Weekend o' Yarn

I went to Eugene this past weekend to help Lorie celebrate an auspicious birthday and to go to Black Sheep Festival. Both were lots of fun. I bought Lorie her first sock yarn and obtained a mill-end from Socks that Rock at a discount price in a colorway I liked more because of the fading due to it being a mill-end! It is Titanium, but you wouldn't know it to see it! I'll take photos of all of my yarn stash soon. I'm busy cataloging it, but that's another story.

Rich and I took a drive to Mt. Hood on Sunday. It was totally fogged in and snowing, so we left and went on to Hood River via Hwy. 35. On the way there was a sign for a yarn shop and Alpacas! Without even pointing it out, Rich noticed and made the turn off the highway. We went to the Foothills Yarn and Fiber shop which was fantastic. The owner, Connie, was warm and welcoming and willing to share her immense knowledge! She showed us the shop and told us her philosophy for yarn was to only purchase the softest yarns available. She had the largest collection of alpaca (from her alpacas and many others) I have ever seen! She had tons of knitted up projects, current books I hadn't seen yet and a great atmosphere. Two cats inhabit the shop, Knit and Purl. Sweetest ca†s ever! She also has a dog named Charlie who guards the alpacas. She and her husband both spin and were happy to show off their wheels and technique. We also got to feed the alpacas. It was excellent. So excellent I walked out with four skeins of yarn for three more projects! I bought a 600 yd. skein of alpaca to make Rich a vest. I also bought a skein of the alpaca they produce. It will be a hatband on a black hat or for a stranded hat. And then I bought the softest merino to make a hat or handwarmers with.

Rich and I drove on and took the scenic waterfall route back to Portland. We climbed up a few and they were stunning. It was a great day, which we needed, since he just left for three weeks. Besides working, he will be yarn shopping for me in NZ and AUS! I can't wait to see what he buys. I'll post photos of yarn soon.

I decided to put my entire stash on a spreadsheet on Google! I've made good progress and am now daunted by the 30+ projects I have facing me. Argh. But its great to see all of the yarn layed out in an orderly fashion. Now I can add a tab for projects I want to do but don't have the yarn for! It goes to show that I truly am a librarian down to my knitting fingers.

Okay, back to my second Squatty, socks, and cashmere scarf. Will I ever finish? I'll report soon on Malabrigio vs. Manos. To me, there is no comparison.