Yarn Tasting

I attended the first ever Yarn Tasting at Knitty Couture on Saturday 2nd August.  The yarn was from Imperial Stock Ranch in Oregon, who have a herd of Columbia sheep, a cross of Lincoln and Rambouillet breeds.  There were different wines to try, chocolates, fruit, cheese and crackers, and three types of yarn in a range of colours.  I was planning to get the sock yarn, but it was undyed white and I can't quite square that in my head.  The 2 ply worsted in Canyon Shadow Blue followed me home instead.  It's plump and squishy with some lanolin in and it's going to be a winter hat.  Hung out with knitting people, got a lead on belly dancing classes, ate and chatted and came home happy.  The yarn will be in the shop late this month.

Also got two skeins of Cherry Tree Hill's Possum Sock yarn from The Loopy Ewe last week.  It's a blend of merino wool and New Zealand possum fur, and it doesn't get made very often.   The possum is a native of Australia that was introduced to New Zealand to start a fur industry, but they escaped.  They're not related to the American opossum at all, opossum yarn would be too icky for words!  Possums are marsupials with soft fur and they have no natural predators in New Zealand.  They're harming the environment, so possum fur products are helping clear up the problem.

The yarn is very soft and a nice thickness.  Found a few black fibres in it that I'm assuming are possum fur.  The colour is Desert Oasis, which isn't one of Cherry Tree Hill's regular colours.  It came with a free pattern but I think I want to design something for these, maybe a single panel of leafy lace?