Lagniappe and What I Worked For

Well hello, 2017! I can honestly and desperately ask, "What fresh hell is this?"

But enough about politics. I need a respite from the fray, from marches and on-line arguments with trolls and people so stupid I cannot believe they can walk and breathe at the same time.

This past weekend Bornside Yarns had their annual sale. The way it works is that Miss Bette puts up an on-line list of her sale yarns, mostly things that have either been discontinued by the manufacturer, or things she has decided no longer sell well enough to keep in stock. It's a first come, first serve sale, and as things are sold, they are marked, Out of Stock. I was asked to be one of the people who came in on Saturday morning to help fill the orders. We took the lists in the order in which they were received and put each item into a large brown grocery bag. These were tallied up, the customers, some local, some distant, were notified, and we, who had been asked to help in this endeavour, were paid in yarn. Ooooh, yarn! I had decided not to buy any sale yarn when I heard about it, because I really am trying to knit my stash (and so far have knit two projects this year with stash yarn!). But Miss Bette promised, so I took her up on it. And this is what I got.

Two red, one green, one black and one brown skein each of Nature's Shepherd, by Brown Sheep.

The red is labeled as Fire and the black as Obsidian

 The plan is to make a red pussy hat for a friend, and then with the remainder to make a red and black wool hat for someone. Red and black were my high school colours, so it is with mixed feelings hat I approach that project, seeing as I considered my years in Junior and Senior High School to be exercises in state sponsored terrorism.

The green is labeled Clover and the brown as Rich Earth

I fell in love with the green yarn while I was helping to pack the bags, and no one claimed it after all the orders were filled so I decided it needed to come home with me. I am thinking either a striped scarf or a hat. I'm leaning toward the hat idea, because scarves can be boring to make.

There was also some Rowan to be had. Rowan yarns are in a bit of a tizzy because from what I understand their British maker has discontinued them, or the distributor has stopped distributing them (which explains the cessation of the British Sheep Breeds yarns that I loved so much, and which I bought in abundance when they were discontinued).

These four skeins would make wonderful hats or scarves. Pure wool, they are soft and so knittable. And such a lovely dark navy blue.

The other Rowan yarn I scored was two skeins of a blue and purple heathered yarn.

 You can't really see it in this picture, but there is a very subtle heathering to this lovely wool.

The last thing I came away with was three skeins of Classic Elite Silky Alpaca (70% baby alpaca, 30% silk). There were two skeins on sale, and I decided to get them, but there was a third skein on display, a bit shop worn, which Miss Bette added to my haul as lagniappe.

The colour is listed as Cabernet, and in real life, the yarn really does look like a glass of that wine.

I'm just giddy thinking about what I can make with all this yarn!