Tag Archives: Yarn

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Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop!: My Inspiration

This week’s topic for the Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop! is sort of a freebie: My Inspiration. Whatever inspires me. Well, this is almost too easy.

Yarn is my inspiration.

Yarn fuels my creativity. Yarn shops are generally over-stimulating for me, because I want to touch & knit ALL THE YARN. I can feel the potential in every skein and hank. I love the texture of the yarn, the colors, the fibers. Uh.mazing.

I realize this makes me sound like a crazy person, but sometimes the yarn tells me what it wants to be, as though there is a hat, or scarf, or sweater stuck inside, waiting to get out. I suppose if talking to yarn is the worst problem I have, I am probably okay. Although maybe not.

Gussy

Welcome to everyone stopping by from Gussy Sews! I am glad to have you. What inspires all of you? I would love to know.

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Made in the USA yarn

Hi.  My name is Laura. I am a localvore.

Hi Laura.

After scouting for some Irish yarns in Ireland, I am becoming more and more interested in the production of yarn in the United States. It is important to me to support our farmers and artisans.

I had read about Shelter by Brooklyn Tweed yarn before.  The sheep live in Wyoming, and the yarn is produced in a mill in New Hampshire.  I haven’t tried this yarn yet, but it is definitely on my wish list.

Well, I was delighted to see that Jared from Brooklyn Tweed posted a whole series this week on the production of the yarn in New Hampshire.  Fascinating!  I just had to share.

When I was growing up, I was lucky that my mom was constantly knitting, which eventually turned into spinning and dyeing wool. I have always loved the process, and I have enjoyed reading about it on a larger scale at this mill. Someday I may spin my own yarn, but I know how much equipment that takes. For right now, I am leaving it up to the experts.

What products are you committed to buying locally? Also: Happy Friday!

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The Locals

I realized, as I was writing my post about the yarn shops I had found in Ireland, that I had never talked about my local yarn shops.  As I would like them to stay in business, I thought that I would share them with you here. 

InDetail Studio is truly my local yarn shop.  The shop is split between yarn supplies and beading supplies.  It is a small shop, but I have never left empty-handed!  They have a great selection of yarns.  They also offer open knitting sessions and knitting classes; check their website for dates & times.

Marji’s Yarncrafts is incredibly charming.  It has a lot of yarn tucked in two rooms.  Their selection is amazing and really inspiring.  They offer a lot of patterns, a lot of needles, and, if I remember correctly, a lot of finishing pieces such as buttons, etc. 

Creative Fibers is really a mecca of wooly wonder.  This is the largest local yarn shop I have found in central Connecticut.  Really, if they haven’t got it, you don’t need it.  They also offer knitting classes and retreats.  I haven’t attended them yet, but as I learned with quilting, it really pays to learn from an expert.  So I am keeping my eyes open for a great opportunity.

Also I want to give a shout out to my local fabric stores:

My local quilt shop Sew Inspired is amazing.  The staff is friendly and helpful.  Their classes are very informational and educational.  (They literally changed my life.)  It’s a great shop if you’re looking for fabric or anything quilt related.

Osgood’s Textiles is a little bit of a drive for me, but it’s the closest, decent, independent fabric store in the area.  And its selection is exhaustive.  I bought all of the fabric for my Spring Palette Challenge there. 

So that’s my little tour of local shops.  Trust me – they aren’t paying me to say this.  I don’t get any discounts from them or anything.  They don’t even know I have a blog.  I just appreciate that I have these resources in my community.  When I support them, they support my area by creating jobs, providing valuable goods and services, and generally making the world a better place to live. 

Do you have a local shop you love?  Give it a shout out in the comments.

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Random Ireland observations

Greetings from Ireland! Unfortunately, I can’t post any pictures yet with the technology I have, but I will certainly try to post some when I get home.

I did want to share two observations. I haven’t had a chance to investigate these, so don’t expect a thorough analysis of modern Irish society. Just my €0.02.

1. I can’t seem to find any Irish wool! I have found two shops, and both had less than 5% of their yarn actually from Ireland. A slightly higher percentage was from England, and more was produced in countries like Turkey for English labels. I had to read a lot of labels, and I am happy with what I bought. There are plenty of sheep here. Maybe their wool is going into sweaters and scarves?

2. I have never had to queue for a bathroom! Even in a busy restaurant, pub, or mall, there have never been more than two other women in the loo. I love it. No complaints here. But I do find it mysterious. Do Irish women drink less fluids? Are the toilets designed more efficiently? Am I misperceiving the amount of women around me? It’s fascinating.

Cheers from Ireland!