Sublime Saturday Morning

I was a bit down last week, because I realized that my financial resources along with my limited physical stamina at this time of the school year would prevent me from making the four-and-a-half-hour drive to Stitches South in Atlanta this weekend.  However, I ended up discovering that sometimes a rewarding yarn fix can be found close to home.

This morning, in search of some yarn for a Ravelry knitalong of the Iris Schreier cabled shawl in the spring issue of Vogue Knitting,  I traveled to Cottage Yarn in Mint Hill. I also wanted to go to this local yarn shop  because several vendors would be displaying their knitting-related products in front of the store today. When I arrived there I found some interesting items to peruse.  I wished I could buy something from all of the sellers, as I always want to support fellow handcrafters, but had to stop myself from purchasing cute stitch markers with photographs on them from Knit Cubby, as I just made my own beaded markers last week.  (Knit Cubby's wares can be found at www.knitcubby.etsy.com.)  I was also tempted by the Gerschubie Fiber Arts table, with its display of beautiful hand-dyed roving and felted dryer balls.  I have a stash of fiber at home which would make more than enough yarn to knit a California king bedspread (if I would ever actually sit down and spin it), so I acted with self-restraint and moved on.  I couldn't resist, however, purchasing a pattern for a felted "Izzy Wellington" doll from Anita Wheeless of The Pattern Box.  This doll reminded me of the antique china dolls I admired in museums and books when I was a child.  Wheeless's pattern, however, is based on a popular wooden doll designed by Izannah Walker in the 1800s.  Information about Walker and her doll can be found at http://www.izannahwalkerchronicles.com. 

Roving from Gerschubie Fiber Arts by Brunner Studios. 

 Anita Wheeless of The Pattern Box holds the Izannah Doll.  Her
patterns for other toys are adorable, too, and some of these can be found in her book,
Storybook Dolls to Knit. 

When I returned home in the afternoon, with some silver Sublime yarn for the shawl and my doll pattern, I found a package from Kim, the hospice nurse in California with whom I was partnered in a Downton Abbey exchange organized by Subway Knits.  Kim had sent me a box of adorable treats, including a hand-knit tea cozy made from Noro yarn using a pattern from Churchmouse at Home.  This knitting exchange is the first one in which I have participated, and I have to say that the experience has been a great deal of fun.  I hope Kim likes the items that I sent her as much as I enjoyed receiving the thoughtful gifts from her. 

This tea cozy was made for me by my partner in a Downton Abbey exchange.  She also  sent me other goodies, including tea and two beautiful
skeins of Louisa Harding yarn. 

I need to get some beads and then I can cast on the shawl found in Vogue
Knitting.  For information about the Ravelry knitalong, click here. 

Finally, on Monday I will begin posting each day for a week as part of EskimimiMakes Blog Week.  Be sure to check out the blogs of other participants in this event.  You can "Google" the code I will post by each blog title to find posts from other participants.