On my weaving journey I’ve reached that point where the local hobby shop doesn’t really fulfill my needs. A 50g ball of plied cotton isn’t quite cutting it and is simultaneously gnawing a small hole in my credit card.
And so, a hunt for weaving cones ensued.
After my first attempt I ended up with a giant stash of incredibly exciting colors from my favorite little local factory ends bootleg kinda spot. Although the majority of these yarns are pure polyester and the occasional cotton polyester blend, it makes me happy knowing they’re all end of line factory waste and the colors are really inspiring.
My next adventure led me to another local hobby-shop type spot, but a real institution located right in the middle of what was Cape Town’s once thriving textile center and one of the few places locally that have cones of yarn.
After spending a good while working my way through shelves and shelves of mostly unlabelled somewhat plasticky and mostly dust covered yarn, I drew the attention of the sales lady who helped me find a couple beautiful cones. She told me that the majority of the cones they stock are from the home knitting machines industry which went out of fashion around twenty years ago, which is when most of these cones are from and unfortunately new supply is incredibly rare.
I always find it fun to find little relics, and I’m delighted with the little gang I picked up, but am going to have to keep on hunting for a good future supply!