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YarnCon!

This weekend, my pal Lauren and I went to YarnCon, Chicago's independent fiber festival that features several local and regional indie dyers, spinners, and other fiber-related folks. This year, they are kicking off the fiber festival season (at least for me), rather than waiting til the fall - a clever move, since there are already many fibery events in the region from August-October (Stitches, Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival, Michigan Fiber Festival and VK Live all come to mind). Their new venue in the west loop is a little roomier, too, boasting plenty of parking; another exciting development for this year's show was moving to a two-day format!

I had a small budget which I managed to stick to, amazingly enough. There were many temptations, of course, but in the end I made just a few purchases: a skein of Seda Sock from the Grinning Gargoyle booth (in Signature Red to coordinate with the Espresso Seda Sock yarn I purchased at VK Live last fall), some hand-dyed organic fiber in an interesting-sounding sheep breed I'd never encountered (Manx Loaghtan) from the Yarn Geek booth, a bar of sandalwood soap, and a custom-made batt from KnitSpin!
Tucked in the back corner was a table that was covered in colorful fiber - not much signage, so it might have been easy for people to walk by without noticing KnitSpin's $14 custom-made batt. I nearly did! I don't think I've encountered such an opportunity at any fiber event I've attended, and for $14, it was too good to pass up. I began to pick out my fibers, gravitating mostly to the greens and blues, but  trying to toss a few others in for variation. Once I had made my selections, Isaura began to feed the fibers into the drum carder, which was fascinating to watch:
Button Bunny Love!
I came home with 2 beautiful and unique batts that I'm itching to spin (but I have to finish what's currently on my wheel, of course). I also picked up a bar of sandalwood-scented soap from JB Soap Works in the same booth where my batt was created - did you notice the cute button design on the top? It's handmade and smells fresh and clean, and it's also not too overpowering. Click here for their Etsy shop, which should be restocked soon now that YarnCon is over.

My pal Sam was there with her yarn company, The Wool Dispensary, which debuted at the 2011 YarnCon. One of my favorite toy designs also made its debut at that show (in her booth, of course): the Button Bunnies! They were on display over the weekend, but if you missed out on purchasing the pattern at YarnCon, you can still snag it for $6 on Ravelry or Craftsy. They are knit with Greater Poison, a hand-dyed worsted weight merino yarn from The Wool Dispensary that is quite snuggly!

Everything's on Sale!

One more thing: today is the last day for the Craftsy Spring Class Sale - and everything is on sale!! If you've been itching to learn something new, now's a great time to sign up. Click here to see my recommended Craftsy Classes and here to see a list of Craftsy classes I've reviewed. Happy learning!
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