Thursday, March 5, 2009

Kelbourne Woolens at Hill Country Weavers

I met Courtney Kelly from Kelbourne Woolens today at the Austin not so little Little Yarn Store Hill Country Weavers. In front of her Fibre Company yarns and patterns display trunk show for March madness first Thursdays. It was really by God’s perfect timing actually. I arrived at Hill Country Weavers for their first Thurday sale that was 20% off of all (specifically) balls of yarn and The Fibre Company yarns.

So I picked up a plastic shoe container they have available for use as a shopping basket and proceeded to walk slowly around the store at least twice. Eyeing out all balls of yarn and touching everything for its softness. Sounding out the names of the yarn companies from their labels as I walked along building my knowledge of yarn distributors and the fiber combinations that made up the endless amount of yarns. 65% baby alpaca, 10% cashmere, 10% camel & 15% silk is what makes up the The Fibre Company yarn Road to China light silken jewels that I got 4 hanks of, 2 in plum jasper and 2 in blue tourmaline. After checking out with 2 balls each of Berroco Pure Merino Heather in colors Winter Chocolate, Pesto Genovese, Mowbray Beige & Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton in colors yellow 4, pale blue 13, red 29 & beige 28. I proceeded to their kitchen ball winding area where I wound my 4 Fibre Company hanks into balls.

And then to their back room where a knitting class was finishing up I pulled up a chair and worked on my “Tuck” by Norah Gaughan in vol. 4 for a moment. When the knitting class left they turned off the window unit and it started getting stuffy but it took me about four rounds of saying to myself “ok, I’m going to leave after this round” before I actually did. I put my knitting back into my giant bag and headed for the front of the store making sure I took a path that would take me by the Kelbourne Woolens table display again before I left. I then remembered that I had my camera with me and asked if it was ok if I took some pictures of the lovely laid out table of yarn to blog to you knitters about. And after getting the go ahead I took a picture and then turned around and noticed Courtney from having stopped in to Hill Country Weavers the day before to pick up another hank of cascade yarns heathers 220 in this golden mustard color 4010 for my tuck vest.

Anyways I got to talk to her a bit. I asked her about her design method to which she gave some tips of having access to some good stitch dictionaries is vital. She mentioned one in particular that my mind is blocking on the name of at the moment but I own the vogue stitchionary 1&2 since I haven’t really ventured much off into fair isle yet which is number 3 and number 4 is crochet. I’ve seen some cool ones at yarn stores that I can’t seem to find anywhere else. Some of these are The Harmony Guides, Knitting Essentials by Melissa Johnson, A treasury of knitting patterns by Barbara G. Walker of which there are four.

She warned that if you also wish to have your own yarn company you should look forward to 50 hour work weeks but in the end that it is fulfilling doing something you love because for many of us knitters if you are a knitter you are a knittin’ day and night a real through and through knitter since it is something you love you do it every chance you get. She said that the "Give a Hoot" owl mittens were inspired by this 1940’s baby sweater and that the baby sweater “Lucille” started from the buttons and that they made a sweater for them.

Afterwards I walked across the street to Hey Cupcake
and got a Snowcap cupcake which is white (well, mine was pink) icing on a chocolate cupcake and picked up a Double Dose which is chocolate icing on a chocolate cupcake for my husband back home. In all, a wonderfully beautiful day and a praise that at the exact time I decided to leave I got to meet Courtney from Kelbourne Woolens.

2 comments:

  1. I am totally jealous of you ... I haven't had a chance to touch any of The Fibre Co's yarn, it looks luscious!! I am also jealous that you live less than 1,000 miles away from that awesome cupcake place!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey! I went to Hello Cupcake afterwards too! Double chocolate! Barbara Walker's second treasury is my personal favorite, but a secret? Chart out the pattern you like and it makes it easier to modify to your wishes. The owl mittens, designed by our friend Jocelyn Tunney, were inspired by the Penny Straker pattern, "Baby's Owl Cardigan." It's a great pattern, it's been around in different permutations since the 40's (or earlier!) and I've gotta give credit where credit is due!

    ReplyDelete