Fun and Games at the Half-Price LYS

Ever wonder what a thousand dollars worth of yarn looks like? Before you jump out of your skin, I got it for half price. You do the math. I parked a (100g) skein of worsted on the box to show you how big it is.



My most local LYS is called Village Crafts. It is in a strip mall at the corner of Linton and Como Lake Ave. in Coquitlam, for all you Lower Mainlanders. The shop is owned by Penny, a friendly, helpful woman with a great laugh. We have had many happy chats in her shop.

Penny is closing. She tried to sell the business as a yarn shop, but it didn't work out, and now she is selling off all her stock. I happened to be in there last week, when everything in the shop went from 20 to 50% off. Everything. In. The. Shop.

Today I went back for round three. Round one happened on THE day last week. I bought up almost everything affordable and white/cream for dyeing. Then I discovered that things do not need to be white, so I went back for round two: Everything I could afford that would be useful for dyeing. That was before I discovered that y'all like the good stuff. So today (round three) I went back for as much of the good stuff as I could afford.

I've been perusing the websites of others who dye and sell yarn the way I've just begun to. They seem to have gotten smart, limiting their offering to a handful of colorways and types of yarn that they are willing to repeat over and over. This will probably happen to me too. But for now I'm playing, and I have wonderful yarns to play with. And I can offer them to you because I could afford to buy them at half price (in Canada, no less, where such things are prohibitive). In any case, I will keep offering the interesting until I run out.

Bet you wish I would dump out that box and show you what's in there. Aren't I evil? It's GOOD stuff. Some of it is for me. What do you expect when the yarn store is half off? I'm not made of steel. This is one example of something that is all mine.



On another subject, this is a yarn I hope to feature often over at the shop. This is Quebecoise before I give it a makeover with one of my colorways:



I buy it downtown in Vancouver from Birkeland Bros. The store has been in business since 1939, primarily making those large woolen batts you need for making quilts. Several years ago, they opened up a wee yarn shop in the front of the store. That's where I bought my swift, and that is where I've been buying rugged woolen yarns for my dyeing business, like the New Zealand worsted in huge 200g hanks. Quebecoise is a hardy, well-wearing light worsted that is excellent for felting. I've seen examples of bags and slippers felted with one or two strands of Quebecoise. It comes in lots of colours. I've discovered that sometimes it is fun to begin the dyeing process with a light colour. Dyes show up differently on colours than they do on white, and I like playing with all of it.

Quebecoise, made in Quebec (hooray, Canada!), comes in 100g/200yd skeins and knits up at 19-20st. on 4mm-4.5mm needles. It blooms nicely when it has been washed, so you get it already a bit bloomed from the dyeing process. This is a great yarn for outerwear, home decor, and all felted or fulled items. Today I dyed two skeins in a beautiful Pansies colorway that I will list in shop tomorrow when the yarn is dry.

Here's something I played around with yesterday. I bought up some sale yarn at Birkeland's. It's Sandnes Tresko. The whole label was in another language and featured a foot wearing a sock and a wooden shoe. Inside the label was a (foreign language) recipe for work socks. The yarn is worsted (20st on 4.5mm), but it is also a machine washable sock yarn (80% wool, 20% nylon). It came in a navy and a royal blue marl, so I overdyed them purple and tealy-blue. They're pretty cute and would make nice easy-wash socks, or jackets for children. Or hard-wearing boot socks (very durable), or slouching around the house in the winter socks. I need to weigh and price this, but it will be a bit of a deal. The purple and teal go together too. I have some grey that I plan to dye into Forest Camo.



This is a special order I worked on this morning. BCA Pinks: Rowan DK Superwash.



This one I'm calling: BE STILL MY BEATING HEART. Rowan DK Superwash.



Today I worked on special orders, mailed boxes, got outside for a walk and spent too much money at the half-price-LYS. Now I'm going to knit. If I can remember how.