Join us for a

Fiber Field Trip!

428 NW 11th Ave., Portand, Oregon 97209

503-227-7746

Hours:

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday - 11 to 6

Thursday - 11 to 9

Sunday - Noon to 5

Closed Mondays

Okay, we teased you a little last time about this trip and now we have ALL the details! So read on to find out more about our journey to the Oregon Alpaca Farm on Saturday, May 24th.

There are some new fun things in the shop, too, and more on the way, so I'll fill you in on that in a minute. But first. . . look! Alpacas! :)

All the best,

Cindy Abernethy

A Fiber Field Trip!

Overview:

Saturday, May 24th.

Meet at the shop at 10:30

The PDX DoubleDecker Bus leaves at 11:00

Enjoy a sack lunch from Kenny & Zuke's while we travel

and explore your Goody Bag!

Spend a few hours at a working Suri Alpaca Farm

Board the bus and smile all the way back to the shop

Should arrive back around 4:00

All the details:

We are so excited to bring you this fun day! Fiber is our passion and learning where it comes from is all a part of the fun. If that's true for you, too, then we hope you'll join us for this field trip!

It all happens on Saturday, May 24th.

We'll meet at the shop at 10:30. Meet your fellow travelers and grab a goody bag and your Kenny & Zuke's sack lunch.

We'll board the vintage Double-Decker PDX bus and start off as close to 11:00 as we can. Munch your lunch, explore your goody bag, make some new friends, and enjoy the views from the comfort of the bus as we head to Oregon Alpaca Farm just outside Oregon City -- about an hour's ride.

When we arrive, you'll meet Jess and Gabe as well as Ingrid from Caress Luxury Yarns. We'll get a brief overview of the farm and then you'll have opportunities to learn about Suri Alpaca and how they're different from Huacaya Alpaca, how to judge the quality of their fleece, how to skirt a fleece, and more. Wander a bit and meet some animals. Take advantage of the beautiful views. Take a lot of pictures. Visit the shop and see what fleece, yarn, and finished goods are available for purchase.

We'll have about three hours at the farm and I'm sure it will go by very quickly.

Then we'll board the bus again and head back to the shop. We should return by around 4:00.

If you'd like to join us, here's how:

Call or stop in to reserve your seat with a check, cash, or credit card.

Cost is $95 per person

Lunch includes a sandwich, chips, fresh fruit, pickle, dessert, and a bottle of water.

Your choice of sandwich: Turkey, Pastrami, or Vegetarian

NOTE: Before boarding the bus, we must have a signed release of liability form on file for you. You can do that when you make your reservation or on the morning of the trip before we board the bus. No alcohol or smoking allowed on the bus.

Space is limited to just 25 people!

So if this interests you, call or stop in ASAP to make sure you get a spot. Sorry, no online reservation system for this; we prefer the personal touch!

Are you excited about this? We are!!!

New in the shop!

Elisabeth shows off her new sock, knit with
Black Butte in the Blue Pacific colorway.

There's a new yarn in town and it's completely gorgeous! It's Black Butte from Alexandra's Crafts, a Superwash Merino/Yak/Silk blend (60/20/20) in fingering weight. At 400 yards per skein, this yarn is wonderful for socks or shawls or any other lightweight project you can dream up. The colors are deep and rich and the silk content positively glows.

Usually I save all the new yarn for all of you, but I just couldn't resist this stuff. So I looked through my loooong list of favorites and my queue on Ravelry and chose the Bryce Canyon Shawl from Verybusymonkey (available for purchase in the shop) and cast on using the Sea Anenome colorway. Here's how it started out -- I'm a bit further along now and it just gets better and better!

This yarn is selling quickly. We have a pretty good selection of colors in stock and will keep restocking it as long as you keep buying it! Price is $29.50 per skein and it's soooo worth it!

If you need something pretty for spring to tote around all your projects or anything else that needs toting, we've got some great new bags from flip & tumble. These tote bags are made from recycled materials, so they're very Earth-friendly. They're lightweight, machine washable, strong, and bright. Just $24 each.

We've also restocked on the popular flip & tumble 24/7 bags. In an array of bright colors, these are the perfect market bag. When not in use, they are quick and easy to stuff into the attached stretchy pocket. Toss one or two in your tote bag for extra carrying power! $12 each.

For the spinners in the audience, we've received our demo wheel from National Customer Spinning Wheels in Rosaria, Washington. This is a new concept in spinning wheels -- it's made entirely of aircraft-grade aluminum! Modeled after the Lendrum wheel, this one takes the initial design to eleven, sporting a standard bobbin that holds 12 ounces of fiber and a bulky bobbin that holds 25 ounces. It's a production wheel. At over 30 pounds, you're not likely to tote it to events every day!

Right now, we can take orders, but delivery is three to six weeks out. It's a new company and they're gearing up production and getting dealers stocked with demo models now. When they're all set and in production mode, we'll be able to get wheels within about a week of order placement. Complete packages --including the wheel, standard flyer with three bobbins, bulky flyer with three bulky bobbins, and six-bobbin lazy kate -- are $1295.

Comes in a bunch of pretty colors. Just a bit of oil now and then, as all wheels need, on the moving parts and you'll be spinning consistently for years and years. I've been spinning on it a bit and I love it! Still love the Schacht wheels we carry, too; this one is just . . . well, if you remember the old TV show, this is the "Tim the Toolman Taylor more power!" wheel. Come on in and give it a treadle or two and see what you think. Not everyone will like it, but that's okay. Variety is the spice of life!

Coming soon!

We've got more colors, including multi-colors, of Fibra Natura's Good Earth, the linen/cotton blend in DK weight we used in our Rose City Yarn Crawl Pearl Spa Cloth kits, on the way. It's a great yarn for summertime projects like the spa cloths and will get softer and have more drape as it's washed. Solid colors are $11, multi and color splashed are $13 per 200-yard skein.

We're also expecting Bamboo Pop from Universal Yarn, a machine washable 50/50 cotton/bamboo blend that makes great warm weather projects. It's DK/light worsted weight with 292 yards per skein for $8.50.

Our Facebook page is updated all the time with fun happenings and interesting links.

To stay in touch with everything going on around here, just click "Like" when you get there! :)