Lorna's Laces tour and sale

One of the perks of being a member of the Windy City Knitting Guild is the privilege of being able to attend their annual Lorna's Laces tour. Not only do you get to see where all the magic happens and see a dyeing demo, but part of the event also included a mill-ends sale. Whee, sale!

The sale started at 10 am, but people got there good and early. Only 20 people were let into the sale at a time (space issues, it's really hard to believe that ALL of Lorna's Laces comes out of a few not-particularly-enormous rooms), so everyone got a number in the order of their arrival. I didn't manage to wake up early enough and got there at 9, so I was #40. To be in the first 20, I would've had to get there around 8, or maybe even earlier.

The sale was....rather overwhelming. While waiting outside for my turn I saw all these people walk out with bags stuffed full of the most beautiful yarn. By the time I made it in there, most of the stuff was pretty picked over and it was hard to find sufficient quantities of colours that I liked (i.e. lots of single sock yarn skeins, argh!). Which was probably a good thing, I went in telling myself I wouldn't spend too much money and I did manage to stick pretty well to my budget.

So, what did I walk away with? 4 skeins of Shepherd Sock in Child's Play and Glenwood, and 3 skeins of Shepherd Worsted in Aslan. I LOVE the Aslan colourway, and the Shepherd Worsted is the softest yarn ever. I have no idea what I'll do with it, perhaps yet another Clapotis?



We also got to see some yarn being dyed in the Lakeview colourway (which I must get some of, since that's where I live after all!), here's a rather bad photo of the yarn on the dyeing table.



And after the yarn is baked and rinsed, all the skeins get hung up to dry.



It was a fun morning, although the weather left much to be desired (cold, rainy). Spring, where the heck are you?