Hi folks,

Mike and I took a trip to northwestern Arkansas last week. Since our trip straddled the fall equinox, this was technically a summer and fall vacation, but whatever it was, it was lovely. We stayed on Beaver Lake and had a great view of the water, some very active hummingbirds, and some squirrelly squirrels. We spent time in Eureka Springs, visited a couple of state parks, saw the Crystal Bridges Museum (amazing), and spent a day at Silver Dollar City. We came home with many fine treasures, and I came home with a fair amount of yarn.

In Eureka Springs, we visited the Shoppes at Fleece ‘N Flax, a place I found online before our trip. They have supplies for all sorts of fiber arts here—rug hooking, weaving, spinning, and, of course, knitting and crochet. I found some really great stuff here, and Vicki at the shop showed me some of the things she had been working on, including a crocheted rug that I believe she said was made from a very old doily pattern, but she used very bulky yarn and a very large hook to make it rug sized. Awesome.

My treasures from the shop are pictured below!

This super colorful Berroco Boboli Lace is called Strawberry Jam. We also came home with about a 10 year supply of jellies and jams, so this was an appropriate choice. The color name wasn’t printed on the label, just a number, so I only discovered the name when I went to the Berroco website.

This is another one that is full of color: Cascade Yarns Tangier in Amazon. This one is a Silk/Cotton/Rayon/Acrylic blend and felt really nice in the little knitted sample the shop had on display.

Next is Delicious Yarns Parfait in Jellybean. Delicious Yarns is out of California and their yarn lines are beautiful and clever. You should visit their site. This yarn is going to be fun to play with.

This one is by Tempted Handpainted Yarns & Fibers from Oklahoma. It is called Box of Crayons.

And finally, this guy. I can just drop this skein over my head as is and it is a pretty fabulous necklace, but I know I am going to want to play with it a bit more than that. This is Ozark Opulent II from Ozark Handspun. The coloway is called Lilies.

We ended our trip by stopping at Silver Dollar City on the way home. I love Silver Dollar City. We lived in Springfield, Mo when I was a child, and made many trips to Branson and Silver Dollar City. I will forever associate the scent of cedar mulch with Silver Dollar City, and that is a pretty nice association to have when I am spreading bag after bag after bag of mulch in our flower beds. I think this little section of the year is the best time to go to Silver Dollar City because they have the National Harvest Festival going on, and there are all sorts of artists and crafters at the park selling and demonstrating. I picked up this completely awesome yarn bowl from one of those artists, Nancy Fairbanks of Fairbanks Pottery Studio.

I mean, come on. How perfect is he? I love him so much!

I also found some yarn at Silver Dollar City. These are from Canfield Creations Yarn Patch, a store operated by Cindy Canfield of canfieldcreations. Check out this monster:

That is Plymouth Yarn Company Oskar in Earth and it is a bulky beauty. This one reminds me of trees, which is probably why it called to me after having spent so much time in parks and forests the week before. It is also a fall-ish yarn, as is the other yarn I purchased at the Yarn Patch. This handspun yarn by Kathleen D. Brewer of North Cadron Handcrafts reminds me of Thanksgiving.

And there you have it. A cornucopia of yarn from our summer/fall adventure.

Until next time,
Annie