Stitches Part 2

Before I left for the Stitches West conference, I pledged to only buy yarn if it was something I haven't seen anywhere else, was different and unusual, and I could actually see myself using it in a project. Well, that narrowed it down a lot, and made me into a discerning shopper. I shopped on practical motivations, not emotions. Okay, I was not emotionless!! In fact, I was very excited to find the following yarns. 

This one is made from recycled blue jeans. Who doesn't love their soft old blue jeans? Recycling is such a good practice. When they fall apart from being worn too much, they can be made into yarn and then into another type of garment or accessory. Good idea!
I had read about this yarn online, but not had the opportunity to see it, touch it, and then buy it. So here it is with the first project already finished. I doubled it and wove a guitar strap.
You can read about the yarn here on the Kollage Yarns blog.

This lovely yarn has a fiber content of 90% merino wool and 10% American bison down. You can't find that just anywhere! Who doesn't love buffalo?

And here it is woven into a strap which is already listed in my Etsy shop. It will most likely be purchased by a re-enactor and used as a strap for a powder horn.
The yarn is from Leilani Arts. Visit their website here.

This is the hemp yarn that I dug for in the bargain bin at LanaKnits booth. All of these skeins together were purchased for under $40. Each and every one of these colors is pretty all by itself!

The class I took was called "Crochet 101" and was very helpful. My edges are coming out even, which is a great improvement over the last time I tried to crochet.
Before class I purchased this cool square-handled crochet hook, also from Kollage Yarns. 

After class, I found this hook with the egg handle, which comes with 6 interchangeable hooks! Even cooler!
Visit the website of Motion Magique here and watch the demo video.

 

This guy is really small for an elephant. It is a postcard-sized batik print that I bought from Maendeleo Imports.   What I'd like to do with it, is give it a woven frame. The colors are so bright and inspiring!

Anyone out there on Ravelry? After hearing about it for years, I finally joined.

Next post I'll tell you why. You can find me there as, yep, ASpinnerWeaver.