Loot!

I still have to put things away but I photographed the loot from the Shanghai meet-up. Jane has also blogged about the weekend in her blog, so you can get additional photos and perspective from her.

First of all yarn....

These are the 2 cones I got at MIC MIC. The left hand side is 100% silk and the right hand grey one is cashmere and something else. Both are 600 gms each - so a lot of yardage.

This is the mink/cashmere blend that I am using in the Nymphalidae shawl. I bought 3 skeins because I didn't want to run out before the handspun did. Extra can be turned into a scarf or cowl or mitts.

Lovely cashmere from one of the Ruijin 2nd street shops. This was a steal as Jane found out. It is priced higher on Taobao and is a lovely fine yarn.

Stuff for spinning art yarns: the top photo contains the 5 cones of glittery fine thread from MIC MIC. All synthetic and I picked ones that weren't too scratchy; the bottom left is the beaded thread that I showed you in the show room; the bottom right is sequins from the bead shop at the wholesale notions market. Each of those is about 1/3 of the bag. Jessica, Dawn and I shared them.

Next up beads! From the top: the 10 bags we split 5 ways, the glass beads I picked up on the street on the second trip to the wholesale market and the non-glass ones - plastic from the weight. I want to make some earrings and necklaces from the bottom ones.

The elastic buttonhole strip. I want to make magic buttonhole placement devices from this. A strip of say, 20 buttonholes, would be one device. Let's say you want 8 buttonholes. You pin the top of the strip to the top of the center front, and stretch the elastic so the 16th buttonhole is at the bottom of the center front. Mark every other buttohole on your front (left or right) and then when you make your button band, you put the 8 buttonholes where the pins are. You want 10? Pin the 20th buttonhole to the bottom and mark every other one. Child's garment? Use every button hole in the elastic instead of every other one. Genius!

This is more jewelry making supplies. The top photo is colored strips of leather on which I can put pendants or intertwine with the bottom chains for a mixed media necklace. My vision is to put a loop of fishing line at the end of each of the chains. We got some jump rings and clasps also. I can take the chains I want and use the loops to put them on the jump rings which will go on the clasp. I can twist them or use them stacked or intertwine some ribbing or the leather ties or....

...use Chinese knotting cord braided or twined in the necklace. Ta da!

The left bag has the findings - clasps and jump rings. But Jane and I also split a 100 (I think) split key rings to make stitch markers. The right side bag is our gift from MIC MIC - locking plastic stitch markers and a tool to fix snags in knits.

These are the buttons I picked up from the street vendor. Each bag was 1 yuan. They are mostly wood with painting on them. A couple are metal with fabric, one is a holey button on which I can wind yarn to match a sweater, one is plastic with knitted sts on it. Each bag has 6 buttons. I got two of a couple of them.

I will never lack for stitch markers again! This is my share of the 1000 markers Jane and I bought together.

DH came with us the second time and got bored while we were shopping for chain and leather strips. He found a shop with tools and I bought these two snips. Jane got a cooler looking one but this one is more comfortable.

I had been eyeing (and trying on) this necklace at the pearl market. I finally caved and bought it. I love looking at it.

Cate of Infinite Twist had some very fine micron merino she had sourced from China and dyed. She had just a little bit and a few of us split up what she had. She calls it sheepmere as it is like cashmere but from sheep.

It is my spinning souvenir from Shanghai. The one and only.

And last, but not least, the gorgeous silk project bag that Dawn brought for each of us. I picked red as it is a traditional Chinese symbol of good luck. Plus, what is not to like about a red silk bag?

On my return, I have come to a very sad conclusion. I am a costume jewelry addict. I cleaned out my jewelry drawer but there is no way I can get all the jewelry I have acquired in the past 2 years in there with what I already had. I used jewelry as a souvenir wherever I went. So I have necklaces from Johannesburg, Australia, Korea, China, as well as what I took from here - from the US and India. Add to this the stuff I make or improvise - from scarves and the chains and leather and ribbon and other stuff.

I have been googling jewelry organizers. The.end.

How do you like the open floodgate of posts! It is so much easier to post when you can link the pictures faster and not have to worry about VPNs to access the blogging platform.

We will be returning to travelogues after this. I may add in a bit of fiber status but will mostly be trying to catch up on the travel diaries while I still remember the details.

 

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