Stash Enhancement


We've started getting some frosty mornings around here and things are turning a little more chill.  Time when the nice warm glow of the Christmas lights and a warming home comforts start to seem very appealing indeed.

The decorations are up now and it's certainly looking very festive here now but, amazingly, I still just can't get myself 100% into the swing of it quite yet.  Really most unlike me.  I have a lovely pack of multi-coloured mini baubles which I vowed I am going to do something with this year but I haven't touched them yet.  Inspiration is not striking.  Hopefully it will come soon...

In other news though, do you remember when I talked to you about the charming folks at Black Sheep Wools a few months ago?  I was the lucky recipient of their 'Blogger of the Month' prize and as a result of surfing their online site and learning a little more about them I also found out about their real-life, bricks and mortar store and craft-barn.  That sounds promising doesn't it?  Craft Barn... it conjures up images of vast expanses, filled with crafty goodness.   A very pleasing thought.

So you can probably imagine my feelings a few weeks ago then when I got the opportunity to go and visit Black Sheep Wools and their Craft Barn for myself.  It's quite a goodish drive from my house to where they are but I knew it was going to be a good day as soon as I pulled into their car-park.  I knew my 'vast expanses' theory was justified right away, now I only had to check and see how the 'crafty goodness' element stood up.



I tend to like to eek these little pleasures out in my recent years.  Let them unroll slowly and enjoy each moment.  This place is the perfect place to do that.  When you walk through the door, you are greeted with a lovely little area, filled with lots of yummy yarn and if you are anything like me, that makes you smile right away.  That all seems very nice and although not as huge an area as you were maybe hoping, there are nice things and you settle down to enjoy a good browse.  But then....

...then you look up and see that beyond this initial entrance area there is a whole big wooly filled space opening out beyond it and then you really start grinning because you know you will do very well here.  Very well indeed!  So I spend a very satisfactory time wandering around and drinking the whole place in.  Quite literally, as there is a nice coffee area too where weary yarn hunters can stop for refreshment.  It's a place where there is something for everyone.  A nice wide selection of yarns from cheaper acrylics and the known brands to beautiful coloured hanks of the more selective yarns.  There's also pattern books, crafty notions, cross stitch and embroidery things and fabric too.  Pretty much everything you want or need in short.

So yes, that's a big, fat tick in the 'crafty goodness' section from me.

Anyway, in my excitement of telling you about my trip, I've managed to get a little side tracked from the original point of this post, which was to show you what I got there.  Those two yummy scrummy yarns above are a gorgeous and generous gift from Black Sheep Wools and they are both absolutely lovely.

The red one is one of the softest, smooshy-ist yarns ever.  It's a DK yarn by Juniper Moon Farm and is called Herriot.  Look at it in this BSW blog post with the colours all out on show.  Yummy don't you think?  The green one is Juniper Moon Farm too, it's a lace yarn called Finley.  I really love the colours that this one comes in, some really lovely bright shades.


I wanted to get stuck into the softness of the red Herriot straight away but actually it turned out to be the green Finley that I started with first.  It was the lace that called to me.  I wanted to do some more crochet with lace and I want something decorative, delicate and light to wrap around me.  I have quite a few pretty scarf/shawl things, but nothing in that colour, so a plan was formed.  As is so often the way, it was the colour that dictated what exactly what sort and style of scarf/shawl it should be.  I have an image in my minds eye again so now I need to see if I can get it out of the mind and into the yarn.

I've been playing and swatching with it, (my favourite part) and I've decided on a pattern.  There was a clear winner from my experiments and I'm liking how it's coming out.  It's looking all bobbly and scrunched up at the moment, but hopefully the wonder that is blocking lace will sort all that out.  I can't wait to see...



S x




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Comments

  1. I can see why you couldn't wait to start, Sandra! They are both lovely, but the green is in a class of its own - enjoy! Let's hope this starts to get you in the festive mood. Hugs xx

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  2. The pattern looks beautiful and I love that lovely sea green, so rich without being loud! My sort of green!

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  3. It is beautiful! I am so glad that you had such a great time and enjoyed it so much. xx

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  4. Gorgeous yarns, I've heard good things about Black Sheep Wools. I'm not feeling hugely festive yet either, although I am sensing a little Christmas anxiety edging in. No doubt it will all sort itself out in the end. CJ xx

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  5. I adore the very first photo...the colors, the hot drink and chocolates and the gorgeous soft lighting....perfection!

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  6. The yarn looks so scrumptious! Can't wait to see your lace goodie! www.scottys-place.blogspot.com

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  7. There is nothing like a good craftstore:)
    Uh I just blocked my first lace scarf with pins and wire, and wow what a result. Defintely a fan of blocking now. Looking forward to seeing your project in full.

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  8. I like the looks of that cranberry and green together. That is a festive, first photo.

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  9. What a fun day and it sounds like a great place. Love the yarns and your descriptions are so good! The shawl is looking good for sure.

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