A few weeks ago I was leaving downtown Alamosa, Colorado and I saw a sign on the sidewalk for The Yarn Gallery. My slipping memory dug deep and remembered that this place was only open on Fridays and I am rarely in downtown Alamosa on Fridays. So I re-parked the car and went up. I was so delighted by what I found that I returned the next Friday to take some photos and talk to Kimberly some more.
Kimberly Perkins runs a small yarn shop and studio on the second floor of an old Masonic building on Main Street. Her main business focus is her hand-dyed yarns which she sells a great deal of at fiber festivals all over the United States. Her online store is
HERE. She has some patterns on Ravelry also. Look for Cat Mountain Fiber Arts or kimberlyknitter.
She hand-dyes kits for patterns in
Knit, Swirl! by Sandra McIver (as well as many other projects!). There are photos of the patterns in this book on Sandra's website at
www.knitswirl.com. The knitting is done with a worsted weight yarn and a lace weight and the effect is of a transparency in the thin yarn. The patterns are knitted largely in one piece and they look like a lot of fun.
Kimberly was knitting one of them up with her beautiful yarn when I was there. It will be stunning once it is finished and blocked.
The yarns needed for these patterns are in various weights and Kimberly dyes them in one hank. The effect is rather magical.
They contain various fibers including merino wool, silk, alpaca, bamboo, and nylon (there are some colorways with metalic thread).
The yarn is dyed one part of the skein at a time. In this photo the yellow is wicking up one of the fibers. She will turn the skein and dye another portion of it another color which results in a beautiful blending where the two colors meet.
White fiber ready for dyeing.
The Yarn Gallery carries other yarn also as well as some knitting supplies so if you're heading through Alamosa on a Friday (or certainly if you live there!), go take a look. Kimberly had some enchanting yarn she spun herself that had beads in it. I am looking for the right project to
add some of that to the stash begin knitting that right off!
Look for Kimberly Perkins at
Taos Fiber Marketplace in April and at
Taos Wool Festival in October. I know I will!
This is exactly how I feel about yarn stores... (and bookstores too if you must know)
Note: 4/20/13
Here is a photo of the finished sweater as seen at Taos Fiber Marketplace.
