Stitches South was everything I had hoped and then some. The classes were very good, the instructors learned and effective, and the other knitters were a marvelous resource. But the Market! Ahh, the Market. The vendors were friendly, well stocked and very helpful. The big surprise was the amount of spinning fiber I found; in booth after booth were braids or bumps or bags of fibery goodness. So many, so beautiful, that it hurt my heart to know how much of it couldn't come home with me. (After all, Stitches is supposed to be about the knitting and the yarn, right?) I did bring home a little bit of fiber in addition to the yarn stash expansion (which, vast as it was before I went to Atlanta, is significantly bigger now....)
There was fiber everywhere; Miss Babs Handyed had beautiful handdyed rovings, and there was raw pycazz to be had at another booth. Carolina Homespun had everything from merino/silk blends, rare breed rovings, quivit (which was almost as expensive as raw gold) and bison fiber. No joke, the undercoat from american buffalo, in fluffy one ounce bags, calling my name. Call it fate, call it kismit, but I had taken my Louet Victoria along just in case. As it turns out, just in case I found some buffalo fuzz. What could I do? I was helpless in the face of the inevitable. An ounce of Buffalo Girls fiber was mine! As soon as class was over that afternoon I hurried back to the hotel room and began to spin. A fine, lofty, soft laceweight thread emerged from the cloud I held in my hand and I was happy. At least, I was happy until I ran out of fuzz about two hours later. Two hundred yards of single ply lace just wouldn't do. I needed to feel that je ne c'est pas of silky softness sliding through my fingers as I spun just a little longer.
So I went back the next day and bought another ounce. And spun another two hundred yards. And then I plyed them together.
Wish I'd take a photo, because once plyed, I finished the yarn as suggested on the card that came with the fiber. What started as a decidedly lace weight two ply didn't end that way after a hot bath and a severe beating; the yarn bloomed. And bloomed. And once dried bloomed some more. My 400 yards of singles lace was mostly 200 yards of 2 ply fingering by the time all was said and done. Which really wasn't quite enough yardidge for the Buffalo Girls Shawl I had planned. But it was lovely, lovely yarn.
The Rest Of The Story: Once we arrived home after Stitches, I found the April installment of my fiber club waiting for me. It was several ounces of Shetland wool in several colors, including a medium brown that, while not the exact shade of the spun bison, was close enough to make a lovely border . Another 200 yards of 2 ply almost-fingering later, and the yarn requirements of my Buffalo Girls Shawl were met.
Production notes: The Buffalo Girl Shawl is an adaptation of the Vernal Equinox Shawl by Ryhmä Lankakomeron. Size US 9 knitting needles and portions of the first several clues from the KAL were knit until I ran out of handspun. About 29" from center back to lower edge. I think it's beautiful.
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