A Day So Good It Must Be Blogged

Hey there lovely people! It’s been a while, huh. It’s pretty hard to blog and stage manage, and I stage manage a lot now apparently.

Anyway, I just had to document today because it was pretty stellar. I spent it with this amazing group of folks, who have been my IRL knitting friends for about 5 years now.

We wanted to check out Swanson’s Fabrics, which is a little over an hour from us. Swanson’s has two locations, a small storefront and a larger warehouse/ class space. The best way to describe this place is a crafty thrift store. They sell all used donations, lots of fabric, both larger pieces and scraps (they have “hot garbage” piles), tons of patterns, lots of notions, and assorted other craft stuff. The stash house also has a big area for classes or for just sitting and crafting.

After our adventures at Swanson’s, we drove down to Webs (about a 1/2 hour from Swanson’s on the way back to CT). It’s Super Bowl weekend, so we’re buying yarn for our Rheinbeck sweaters as is tradition! I’m making Lundi (Rav link), and this year we decided to go with some Jaggerspun cone yarn for our main color. I also got some corresponding lace tencel for the contrast inside. I think it will be a really awesome cardigan! There’s also now a quilt store right next to Webs, so we spent some time in there being heavily tempted by fabric and patterns.

All in all it was an amazing day filled with friends and fiber. At the end of it, I came hope with a new sewing machine (!!!), fabrics, a fun vintage sewing book, and of course Rheinbeck yarn! I plan to make the pineapple fabric, which has rouching at the top, into a jumpsuit, the red fabric is to make ties and bowties and pocket squares for the show I’m costuming, and the gorgeous green silk velvet is a gift for a friend who loves green and velvet. The sewing machine is the best find, it looks pretty brand new, has all the pieces and user manual, and includes the original receipt! This sold for $240 in 2018, so I feel pretty good about the $150 I paid for it. I have been meaning to upgrade my machine for a while (I have one from my dad) and this was the perfect solution! I can’t wait to try all the fun embroidery stitches, and it’s really fun to sew without the foot pedal.

So yeah, it was a pretty amazing day all around!