Yarn Tasting

Last Friday I attended my very first Loopy yarn tasting. I went in at 5:30 p.m. and staggered out at 9 p.m. having sampled 19 yarns. The winners of the evening were Frog Tree merino at $6 for 100 yards and Mirasol Cotanini 60% Pima cotton and 40% merino. Among the I haven't won the lottery yet yarns, I liked Pemaquid, 60% baby alpaca 30% merino 10% soya at $17 for 60 yards, Iro by Noro 74% wool 25% silk at $20 for 132 yards and the piece de resistance Beaded Rhapsody 100% silk and 70% mohair 30% silk with glass beads at $52 for 175 yards. Two bookmarks and a coaster were created with my samples.

I'll admit, the tasting was stressful. I had to make sure to be done with the yarn on time and have my trusty Options attached with the correct size for the next yarn. And then there were the loose ends. When I could, I'd unsheathe my Chibi to get some tucked in. Other knitters were horrified. The term "anal" was batted about.

Somehow I sat in what was deemed the catty corner. (I don't know how people find each other.) We were shushed a couple of times (no foreign occurrence either). They said, "Wouldn't the $20 a ball Noro make a nice grungy sweater for your boyfriend?" That was met with muffled guffaws and a few choice quips.

The crocheter in our midst schooled me about pineapples. He'd graciously crocheted a bulky weight pineapple for a friend to hang over the back of her couch. Heavens, was he going to crotchet her a big watermelon next to go with the fruit cocktail? No, the pineapple turned out to be a pleasant stitch arrangement, not a big fruit. My ignorance was addressed.


I left with 2 skeins of Mirasol Hacho an 100% merino to make Christmas socks for the brother. Then I realized it was hand washable. Oh well. I shall taste again. And we got a coupon for a discount on sampled yarns through early November. Maybe a sweater's worth of Frog Tree or Mirasol will come to pass.