Delicious would be a word I’d use for some of the new and favorite yarns I brought home.  After all these years, I finally purchased a skein of Quiviut from Windy Valley Muskox. Along with the Smoke Rings cowl pattern, the grey/violet Quiviut made my day. Lisa Souza’s booth was a symphony of color and texture and wonderfulness. Her Poiple Baby Alpaca, with the most delightful bloom, was impossible to pass up. Over the years, I’ve purchased often from Lisa. She’s one of the most accomplished spinners and dyers out there. Her yarns always light my fire.

A new custom dyer and shop that sent me over the moon was StringTheory. I had to have two skeins of their Caper Sock, a mix of Cashmere, Superwash Merino and Nylon. The colors and blends shimmered and the quality of the yarn was exceptional. These gals know what they’re doing, and they do it well. Based in Blue Hill, Maine (a former stomping ground of mine), StringTheory happens to be Clara Parkes local yarn store. Lucky Clara.

Seriously, I felt as if I was on some Danish excursion as I drooled over the colors and quality of Isager yarns. In fact, I got an education in several other Danish designers and yarn companies. These included Vivian Hoxbro, imported by Harrisville Designs, and Kauni. Many of these yarns and designs were new to me, although they’re not new to the U.S.

For a $10 donation, I got a great knitting bag from Warm Up America. The organization really needs blankets. It’s such a worthy cause.

I love the Handknit Heroes (http://comicknits.com/) comic, which has marvelous knitting and crocheting superheroes. I also discovered The Knit Princess (http://www.knitprincess.com/)with her own comic.

A button from JustJul (the work is fantastic). Check out the store locator to find stores or online. I also got a set of square circulars from Stacy at The Fine Needle, and the Queenie Sisters‘ Prudence scarf added to my finds.

Speaking of Knitter’s Review’s Clara Parkes… Clara was signing her new book, The Knitter’s Book of Wool. A giant line formed, with Clara smiling and signing and chatting and signing some more. The book is getting much well-deserved attention. It’s quite fantastic, as are the patterns within it. I particularly covet Sivia Harding’s luscious shawl. Actually, I might have drooled on Clara, who was wearing it.

I’m always looking for unusual and interesting fibers. Why? I have no idea. I just love all the various fibers, particularly the natural ones.

I also stopped by the wonderful Bijou Basin Ranch booth home of wondrous yak fibers and yak people, Ellen and Carl Koop. I’ve knit with their yak/cormo and loved it. I keep trying to have them send me a yak. So far, no luck.

Seeing Ellen and Carl made me think of my friends at Buffalo Gold. Several yarn shops at Stitches sold their gorgeous buffalo yarn, but Cecil and Ron Miskin weren’t there. I missed them.

I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff. There was a lot to see and do and (especially) feel. I confess I longed for the critters, and I’m looking forward to another fiber festival soon so I can pet the goats and sheep and bunnies and lamas and more.

I also got this little fella, made out of a ball of string, at The Fine Needle. Isn’t he cute?

"Knit Together," Renwick award winner

I just discovered this marvelous artist, who combines her passion for knitting in an innovative and exciting way. Her blog is entertaining, and she’s got some neat stuff in her Etsy shop for purchase. (Check out her moleskin notebooks. I love “Knit Buddies,” but others are terrific, too.) But her art is simply ohlala.

Some other samples:

How cool is this?

Love that pink yarn!

I'm fascinated.

The Hopkinton fairgrounds are extensive. I’d done the fair before, so I knew I’d need my fanny pack (talk about dorkie-looking) and my backpack (for my camera) and Ben’s bug juice, for the ever-present blackflies. Did I care I felt like a pack horse? Naw.

I met lots of old friends, like spinning and knitting guru Anne Hennessy (The Wool Room), master dyer and farmer Barbara Parry (Foxfire), farmer and master dyer Margaret Wilson (Mostly Merino), angora bunnista Charlene Schultz (HoneyBuns) and cashmere goat gal Pat Bacon (Roka Farm).

Pat always wears a smile.

I met a bunch of new folks, too, such as Julia Farwell-Clay. I love twist collective, and I sure was surprised to run into TC’s features director. I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with her. Pat Bull from Decadent Fibers and Ellen Garges from Maple Creek Farm brought their gorgeous yarns. Loved chatting with The Merlin Tree

Chris testing a Merlin Tree wheel.

folks, makers of fantastic portable spinning wheels. And two of the loveliest folks ever – Carl and Eileen Koop of Bijou Basin Ranch, raisers of Yak. I want Yak here in New Hampshire. Maybe they’ll open a branch in the East. I’d love it.

So many more folks, everyone wearing smiles, laughing, touching the fabulous fibers from yarn to roving and back again. Myriad books for sale, as well as drop spindles and knitting needles and needles for felting. Shawl pins and hair pins and silk and bamboo and soy. On and on and on.

Carl & Eileen's reaction to my wanting them to ship me a yak.

But, for me, it’s always about the animals.

Don't llamas personify dignity?

Teenie tiny - I almost put her in my backpack. I wish.

Llama, sheep (so many varieties!), border collies, alpaca, Angora bunnies, and Angora goats. Getting up-close-and-personal with the critters really made the day for me. Funny, how I love the smells of farm animals—rich, earthy, life itself. And seeing the kids —these marvelous 4-H-ers—raising and tending their animals always makes my spirit sing. Sure, we’re in an intensely industrial age. Heck, I Twitter, I Facebook, I Ravelry, and more. But kids still raise animals and they do it with enormous enthusiasm. What’s sweeter than that?

Sail Earrings

This article that continues this piece is excerpted from KNITTING DAILY’s newsletter. Rosemary Hill is an amazing knitter and jeweler and jewelry knitter. Her new book—Elements of Style: Knit & Crochet Jewelry with Wire, Fiber, Felt, & Beads—rocks. It’s really is a tremendous read, with fantastic photos and great designs. Rosemary’s Web site is: Designs by Romi, where she offers fantastic kilt and shawl pins and lots of other yummy stuff.

I really want to make Rosemary’s Sail Earrings. Here’s the KNITTING DAILY article by Sandi Wiseheart:

Just when I think there are no more knitting addictions I can get myself into, Rosemary Hill answers the phone. I’m calling Rosemary because she is the author of our new bookElements of Style: Knit & Crochet Jewelry with Wire, Fiber, Felt, & Beads, and I want to ask her a few questions about the book. I don’t actually have the book yet, so in my mind I have images of chunky, artsy pieces, made with stiff wire that hurts to knit with…in other words, I have Preconceived Notions about knitted jewelry.

But just before I call her up, I see some photos of her projects in the book… and the projects are terrific. Delicate, lovely…A couple of the pieces look more like small bits of lace than what I’m used to seeing knit up with wire.

So I call Rosemary, to see what she can tell me…and a third of the way through the conversation, I’m thinking, “That’s interesting, I didn’t know you could do that.” Two thirds of the way through the conversation, I’m asking her where I can get supplies. And by the end, after I’ve hung up the phone, I’m shaking my head, because now I am Really In Trouble: I want to knit some of her pretty delicate jewelry for my very own self. (Or for gifts of course, mustn’t be selfish.)

Rosemary has always loved both beads and knitting, so it was natural that she would eventually try to make some knitted jewelry. She loved the instant gratification–start knitting, and in an hour you can have a pair of earrings for a party or a last-minute gift! But she was frustrated with the high rate of breakage of the wire. So she experimented with different methods of adding findings and different types of wire, until she found a special wire used in jewelry making that knits up “like butter” (she says), isn’t brittle, and best of all, doesn’t hurt your hands!

She started playing with fibers, too, especially the new high-tech blends of stainless steel and silk that produce incredibly strong, but incredibly flexible fabrics. In her patterns, she was inspired to take advantage of the characteristic ruffles, waves, and curls of knitted fabric when she realized that she could mold the pieces into organic shapes and still hold on to the natural drape of traditional knitted fabrics. And the best part? Rosemary tells me that people get tons of compliments on these unusual pieces, and folks are jaw-droppingly amazed when then told that they were knitted!

By the end of the conversation, Rosemary and I were joking about taking a vacation to Mexico together, sitting at the beach with umbrella drinks and knitting away on pretty little earrings to wear out dancing that evening.

Tell you what: Grab your own copy of Elements of Style for patterns, supply information, and lots of tips for creating your own sparkly knitting, and you can come join us down on the beach this summer.

You can find Elements of Style at your local book shop, or you can order it online here.