Monkey Business Handcrafts: Crafty Bastards

Yesterday, my sister and I went to Crafty Bastards, an annual arts and crafts fair in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC. I only found out about this event a week or two ago, but my sister had been looking forward to it for quite a while.

Above: 4.5 ounces of 70/30 merino/tencel roving from Snargle Handpaints in colorway aquamarine

Overall, we were a little disappointed. Too many people. Lots to see, but not a lot to buy. Way too many people. However, I did manage to find not one, but two crafty fiber ladies at a single booth - Woolarina and Snargle Handpaints. In the booth was displayed a glorious array of brightly-colored roving, handpainted yarn, handspun yarn, spinning kits (with roving and spindle), and knitted items.

Above: Half on the spindle, half braided.

My favorite items were a sunny yellow-and-orange roving, a lovely pair of mittens handknit from handspun bulky red-and-green yarn, and a cute knitting sheep tee from Woolarina, and a silky-smooth shades-of-blue merino-tencel roving from Snargle Handpaints.

Little sis convinced me not to get the sunny roving - whatever would I do with bright yellow-orange yarn? I was tempted by the mittens, but at 30-something/40-something bucks, they were a little out of my price range. I wasn't sure I would ever wear the Woolarina tee (I'm not a big fan of sporting logos and such on my chest). So I walked away with only one purchase - a 4.5-ounce braid of 70% merino, 30% tencel roving in a pretty colorway called aquamarine.

Above (from left to right): Drafted roving; you can see the sheen of the roving, thanks to the tencel content; in natural light.

I started spinning the stuff the very next day. The merino-tencel is a dream to spin. It took me just over 24 hours to spin half the braid of roving; the spun yarn (approximately 350 yards of thick-thin DK/sportweight) is hanging to dry, and the other half is on the spindle as I type this. Now, what to do with the yarn...