I’ve been craving carrot-orange muffins since I saw them at Tim Horton’s a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, everything at Tim Horton’s seems to be loaded with sugar, so I decided to make my own.

These carrot-orange muffins are made with bran and are low-sugar to boot. If you want them celiac-friendly you can use gluten-free flour.

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I didn’t go to the first annual FibresWest last year, so on Friday I decided to head out to Abbotsford and take a gander. I dragged Chelle along for the ride and we had a very good time. I am the kind of person who needs to look at everything before I decide to buy, whereas Chelle would purchase when she got the urge (gift yarn only, yarn diet).

At the Abbotsford Exhibition Parkt AgRec building | Posing with “yarnpiggy“!

Indigo Moon… where I smushed different skeins of yarn together and demanded they make “yarn babies”.

Knitopia Wools (now located in White Rock)

Twist of Fate (also stocking Handmaiden Sea Silk).

Unwind Yarns with Shannon spinning … throwing sheep into rainbows! Best tagline ever.

Kensington Prairies Alpaca Farm… they do tours! They’re right in Langley too on 248th at 16th. I can’t count the number of times I’ve driven past and yelled excitedly at their alpacas.

This little display was the Mission Tartan for the Mission Spinners and Weavers Guild who are opening up a shop June 5th at the Mission Arts Council.

Sweet Georgia Yarns. Felicia had a fantastic display with “menus” displaying her prices and yarn “ingredients”.

Gone Hooking created amazing tapastries.

A hand-cranked knitting machine at Stitches Quilt and Fibre Art Supplies.

Quo Vadis Handspun — local spinner and dyer for animal-fibre-free yarns.

I didn’t get a photo of Louisa (aka damselfly) spinning at the Great Vancouver Weavers & Spinners Guild booth. They were there doing demonstrations and handing out information about the guild.

I was very good and didn’t fall off the wagon. I didn’t buy any yarn although I nearly gorged myself at Indigo Moon. I did treat myself to a ball winder though! I have been contemplating getting one and they truly are a necessity. Now when I want to knit something, I can instantly wind it up and cast on. Later today my dad and I are going to build a DIY yarn swift. Wish us luck!

On Saturday night I headed over to Janel‘s place to learn how to spin yarn. As soon as I entered, I heard the whirl of treadles on spinning wheels. Janel first explained how to tease the fibre (teehee) and then showed me how to drop spindle. It helped to have her spinning the spindle while I pinched the fibre… but eventually I was able to try on my own.

Pictures, or it didn’t happen:

Meg and Sara (aka wenchlette) with a horde of wheels

Janel spinnin’ away and styling her new hair cut

Yarnpiggy (aka Hilary) our sexy hand-model (who would kill me if I even took a proper photo)

Mah yarnz!

After I tried drop spindling, Meg (who has a podcast now…) let me try her wheel. I think I liked that better because you could make it go with your feet and let your hands concentrate on the fibre. I didn’t play long enough to quite get the hang of it (or make anything) but I certainly enjoyed myself. Thanks for being such a fantastic host and teacher Janel!

Fine print: enjoying myself does not mean I will become a spinner. I think I have enough hobbies already, I just like trying new things.

Dressew is the best place in town to go if you’re a sewer/crafter, however, the selection of yarn (at $1.99/ball) has always been low-quality. It’s fantastic if you need eyelash, novelty yarn, or acyrlic for your project. But this weekend, rumours began to fly around the knitting community that there was good yarn at Dressew, quality yarn.

Since I work in the same block as Dressew (it takes great willpower), I popped in on Monday to see if it was worth the fuss. Let this photo be your answer:

You make think I went overboard (you’re not a knitter are you?) but for $1.99/ball, there is no “overboard”, there is only good deals!For the knitters who want the details, here are the yarn names and links to my Stash on Ravelry:

• Nashua Creative Focus Worsted [brilliant blue]
• Nashua Creative Focus Chunky [turquoise]
• Nashua Handknits Wooly Stripes [light blues] [blue-purple]
• Nashua Handknits Snowbird [teal-grey stripes]
• Nashua Creative Focus Kid Mohair [purple] [fushia]
• Nashua Handknits Ivy [pink-sparkle] [purple-sparkle]

These yarns are all wool, alpaca, mohair… quality fibres. They also had superwash wool and other great yarns. I haven’t heard of Nashua Handknits before… but I’m not complaining! Now… off to look at my faves and queue some great patterns in Ravelry!