Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Estes Park Wool Market 2014

On Saturday, Alexis, Shannon, Eli and I went to the Estes Park Wool Market again. Alexis drove, and Shannon and Eli packed a generous picnic for us to enjoy while we watched the llama competitions. It was pretty chilly, though, and the llamas didn't seem be doing much while we were sitting in the stands, so we quickly ducked indoors as soon as we were done.

We saw goats! (And alpacas. But we didn't visit the sheep or angora rabbits or any of the other animals this time around.)

We were trying to determine which one was Bandit. Probably the black one stealing bites from the feed bag in the next pen?

This year the alpacas and goats were housed in the big warehouse that had held all the vendors in previous years. The marketplace was in a larger and more modern-looking building.

Most of the time I was too preoccupied with being tempted by yarns to take many pictures. However, after we'd all browsed through the stalls once, we went back to make purchases and I got a few pictures then.

There were yarns with all sorts of surprising things spun into them:

The Buffalo Wool Company had some gorgeous samples on display:

And the Fiber Optic Yarns booth had a WALL OF SHAWLS:

Can you see why this wool market is like Christmas for me? I look forward to it eagerly all year!

I wanted to treat myself, of course, but I also wanted to be a little more sensible with my spending than in previous years. Accordingly, I only made two purchases - and neither of them, amazingly, was from the Skaska booth. Skaska Lace understands my soul too well, and it was simply too dangerous to linger at their booth too long.

Instead, I got two skeins of recycled cashmere from Twice Sheared Sheep.

That's a total of a thousand yards of laceweight cashmere you're looking at - for only $12 per skein. How could one possibly pass that up? There was also merino for $8 per 500-yard skein, and even better deals in their bargain basket (bargain yarns are the most brilliant and most evil way of parting a knitter from her money). Alexis, Shannon and I all ended up buying something from this booth. I think this yarn is probably destined to be a luxurious laceweight top.

I also got a big skein of La Paz, by Textiles A Mano...

...for a super-secret project.

6 comments:

  1. Wow, this looks like such a wonderful event. I love Estes Park, it's fun to visit there anyway but add all that wool and it's over the top! I have to agree, the black one stealing everyone else's food HAS to be Bandit. :)

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    1. Estes Park is a beautiful little town! I wish I had the means of going up there more often during the rest of the year, but the wool market is definitely not to be missed.

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  2. so awesome! The cashmere.. I'm glad you can't see me drool haha :) I love these events, and I love goats! But seriously, that's quite an achievement! I just went to my LYS and I couldn't even leave without buying something.. one day..

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    1. I love wool markets too! If I had more income I definitely wouldn't be able to walk out with as little as I did. As it was, I had to remember that I'd placed two other yarn orders online the same day to keep myself from overspending...

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  3. You showed such restraint, I am not so sure I could have been that brave. Love the yarn you found, beautiful colors.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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    1. There was so much more yarn that was calling my name - especially some luscious handpainted silk lace which I was afraid to go back and photograph for fear it would overpower my restraint!

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