SAFF 2007

This year we went with the intention of only doing shopping; there were no classes we really -had- to take, and because of work and such, we couldn't stay but for one day. So Jason, Brandon and I headed out early Saturday morning, cash in pockets with the decisions made that we would only spend what cash we had.

It was, as it had been last year, quite overwhelming. My first stop, of course, was Brooks Farm Yarns, where I purchased a couple of hanks of simply gorgeous 100% mohair. I eyed some of their other stuff, but wasn't really there for wool, and I'm still working on my sweater so didn't need to buy yarn for another.

I then headed up to another of the vendors I liked last year, Yarnsmiths, and found that they had branched out into sock yarns .. specifically specialty ones. I picked up three different types, two of which had a good bit of Cashmere in them, one of which that was mostly silk and some nylon, which should make some lovely socks. Then I stopped at the booth of the woman who we took a couple classes with last year, Melanie Koenig, and I picked up a couple of pairs of birch DPNs and also, after being convinced that I should try out the Denise interchangeables - which she had me do then and there, handing me some yarn and letting me walk off with them - I purchased the pink Denise set. Later on at other booths I found the larger cables for the pink Denise's, so now I'm all set with those, and also got some Lantern Moon ebony DPNs, and the Knit Cards set I've been eyeing for a while... just to have them.

The only other yarn I got was some angora, which I'm going to, along with the angora I bought last year from the same people, make some hand-warmers out of; and some alpaca, one skein from a pinto and it's been spun and plied so that it'll stripe perfectly, and a couple of skeins of some beautiful cream-colored Suri alpaca, from New Era Fiber, I'm probably going to make into a lace shawl.

The really -big- purchase of the day though was Jason's. He went ahead and purchased himself a Kromsky rigid heddle harp loom. It's a big purchase, but it's a beautiful loom, a lot nicer than the Ashfords, aesthetically, and since he already has a Kromsky wheel, it was only fitting. I'm a little frustrated, because the stand was the wrong size, so we'll have to send it back and get a replacement. But I'm sure that won't be a problem. It looks like it came from the manufacturer that way, so we may have to go to them directly .. dunno though. He also got enough gorgeous alpaca to make me a pretty beautiful shawl, once he feels confident with the loom and stuff, so I'm pretty excited about that.