I have been busy knitting and not updating this blog. I keep saying I am going to do better … and then I don’t. I really have no excuses.
When we arrived at my son’s house, he announced that he had some plans for the holiday visit. One was taking his wife for an overnight hotel stay and sleeping all night, and sleeping late. The second plan? He announced that he was taking me on a yarn crawl! (He even had the right terminology!). To say I was delighted would be an understatement. A whole day, with my son. Amazing!
First on our list was a store named Finch Knitting and Sewing, located in Leesburg. I was interested to see how they combined the two hobbies into one store. The main floor was mostly quilting — fabrics, patterns, threads and books. Up the stairs we found a room of delightful wools and patterns, as well as a separate class room area. After much browsing, I settled on a hank of Sno from Woolfolk. This is a 100% merino wool in a 50g hank, or 204m, in a fingering weight. I am thinking this might well grow up to be a scarf …
This is a warm brown and tan combination. I am not totally certain it is enough for a scarf; in the meantime, I will enjoy the feel and look of it in my hand. I have heard good things about
triangular stitch markers, and saw this box of them at the counter. They needed to come home with me as well. Now that I have blogged about them, I can actually use them!
This was a delightful shop, filled with lots of good ideas. I did find interesting that there was absolutely no sock wool. None. Not a scrap. The son did point out that this shop is located right at the edge of high-income horse country so that may have played a part. I also was interested to see the class area totally separate from the retail area. The staff would not ever be found working on a project, either sewing or knitting, because there was no place to do so and still be accessible to the sales floor. As I said, most interesting.
Our second stop was at Red Fox Yarns in Vienna. This shop rather closely resembled my own in terms of inventory selection. It is located in a strip mall, on the ground floor so easily accessed by one and all. Parking was plentiful. When doing market research, I try to purchase things to which I do not have easy access. Like I said, this store rather closely resembles mine, so I “had” to wander twice around before deciding on my selection.
On my first go-round I stumbled across the Skacel Addi Rocket squared. The staff person gave a very high recommendation for them, and I had recently lost my trusty 2.5m Addi anyway. Then I added the hank of
Knitted Wit Worsted in the Rock Candy Brown colourway. This is a superwash merino, and just the right amount for a great hat. While standing at the counter chatting, I spied the
Sock Ruler display. Barb and I had pondered bringing them into the store a couple of years ago. As most of you know, though, I am a bit skeptical of gadgets and tight-fisted with my money besides. So we did not. When we got back to the car, I immediately ripped into the packaging on the ruler and put it to use. And just like that, in that very first minute, I was totally enamoured. What a GREAT gadget! We have them at the store already.
Red Fox is a classic wool store. There was a bit of novelty-type yarns, but not much. They had varieties of sock yarns, and many different weights. In wool, or acrylic, or alpaca, or some blends in between. If I lived in that area, I could definitely see them being my fave LYS. They also offer blocking and repair services, although I did not get any pricing. I did not see a class area per se, but there were two comfy chairs up front for a client to use whilst getting assistance.
Our next shop was called Second Story Knits, located in Bethesda, Maryland. It felt like every street in Bethesda was undergoing some reconstruction with detours within detours. I would also note that the weather that day was glorious and there were lots of folks out dining on patios. Parking was at a premium, whether free or pay. We ended up having me jump out of the car while my son attempted to find parking. As the name implies, this shop was on an upper floor of an older building. The stairs were marginally steeper than one would expect, and no elevator. This store was likewise very similar to mine in terms of inventory selection. They had a little alcove for patterns and books, which was nice. There was also a dedicated class area, in addition to a small table and chairs on the main floor. After browsing, I settled on a hank of Urth Yarns bulky, despite it being a wool I could access here at home. The colour was just so happy I could not resist. I have learned my lesson with Urth Yarns tho — this will be washed before being knit. These beautiful, vibrant colourways run like crazy.
Funny thing happened while I was browsing. A nice lady came in, announcing that she had called earlier to get some help fixing a mistake in her project. The sales clerk took her over to the work table, spread out the project and the two of them talked a bit and ascertained where the error was. Then the clerk whipped the needle right out of the knitting. The poor customer sucked in all the oxygen from the room in one big inhale. I called out “You should warn them before you do that!” Everyone laughed, thankfully. I commented to the clerk and the customer that I owned a store far away, and that our policy is to warn the customer, or better yet — distract them! — before pulling the needle out. Saves heart attacks.
Our final stop of the day was Fibre Space, located in Alexandria. This shop occupies an entire building, shaped like a triangle. The exterior is covered in a mural depicting sheep, wools, alpacas, and other fibre-related things. There are Muskoka chairs out front (although in the States they are referred to as Adirondack chairs) and sheep statues. It was very picturesque. Inside I found a delightful assortment of wools from near and far, along with patterns, gadgets, buttons and a nice selection of beads. If there was a classroom area (and I truly expect there was), it was upstairs. Of the four shops, this was the busiest, altho I was not the only shopper at any of the stores. One of the podcasts to which I listen uses a lot of Neighborhood Fiber Co wools. I selected a lovely hank of merino worsted in a lovely handpainted blue/green colour. The shopping bag was a bonus!
My son did not say anything in the morning before we set out, but he figured we could make two stops. Maybe three, if we were really lucky. Imagine his surprise that we were able to hit all four! Traffic in Bethesda was the worst and we almost bailed on that one.
This, my friends, was my yarn crawl adventure with my son. And afterwards, he inquired if handknit socks were worth repairing. What could I say? The Addi Squared is in the second sock of a pair where he had gone through the sole, up by the toes. There are three more pairs …
Before I send them off in the mail, I did get some mittens for the grandsons finished.
I used
Estelle Worsted and the
Green Mountain Mitten pattern, making the extra-small and small sizes. These are not exactly matching the Bernie mittens I made for their parents, but close enough. One skein of four different colours has finished up two adult pair of mittens and two pair of big kids mittens. I think there is plenty left to make one more full pair of adult mittens. I am impressed with the yardage!
This concludes my yarn crawl news. Hopefully I will post more regularly in the future … if not, y’all are welcome to harass me. Gently, of course! Cheers!
