Fiber Adventures

On Tuesday John and I drove over to Guthrie and visited S.W.A.K. yarn shop. I had heard good things about this store and it did not dissappoint. A great selection of yarn! I was specifically looking for Trekking XXL to finish John's sock. Unfortunately they didn't have any, but I found some yarn that would do. I also bought a few skeins of wool that I think will work well for some felted pumpkins that are on my "to knit" list.

We enjoyed exploring this historic town. Most of the downtown buildings date back to the 1890's. Many house antique shops now. I found some old Workbasket magazines in one store. My favorites were from the early 1960's. I bought a few. Knitting and crochet styles have changed a lot since then, but there are a couple of patterns that I might try and some that I'll look at when I need a good laugh.

We started the day out on Wednesday at the Edmond Farmers Market. It wasn't supposed to be a fiber day, but look what I found.

Aubrey was there selling her handmade soaps (check out her website here) and just happen to bring her spinning wheel along to keep her company. She also had a drop spindle which she demonstrated for me. This was the first time I had seen anyone use a drop spindle and now I'm thinking maybe I can learn this. She showed me how to spin and "park" (you're right Laura, this method looks easy). I'll be digging out the spindles when I get home and giving it try. Thanks Aubrey for the demonstration. Can't wait to use the soap...it smells so good!


On Aubrey's recommendation, we decided to stop in at Mountain View Weavery in Edmond (no website). We were warmly greeted by the owner, Wanda Nobbe. She is a very talented weaver and spinner and an extremely patient teacher.

She spent at least an hour showing us how to spin. John and I both made some "ugly" yarn. Sure was fun! We bought a couple of bags of roving to take home. Wanda showed us her weaving looms and took us on a tour of her log cabin home. There were spinning wheels, looms and hand woven baskets everywhere you looked. My kind of place! This shop is a "must stop" for anyone interested in spinning or weaving. The Mountain View Weavery phone number is 405-341-4998. Call to be sure Wanda is in the shop and for directions. We'll be going back next trip and maybe we'll leave with a wheel. You never know. I'm going to see how the drop spindle goes first.

And why should the fiber fun stop here? After lunch we drove to Oklahoma City to check out a couple of yarn shops: The Gourmet Yarn Co. and Carol's Knitting Studio. I was still hoping to find some Trekking yarn to finish John's sock, but no luck. I ended up using the yarn I purchased on Tuesday. The socks are now finished. Pictures next time.

For those of you who are wondering how John could possibly be having fun with so much yarn shopping going on, don't feel bad for him. His passion is fishing and he's getting to do a lot of it. He's been fishing every day since we arrived. Check out his blog for a different perspective of this trip.