there be dragons

dragons... er... alpacas, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

and alpacas...

and sheep....

But really, the only dragon is the colour of the yarn in my new hat! Pattern is the naked star hat and yarn is alchemy sanctuary in "Dragon".

A good friend was visiting and there was a fiber festival this weekend and, well, perhaps another dragon is the call of sweet, sweet, yarn. I may have gone over-budget... just a wee bit. But perhaps you'll understand why...

I ended up with 3 skeins of fingering weight:


Longmeadow Farms Fingering Weight, 100% Merino (and so soft) in grape (top skein) and sea shore (bottom two). The top one is going to be mittens and the bottom two might be for my sock swap partner (and yes, you can still sign up, until tomorrow night!!).


Two skeins of 80/20 wool/alpaca, also from longmeadow farms. At 175 yards/4.5oz, I'm calling this a "heavy worsted" or aran weight. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this yet, but I'm sure it's going to be pretty.


100% merino, again, longmeadow farm (I reallllly liked their stuff, what can I say?). 230 yards each, 4oz. Closer to a worsted weight. To go with:


Another longmeadow farms (the proprietor might have thrown in some free soap after I purchased all of this...) 100% romney lambs' wool. 250 yards/5.5 oz. Slightly heavier, but I think they'll work well together, for something similar to the hacky sack hoodie.

Finally:


Dorset Sheep Yarn, worsted weight. 7 skeins of approx. 210 yards each. This will be for a hoodie for DH, specially requested... still deciding on the exact specifics of this one. Sadly, there is no tag and I did not catch the name of the farm on this one. (Something about the fumes of yarn taking over my finer sensibilities...)

My friend was much more sensible, only getting 2 skeins of fingering weight in complimentary colours for a pair of stripey socks. Of course, he had to fit any purchases into an already full suitcase, soooo....

One more gratuitous alpaca pic for good measure:


This one, of a child about to lose some hair to a couple of hungry alpacas...