Maryland Sheep & Wool 2018 Haul

Okay, okay! I’ve pulled together my Sheep and Wool haul. Whenever my husband is traveling I feel like I lose about a third of my time. And on work, graduation last week and life in general…blogging got left behind.

My biggest splurge was a new yarn swift! Last year I saw the Yarn Tech yarn swift and thought it was a beautiful tool. I thought about it for a year as my little tabletop swift started to wobble. I knit almost every day and wind my own yarn so having a swift that’s well made and beautiful is a great purchase in my book. I’ve been asked why I prefer a tabletop swift over an umbrella swift and really, it’s just because of space and how it looks. Umbrella swifts are pretty huge and just seem to take up a ton of space. I have a small little office set-up with a slim table and this style slides together to be the width of about 3 rulers. It doesn’t have to be in the way.

The main base of the swift is one of three parts. It attaches to the bottom of the swift and then you expand the arms to accommodate the size of the skein you’re winding.

It’s easy to sit in ton top and then there’s a yarn ball holder that’s the third piece. So once you wind the yarn you can transfer it to the holder spindle.

And then you can just pop that onto the base. Easy as pie. And don’t think I left Sheep and Wool without buying some yarn.

Here’s what I bought:

• Top left: O Wool Balance. It’s a wool and cotton blend which I think will be a perfect weight for a cardigan I can wear early fall into late spring. I bought a sweater’s quantity and am already plotting out what I’ll make with it.
• Top middle: A bundle of Jill Draper Makes Stuff Windham worsted yarn. I have wanted to try her yarn and I thought this would be a great way to test it out and use on a colorwork project.
• Top left: Tempting Ewe Yarns in Sparkly DK. This lovely sparkly olive caught my eye.
• Bottom left: Tempting Ewe So Chubby. This fun gradient also caught my eye as I was checking out and it was exactly what I’ve been looking for to make a hat!
• Bottom middle: Dancing Leaf Farm Charleston worsted in Targaryen. It was the first skein of yarn I saw as I walked in and the color caught my eye. Plus it was another yarn I haven’t tried before. I scooped it up.
• Bottom left: Knitty and Color Dubstep DK in Supernova. I love wild graffiti looking color yarn and I knew I wanted to pick something up from them. I’ve got some ideas of what this will become.

And last but not least, I bought 4 skeins of Miss Babs Yowza – my favorite. On the left is Nori, a gorgeous deep olive green. On the right, Adobe, a gorgeous light clay color. I may pair them together or they may become something separate, only time will tell. I went slightly over my budget but I also know I have all the yarn I need for a really long time.