Brimfield Flea Market - As seen on TV

Have you ever watched the show Flea Market Flip? It's a fine way to indulge a DIY competition show urge - basically, two teams go to New England flea markets, pick out older items, and (along with a very capable looking team) repurpose their finds in some way or another and try to sell them in New York. The team with the highest profit wins. Anyway, so - I enjoy this show, though sometimes of course I find myself wishing they'd leave a patina on, put the spray paint down and walk away. 

But! Imagine my excitement on finding out that one of their most frequent flea market stops (which I'd long yearned to visit) is only about half an hour away from me here in Worcester. Brimfield Flea Market is immense, exciting, overwhelming and happens twice a year. Yes, please. I went alone and wandered, and I was indeed in a happy place. I actually didn't buy much (some costume jewelry and vintage textiles) but the pictures came out pretty well, if I do say so myself. Next time around, I'm bringing back-up to carry anything gorgeous and heavy that I might need to acquire. 

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Life in the Country…An Estate Sale Outside of Eugene Oregon

Yarn shoppin' in Santiago, Chile

So: my very dear friend got married in Santiago last week. I was lucky enough to be able to attend  the wedding, which was beyond wonderful. I'll share a bit more about the trip in general soon!

The view from St. Christopher's Hill, Santiago 

What I wish to discuss now, however, is one very specific aspect of the trip--yarn shopping. 

I suspect I'm not alone in that, when I get the opportunity to go somewhere new and exciting, I set aside a certain amount of time to find the fiber supplies in that place. Remind me to tell you sometime about the full day I spent hunting down yak wool in Northern India (I found it! But it wasn't easy).

Knitting themed ad at the Santiago airport. 

Of course, South America is known for producing lots of fiber--especially llama and alpaca, as well as the fleece of a rare and very soft animal known as a vicuña.

Mama and baby vicuñas (source)

Well. A few years ago when I was in Bolivia, I bought some beautiful lace weight 100% alpaca yarn, with which I was quite pleased indeed (and which was significantly less expensive than it would have been in the States). I wasn't really able to find shops with a large selection of weights and blends, though. On this trip, acting on a tip from a fellow crafter at the wedding, I did quite a bit better. 

Santiago, it turns out, has its very own yarn district.

And here's what I got: Three skeins of bulky, thick and thin wool; one skein of bulky mixed alpaca and wool; three balls of sport weight 100% baby alpaca; and three skeins of worsted weight alpaca and wool blend. I was also unable to resist a hairpin lace loom, and a small (20 by 20 cm) wooden peg loom (not shown). I was, needless to say, quite pleased.

I'm terrible at directions, so I won't even try. I do think I can provide enough info for somebody else to find the shops; there are probably around ten of them, and they carry a wide range of yarns, from acrylic to cashmere. Most of the yarn brands I haven't encountered in the US before, and the prices are absolutely lower than I'd expect to find where I live. So, if you're every in Santiago, here's what you do: Go to the Mercado Central (which is easy to find, and has its own metro stop). Ask around for the yarn shops, which are in a couple of blocks just off the main market. Fair warning: all the shops were closed on Sunday.

If you're looking for the spot, perhaps these names/addresses will help! 

And here are a couple of other resources, should you be on the hunt for yarn in Santiago:

Buying Alpaca Fiber in South America

Spanish Language Knitting Terms

Info on Santiago's Central Market

Amusingly enough, it was in the mid 90s during this trip (Summer, of course, in South America). I could barely stand to touch the woolens once I got them back to my hotel. Now that I'm back to Winter in Portland (gray and chilly; perfect sweater weather), I am quite excited indeed to plan a project.

To the source! Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival

This past weekend I went to my very first fiber festival, which is kind of shocking, really. It's just never worked out, in the past. It was in lovely Canby, Oregon, a mere twenty miles or so from my home.

I had been missing out.

Llamas! are remarkably cute, no?

Unwashed fleeces like you wouldn't believe 

I went alone, which did mean that I missed out on some of the communal nature of being around so many folks who share a passion. On the other hand, I was able to wander and chat and shop (mostly shop) at exactly my own pace, which is an absolutely wonderful treat. There was an abundance of wool, all kinds; there was exotic stuff, like llama and yak; there was a very nice focus on local fibers; there were rovings, hand-dyed yarn, equipment demos. I saw that there were classes, but I did not partake. 

As I said, I was there to shop. And shop I did. I left the festival with several bags full of mohair, some natural chocolate alpaca, some llama, and about a pound of lincoln locks. 

And! A huge ass, ten pound bag of unwashed border leicester lamb's wool. It came from SuDan Farms, in Yoder, OR. We will surely discuss it more, soon.