yarn – The Lyf So Short

So, in my report yesterday I forgot to mention one of my favorite booths, Tootsie P Yarns. Check out all these amazing packs of novelty yarns on the left. I think I’m in love.

Tootsie P is based in Long Beach (a beach city about 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles) where she sells kits and custom designs that combine a variety of yarns within each piece of clothing. The color combos are very vibrant, which I love, and there’s a lot of variety of color ranges–warm and cool colors, metallics, mattes, earthtones and neutrals, brights and neons, dark and light colors, pastels, and everything in between. You would really have to try hard not to find an appealing color palette.

Here’s a side view of some of the same containers. The yarn brands represented include Trendsetter, Colinette, Bollicine, Cascade, Filatura di Crosa, Prism and Habu (mmmmmmmm….. Habu…..). Sorry, got sidetracked there for a moment. Bonus points for anyone who can identify the individual yarns in the photos!

Each of these packages contains a Tootsie P pattern and enough yarn to make one of these loose-fitting cardigan tops:

Tootsie P calls her designs and hand-knit clothes and accessories “wearware.” She was gracious enough to talk to me for a while when I mentioned that I was something of an aspiring designer myself. I get the feeling that she’s in the process of starting out, so let’s all support her. Need any novelty yarn? Want to make yourself or a friend something truly one-of-a-kind?

More on the sale at the late, lamented Black Sheep Knittery…

To the left, see a close-up of some beautiful Louisa Harding Sari Ribbon in four different colorways. There are plans to make a garter stitch/drop stitch scarf from the variegated red skein on the far right. The rest will be used for fringe, or will be woven into the knitted stitches of a shawl, or… who knows? At 75% off, I felt like I could splurge on ribbon yarn, which I usually consider a luxury.

Most of my other purchases were bulky wools and variegated hand-dyes, the kinds of “33 yards to a skein” yarns you usually feel way to guilty (not to mention ridiculous) buying. What exactly do they think you’re going to be able to do with 33 yards?

Here’s a close-up of half of my haul, arrayed on my sofa:

And the other half arrayed on my trunk:

I know what you’re thinking: “Enough yarn porn, stitch geek! Just cut to the chase–exactly how much money did you save?” Well, I’m glad you asked, even if you did drag me away from fantasies of throwing all my stash on the floor and rolling around in it…. Ahem! But I digress….

Since admitting how much I spent makes me blush and stammer (even more than talking about rolling around in piles of yarn), let’s put it this way: if I had bought all of this yarn and assorted knitting accessories at regular retail prices, it would have cost me $2261.58 (without tax). I paid less than 25% of that. Yes, I did the math. There’s a surprising amount of math involved in being a semi-professional stitch geek.

I leave you with one last bit of yarn porn: Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride, the stuff felting dreams are made on…. This is my absolute favorite felting yarn, the 15% mohair makes a beautiful halo, and it comes in practically every color of the rainbow. It’s also quite affordable, even when it’s not priced below wholesale. This sale will enable me to afford to make the big bulletin board and laptop from one of my favorite recent releases, Leigh Radford’s Alterknits. Check it out and be inspired. And let me know if you want to start a “Lace-Up Shawl” KAL. I’m so there!