Experiments in Crafting

The National Alpaca Owners Association Show was in Peoria this past weekend, and I checked their website out and it looked like there were going to be yarn vendors so we decided to brave the snow and see what was happening! It turned out that there were way more vendors than I expected, and hundreds of alpacas to look at all for free! It was a great show and since we filmed the whole thing, I thought we'd share our experience! I strongly recommend going to local alpaca, sheep, or other fiber events if you are in the market for some awesome and unique yarn! Check out our trip here: Follow me on Instagram and Facebook. https://www.instagram.com/experimentsincrafting/ https://www.facebook.com/experimentsincrafting/

I just finished the Pecan Pie Wrap by Lisa Cook using Melodyy by Wolltraum. I love the shawl, but it really needed to be blocked, so I thought I would show you how I wet block a finished piece. I know a lot of people can be afraid to block, but it's really an easy process, it just takes some patience and some practice. To block you'll need a bowl of lukewarm water, a towel and pins.Though I prefer them, you don't even have to have blocking mats, you can use a bed or pin directly to carpet. I prefer to use t-pins when I block, but there are a lot of other options out there, including u-pins and knit blockers. You can use sewing pins if that's what you have on hand, but I find them to be too flexible. I've used them in a pinch before, and it turned out just fine. You can also use a little bit of no-rinse soap, like Soak, or a little hair conditioner in your water.  To see how I block check out my vidoe on YouTube: Follow me on Instagram and Facebook. ...

Hey everyone, I just wanted to share a few thoughts on Lion Brand's New Mandala Baby Yarn! It's 100% acrylic, #3 DK weight yarn that comes in 150 g balls with 590 yards in each ball. It comes in a dozen baby/kid friendly colors. It has a little more squish to it, and less halo to it than the original Mandala Yarn. Halo is that fuzzy look that some yarns have, it's not a bad thing, but it can make it a little tougher to pull stitches out and it could a little harder for beginners to work with. The thing that I liked the best about Mandala Baby is the color changes. Lion Brand has made a decent attempt at changing colors slowly so that the color changes are not quite as noticeable in your finished projects. It's no hand-dyed gradient yarn, but it's a better option than many of the competitors because it doesn't just bounce from one color to a totally different color, there is a bit of a transition in between. I'm going to be working this up into a shawl so...