Tag: Lion Brand Yarn

Update, organize, advance!

The update: My dad is still in the hospital in Tampa, but due to schedule conflicts Mom and I came back to North Carolina this weekend.  It was a long drive but there are lots of craft stores along the way 😉  She’s flying back on Thursday for the long weekend but I can’t handle that much flying so I’ll be here on my lonesome with a huuuuuuge stash to play with!  We’ll have to go back to Tampa again to pack up his apartment by the 26th and move his stuff to NC, while he is being transferred to an Army hospital at Ft. Benning in Columbus, GA.  We may or may not be visiting him there, the schedule is tight as it is since I go back to the UK on the 30th.

Organizing: I have bought so much stuff!  I had ordered more fiber from the Homestead Wool and Gift Farm before I found out that I would be able to attend Convergence 2008.  No, not the goth one, the biennial conference of the Handweavers Guild of America.  I was only able to go for one afternoon at the exhibit hall but oh my, what a wonderful experience!  I don’t weave much yet (although that’s something I want to do more of in the future) but the vendors included sooooo much for spinners and dyers.  Dyeing, too, is something I have only toyed with really, but I hope to take a natural dyeing course through a lovely SCA lady in the UK if she is ever able to resume doing the courses.  Plus there was plenty of “weaving” (read: knitting) yarn for me to buy 🙂  So I loaded up a lot on fiber and yarn and got two new spindles, a nostepinne, a new lucet, some wooden bobbins, a sock loom from a company I’d never heard of before and several books for spinning on spindles. It was fabulous!  (And many thanks to Mom for financing it all 😉 )  Mom really, really fell in love with the Ashford Elizabeth 2 but I have yet to make up my mind as to whether I prefer a double treadle or a double-wide single treadle (like on the E2).  I just don’t know which is better for my knees.  And anyway, I want to get a drum carder before considering a wheel!  (Plus I am holding out for a reasonably-priced electric spinning “wheel” to appear in the UK, alas I can’t just get a US one because of the power/voltage issues :/)

We also stopped at 5 scrapbooking/stamping stores and one quilt store plus Michael’s had a big sale on scrapbooking stuff while we were down there and we hit a Hobby Lobby.  (No Serenity looms though, do they still make/sell those???)

So as a result of all of this wonderful stash enhancement, I’ve been spending most of today trying to organize everything so that I can get the most out of what little crafting time I will have available to me this trip.

Advance!  On to bigger and better things, I say!  I’m really gunning to get crafting, I just have several more chores and a few doctors appointments this week and then I can hopefully get my pics off my cameras to post them and also get back to making stuff!

Hope everyone is having a great week, and happy 4th of July to those who celebrate it.

 

PS. Don’t miss today’s episode of Yarncraft (the podcast by Lion Brand) which is on Loom Knitting!  I’m bummed that I never really got the chance to call in for it but oh well.  I’m going to go listen right now!

As it turns out, I *do* like Lion Brand Yarns!

I don’t exactly know why I got onto the Lion Brand Yarns mailing list, but several months ago I joined and have been pleased with their weekly e-list even before I knew how to knit. Then their podcast, Yarncraft, came out and I enjoy it even more as it has a beginner knitter and I love the yarn designer (whose name escapes me but she sounds just like my friend Genny!). Creating yarns and colourways sounds like a dream job!! Still though, I had no yarn skills and had never encountered Lion Brand. I need to see if it is easily available in the UK. However, on my trip to the US I found it in several big box craft stores and I am very pleased to report that I actually enjoy their yarns, at least the ones I have acquired or have seen in use. Homespun is especially a favourite for gifting as the machine washability is a big plus but the softness is something I’ve generally seen only in yarns that cost twice the price. I’ve also tried Fancy Fur and have several skeins of Suede that will eventually make it over here. I want to try their Cotton Ease and also feltable wools. What I have used has been very easy to work with and comes in so many fabulous colours that one is rather spoilt for choice

(This is not to say that I don’t like other yarns, or that I haven’t bought things that are much more expensive…but when dealing with people with very sensitive skin or various fiber allergies, Lion Brand has many products that fit the bill perfectly and at a price I can afford.)

Anyway, it would have been awful to find out that despite their lovely list and podcast that I didn’t like their stuff…so I’m very pleased that I like their products as much as their marketing 🙂

Now, to find what sorts of yarn shows one has to get into to get the mythical bag of free Lion Brand Yarn! I have soooo much charity knitting to do this winter, plus half my friends are disabled and have special fiber needs (but I’m not counting that as charity knitting) — I need all the Lion Brand yarn I can get my hands on! 🙂 Maybe I can convince them that I should be a tester to see how well their products work for people with extremely sensitive skin? 🙂 Well, a girl can dream, anyway…*sigh* Now, how do I get my hands on a sample card…. off to search their website now!