Of Cards and Cameras

Looks like the blogging is dwindling a bit, down to a once-a-week sort of thing now that school's back in session. The significant other goes back in Germany for a short (two and a half weeks) wrap-up trip starting on Wednesday, and we've had a really nice long weekend so far. On Saturday, I let him sleep in and get caffeinated while I strolled over to my new LYS: Urban Fauna Studio. It was amazingly packed! There were gift bags for the first 75 customers to make a purchase of $10 or more, and I think a lot of folks showed up at 10 on the button so they could get one.



We got stickers, postcards, a Knitting Daily tape measure, iron-on embroidery patterns, and a little sample of O-Wool yarn. I originally got pink, so I naturally offered a trade with Pink Viking for her sage green. I think my favorite is the Girl on the Rocks quail stitch marker. Good times!

There were tasty little chocolate and cream cheese cupcakes, lots of local knitters/spinners/general fiber artists to chat with, and of course, fiber! I think the painted store front window looks adorable, and it was nice to see some of my buddies from the knit group on a different day of the week. I can tell this shop is going to be awesome for my stash and awful for my budget! They had a lot more spinning supplies and equipment than I was expecting, and I think this store definitely fills a unique slot for San Francisco. They're also carrying other interesting craft supplies such as rubber stamps and some acid (I think) dyes. I recognized a few products from local crafters who've been vendors at the good old Bazaar Bizarre and Maker's Faire.

The best part is that this shop is right in my neighborhood. I couple of us were just saying last week that the only thing saving us from drowning in yarn is the fact that Imagiknit is not within walking distance from where we live. This place? Totally within walking distance. In fact, it's two steps off one of my most beaten paths in the city. It's on the way to the place I like to do laundry, the place we go to eat out, and the place where I prefer to get a caffeinated beverage and some free wireless internet. It's ten blocks from our apartment. TEN BLOCKS, PEOPLE! It might be a (very happy) problem.

So what did I buy there? Blog, meet Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum:



Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum are a pair of Schacht handcards, 72 teeth psi. I went to UFS with the firm resolution to not buy any yarn or spinning fiber. I wasn't even convinced that I needed to spend enough to get the little gift bag. See, I want to save my money a bit for Booneville in two weeks and Color next month. So on Friday I sat down and made a list of things that I wanted to be able to purchase at either of these festivals, and things I would allow myself to purchase before then if they happened to come my way (the second list was much shorter than the first one). A set of hand carders was on my second list and in stock at Urban Fauna, so they came home with me! I have some lamb's wool in carded roving form from a friend (short staple length, FULL of neps) that I mainly use as practice fiber, and I made a few rolags to get the hang of carding:



I'm not sure I'm doing it the 100% correct way, but spinning the rolags wasn't any worse than spinning the carded roving, so I think I've got the basic idea. I was following the directions in Teach Yourself Visually Handspinning, which are pretty good, but I think I'll dig up some video tutorials before my next attempt. I've been sitting on those tasty Polwarth locks from AVFKW since Stitches West (when I started the blog... holy cow!) and now I can actually get around to spinning them! I tried two different preps: I made a little thin rolag from three locks, and then took two other locks and just flicked out the ends a bit. I spun both on the same ratio, and did a quick andean ply to see which I liked, and I'm definitely going with the flicked locks.

Why don't I have pictures of the Polwarth samples? Well, I do. But they look like this:



My little point-and-shoot digital camera is very, very sick. I think it might be in its death throes. Or perhaps it has been going through a prolonged illness for a while now, and sensing the presence of a new digital camera, decided it can retire with (some) dignity. It's probably all my fault anyway, for dropping it at the start of our European adventures and then forcing it to work long hours for the next eight weeks straight. It was a hand-me-down from my parents, and it's served me well, but I guess I'll have to learn how to use the fancy new beast. As soon as it gets back from Germany with the significant other... crap... or... maybe I'll dig out the old one.