Biltmore Wool Barn: Lovely Handspun Yarn

I was on vacation last week, at the tip of Cape Cod. This was not conducive to either knitting or blogging. I got only as far as I did on one project because I was hanging out with friends at their house on a rainy day, and everyone had their damn face in some hand held device or another. I do not own any such devices (I have a stupid phone, which is good for texting and calling, and that's about it; even its camera sucks.) And the nearest yarn store is about three towns away, and the nearest good yarn store is even further.

However, salvation comes in many forms. On the last day I was on vacation, there was a farmers' market, or an open air market (only a couple of the seven or so stands were selling vegetables). And one of them was selling yarn! The vendor was a woman sitting at her spinning wheel, carefully letting out her roving into a lovely handspun. She was surrounded by beautiful hanks of yarn, all handspun, all hand dyed. Who could resist?

Well, I certainly couldn't! I left with two gorgeous hanks of yarn, one a deep purple, the other a  variegated blue. Both hanks are 60% merino and 40% silk, and each is 500 yards. I admit I was only feeding my stash, but I was also supporting a local spinner/dyer/farmer (she has beasties!). And it's lovely yarn, a little uneven in the spinning (which I kind of like, because you can tell it isn't machine made), and just vibrant colours.

This yarn comes from Biltmore Wool Barn in Brewster, MA. There is no website, but there is an e-mail address: kammas@msn.com --I asked if she had a web presence, and she said she didn't because the yarn never showed its true colours on the screen. I know that even though I took the following pictures in sunny room, the purple looks bluer than it really is. We're talking rich, royal purple here, and it looks a bit washed out.

Royal Purple

Variegated Blue