Madness sale. And what did I get?

The first thing you notice when you enter the shopping area is all the baskets. Everyone was carrying these very cool and colorful handmade baskets. They are from Ghana and several vendors were selling them. I bought one to carry my purchases in and well... ended up with a second before the night was out. I saw some people walking around with three and four of them!

The baskets come all squished up and misshapen. You soak them in water and mold them to shape. The basket on the left was already shaped when I bought it, the one on the right has not yet been shaped. I did that in my bathtub today. These baskets are very strong, hold a ton of stuff and are really pretty as well. I want to go back and get another one!

Now for the fibery part. I bought 3 skeins of a cotton tape yarn from Gedifra. I had hopes of using it on my Floral Mini Poncho. The gauge on the ball band was right but... I STILL CAN'T GET GAUGE in crochet. So now I have three balls of this stuff and no idea what to use it for. It would make a really cute little tank or tee top.. hmmmmm.... another reason to go back up to Denver.. I could get another 3 or 4 balls, enough to make that tee or tank.

I also purchased some spinning fiber. On the left is 12 ounces of Bonker's wool with nylon and tencel. You can't see the colors very well in this picture. It's black superwash with specks of coral silk and Angelina. VERY pretty.

And on the right, on top is a 4 ounce bump of Bonkers 50/50 Merino/Tencel. On the bottom are two 4 ounce bumps of Blue Moon Spinnery Guardians of the Earth 50/50 Merino/Tencel.

I didn't pictures of the other fibery stuff I got... a big hank of 4 color-coordinated handdyed yarns from the SouthWest Trading Company that may be destined to become a not-Colinette poncho.

And what would a trip to a fibery place be without spindles? I am hopelessly addicted.

In front we have a very lovely Spriggs spindle. A fine spinner and only $16 from Susan's Fiber Shop. Then, from left to right we have a Cascade Spindle Mt. St Helens, a lovely little lace spindle from Magpie Woodworks, a silk spindle by the folks at Berlin Braids and a Vermont Spindle. In the front is one of the now discontinued Grafton Fibers Suri Alpaca spindles. That spindle, the Vermont Spindle and the Greensleeves Lizzie Kate they are perched in came from Carolina Homespun.

I also got a book on Kumihumo braiding, maybe I'll finally learn to use that Marudai I got on sale 50% off about 4 years ago.

Meanwhile back at the ranch... Aliy's girls are getting ready to open their eyes! My guess is within the next 24-36 hours or so I'll have puppies screaming their heads off when they get their first glimpse of LIGHT. I created a Gallery of Pictures for the puppies in case anyone wants to take a look. These are the same pics that have been on Aliy's blog over the past week and a half, but now they are all in one place. And of course the Aliy-Cam is up 24 hours a day for those who can't sleep at night.

That's all for tonight from the rainy windy high plains...

Anne at 9:48 PM