A Yarn Crawl in Denver

Met a nice woman by the name of Vicky on Ravelry  through our shared interest in a couple of patterns.  Her Ravelry name is VickyinDenver and when I told her I was coming to Denver for a couple of weeks, she was kind enough to offer to take me on a tour of a few of her favorite shops, thus broadening my potential for stash building beyond the Lamb Shoppe near my daughter's home.  My daughter shook her head in amazement when I told her that a woman I had never met was willing to spend an afternoon with me  hanging out at yarn shops and knitting.  I told her, "Hey Sara - it's Ravelry! "

It was a balmy 103 degrees when we set off on our tour but thanks to air conditioning and good company, I hardly noticed.  First stop was Vicky's favorite shop,  Colorful Yarns in Centennial.  What a great place - if you have the time to hit some yarn shops on a visit to Denver, this should be at the top of your list.  It's located on the first floor of an office building with various rooms filled with books, yarn, pottery and just about anything related to knitting.  My favorite spot was the room filled with yarn and knitting and crochet books with a large comfortable couch that invites you to sit, relax and browse though the books:



                                                                           

                                                                           

This shop carries a huge selection of yarns and I bought some Chunky Mochi for a cowl project:

                                                                               

Some nice pottery bowls to hold your yarn as you knit:

                                                                               

                                                                               
Then it was on to A Knitted Peace which is another lovely yarn shop in the charming town of Littleton, just outside of Denver.  That's Vicky on the left  with her friend  Joy who joined us:

                                                                           

                                                                                     

                                                                             
This scarf caught my eye - I think it would be a great project for using up some of the sock yarn in my stash.  It's called the Wrap and Ruffle scarf and it's a free pattern that they were nice enough to give me.

I bought this skein of Anzula for a shawlette project.  This is what passes as lace knitting for me.

    Next stop was Fancy Tiger, a great little fabric and craft shop that has become very popular and has now moved into much bigger quarters.   Add this to your must see list when you are in Denver.

                                                                                         

    Their new space has plenty of room for all kinds of fiber related crafting - spinning, knitting, sewing, whatever.  Check out this classroom space:  

                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                             

                                                       Thanks Vicky for a great day!

                                                                               
                                                                             

















                

                                                                                         

                                                                              

                   

                                                                             



                                                                                         

                                                                                    

                                                                                 


                                                                                   

                                                                                 


                                                                                   


                                                                                     


                                         

Out West in Colorado

Visiting my daughter and her family in Colorado - why is this considered The West and California isn't?  Hey, we're farther west than they are!  Go figure.  I guess when people think of The West, pictures of cattle ranches and cowboys come to mind, not computers and other high tech stuff.  Sara and her family travel out to the Western Slope to spend weekends on the ranch and here is a cute photo of the girls' boots; pretty but practical:

                                                                           


 Not too much progress on the knitting front;  here is one of the sleeves on my sweater:

                                                                                                                                                               

And this is what I am working on:

                                                                                 



         Happy Fiber Arts Friday!  Check out what others are up to here.  Have a good weekend and stay cool.                              
                                                                                  



                                                                               

                                                                                   

                                                                                        

Spinning and Knitting at the Winery

Fleece, Food and Fun was the event that was advertised at The Ratzlaff Winery in Livermore, Ca. and so I headed over there last Saturday with Barb and Tracie from 2 KnitLitChicks to join in.  What a beautiful spot, sitting there with the vineyards behind us:

                                                                                     

                                                                                 
It was warm and sunny, but with a nice breeze and you couldn't ask for nicer weather.  This was a Pot Luck lunch and we all bought something to share and then headed over to the Ratzlaff  Tasting Area for a glass of wine or to do a little wine tasting.  Here's Barb and Tracie with our little group:

This was primarily a spinning event and for those who spin, there was lots to see and buy.  Lots of beautiful spinning wheels, fleece and supplies.  Here's a sampling of what was there:

                                                                                       

                                                                                 

A couple of ladies with their wheels:

        

                                                                                 

 Here's Jasmine from the podcast The Knitmore Girls with her sweet little girl who was an incredibly good sport:

   

And now for the knitting portion of the program.  There were some nice vendors selling yarn as well.  Black Diamond Creations was selling alpaca and they had a very popular booth.  Here's the fingering weight yarn I bought:

                                                                                                                                                           
More yarn at another table.  Lots of beautiful hand dyed yarns to be seen.

                                                                               

Here's a few other things that caught my eye.  Here's Debbie (deedlelu on Ravelry) wearing this great skirt she made.  The pattern is Sasha:

                                                                                   

Here's a beautiful shawl called Frost Flower from A Gathering of Lace:

                                                                             

What a great day and I hope to get a chance to come back next year.  Check out Andrea's blog on Fiber Arts Friday to see more talented spinners and knitters.