Yarn Train 2011

Saturday was the Annual Yarn Train from Seattle.  This makes either the 4th or 5th year that the Portland knitters have joined the Seattle ladies and it was a LOT bigger than previous years.

I rode into the city with Cindy to her shop, Urban Fiber Arts, and planned to spend the day spinning in her shop.  This was the quiet before the storm:

Since the train didn't come in until 11:00 a.m., it gave Cindy time to get the last few things done in the shop, and I took in my Loose Change shawl to display ToolMan's pins.  

Many of the Seattle shoppers, and some Portland knitters, too, found lots of treasures in Cindy's shop. She specializes in yarns and fibers from local producers. Her motto is: Portland first; if not Portland, then Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.

Before long, the first batch of locusts shoppers filled the shop; there must have been 50 in the first group.  I didn't get pictures because it was simply too crowded to move!  From then on, it was a steady stream for most of the day, with a few lulls like this one:

In addition to ToolMan's pins, Cindy carries beautiful yarn bowls (the ones on the shelf in the front), great bags from Queen Bee, custom needle books from Graces Cases, abacus bracelets from Monica's Beads, stitch markers from trtlgrl crafts, and knitters jewelry from several local makers.

That's Bethany, one of the gals who was helping Cindy for the Yarn Crawl, unsuccessfully trying not to have her picture taken.

I started out the morning by buying a bump of Polwarth roving from Dicentra in the Sandalwood colorway; the colors were just too pretty to resist.

After that last stash sorting fiasco, I know I don't need any more yarn, and certainly not sock yarn, but somehow, these Crazy Zauberballs jumped into my spinning basket before I could dodge out of the way.

No, I do not have a sock yarn problem.  Really.

Sometimes you just wanna go

where everybody know your name.  There's a new LYS (Local Yarn Store) in town!  ToolMan and I ventured downtown last Thursday for the first ever knit night.

Welcome to Urban Fiber Arts!  That's Cindy Abernethy, the proprietor, behind the counter.  It's been a long-time dream of hers to have her own shop, and she finally got it.  That's Sharon Spence on the left; otherwise known as StitchJones, indie dyer rockstar!

Cindy set up a cozy sitting area right in the front of the shop for knit night.  It was First Thursday in the Pearl, where her shop is, so there was a lot of foot traffic on the sidewalks.  Lots of people looked through the windows to see what was going on and quite a few came in, lured by the pretty yarns and beautiful items on display.

Urban Fiber Arts specializes in fibers from the Pacific Northwest, so there are lots of locally dyed fibers and yarns, many of which can't be found in other Portland shops.

 

The shop is very light and bright; Cindy even put daylight bulbs in the fixtures so the colors really "pop"; plus the light makes it very easy to match or coordinate colors.

The fixtures are very sleek chrome and white fabric; and they're movable so she can reconfigure the shop to accommodate classes and large gatherings.  Good thing, too, since this is the location for Portland Spinnerati meetings!

Cindy's still getting in shipments, so not all the bins are full yet, but she's got some gems in there already.  Just look at the colors on the Zauerballs!  I told her she should put a bowl full of the autumn colored one in the window, with chenille stems and felt leaves; they reminded me of fall gourds and pumpkins.

She's got lots of display space in the counter, too; but she's filling it pretty quickly with locally made stitch markers, beautiful beaded row counter bracelets, and soon she'll have some of ToolMan's handmade shawl pins, too!

Which brings me to my last item for this week: a shameless plug for the Art Fire Studio: ToolMan has some new pins in there. There are more to come, as soon as I can get good pictures and time to load them. Meanwhile, here's a lovely one in Pink Ivory that he made for Gail; she bought some beautiful woods for him in exchange for a pin in each one. I added a button over there on the sidebar, in case you want to visit later.

Next week, I should have some pretty beach pictures for you; ToolMan and I will be at Gleneden from Thursday to Sunday.  I have a law conference to attend, but he'll have the cameras.  And I'll try to get some actual knitting to show you!