Alpacas

This past weekend my little sister graduated from law school. One might thing that this would have been a very busy weekend with little time for yarny pursuits. Au Contraire, my friends. We had a little time to kill, so my sister sent us up the street to the Yarn Garden, a quaint little shop with a nice selection. I picked out some Berroco Pure Merino to make pumpkin hat and booties for my stepsister's son, due in early autumn.

Then on Sunday we went to the Bent Pine Alpaca Farm. I learned many things I never knew about alpacas, and the proprietor of the farm gave me some literature to help convince my father to let me have alpacas at his farm! And of course I got a skein of alpaca yarn, which I am going to use to make a gift for my sister, a little way to remember the town she spent so much time in.

Disaster Strikes AGAIN!

Last summer a new yarn store in the county opened up. The atmosphere was friendly and the yarn selection was more than I could have asked for. I mean honestly, sugar cane yarn? Who knew? Specialties like that right down to the staples of Plymouth Encore and Ella Rae Superwash. And TONS of Noro. And it has closed already! It was doing so well that it was taking a toll on the owner's health and family life, so I totally understand, but I NEED A YARN STORE closer than an hour away. And I had just started going to their Tuesday morning knit group. How sad. The owner is looking to sell the business, so hopefully someone else will come along and open it back up. Then there would be rejoicing for all!

Operation Helmetliner

I have decided to participate in Operation Helmetliner. More info on that can be found on the CitizenSam website here: http://www.citizensam.org/ . I am making helmetliners for troops overseas subjected to subzero climates. So far I have made five. They need to be out of 100% wool so that should a soldier be in a situation involving fire, the helmetliner will burn to ash and not melt, as a fiber like acrylic would. I have been using Patons Classic Wool in color Chestnut, and a lovely person from Ravelry tells me she is going to send me some black Patons to continue with my efforts. It has been my dream since about the seventh grade to be a soldier. Due to medical reasons, however, I am ineligible to serve my country in such a manner, and feel like maybe I can do my part by supporting those who are serving. I have made five helmetliners so far, sent one to a specific soldier, and am working on getting a box of ten to send to CitizenSam. That means I need to make six more. As they only take me a day or so to knit, this shouldn't be a problem. Any help would be appreciated (yarn, words of encouragement, etc, etc, etc). You can contact me through my Etsy store or on Ravelry as screen name StevieLynn.