Yarn Crawl - Day 2

Let's start out with some yarn pr0n. I assume that's why you're here anyway so I may as well give you what you came for. Pictured above is my haul from yesterday. Not really a haul, but good enough for me. It's sock yarn, of course! Do I buy anything else? The blue is Dream In Color Smooshy Sock in the colorway Some Summer Sky. I had to get it. We had a heatwave yesterday and it was so perfect that I found a colorway called Some Summer Sky. Plus, Mutti's been getting me hooked on blue. It's contagious. The acid green is Claudia Hand painted Yarn in the colorway Limeade. It's scorching! We watched The Darjeeling Limited last night which, while not a spectacular movie, gave me inspiration for a sock pattern: Sweet Lime Socks. I won't be starting them for awhile, but I have the idea written down and have already picked the stitch patterns. Mutti bought herself some yarn, too, which is unlike her. It was due to a delicate combination of yarn fumes and peer pressure. She's always saying she has too much sock yarn when she really doesn't. Not compared to me anyway. She got one skein of Opal (her Opal love affair continues...) in the Neon colorway and a skein of Blue Heron Yarn Rayon/Metallic in the colorway Curry for a tank top. It's kind of ironic that she got this colorway because she hates curry and can't eat anything spicy because it sends her into a coughing fit. The color looks great on her though and I think she'll enjoy knitting it. Sue, one of the ladies we went on the Crawl with, bought the same yarn in a beautiful bright blue that makes her eyes pop (she's blonde-haired with blue eyes). Mutti and Sue bought the yarn together as a "I'll buy it if you buy it" deal. Goofballs. I don't need to be persuaded to get yarn. "Do I want yarn? What a silly question."

Alright, yarn shops:

Amanda's Art Yarn

Our first stop on Saturday was Amanda's Art Yarn in Poulsbo. The shop is located on the second floor on Main St. The Yarn Crawl is held on the same weekend that Poulsbo has it's Viking Festival so the streets were crammed with tourists and girls in bunads. It's not a large shop, but it's packed with yarn and there's even some spinning wheels and a couple shelves of fiber in the back. Alas, no AC here! We got our stamps, wandered around a little and headed out. We're on a time schedule after all.

Linda's Knit & Stitch

Our next stop was at Linda's Knit & Stitch in Silverdale. I love this yarn shop. They have a wide selection of yarn; everything from neon orange nylon yarn to Noro (ooh, the Noro wall!) to fine Jade Sapphire lambswool lace weight and hand spun tencel Tanglewood Fiber Creations. Hand painted Trekking sock yarn! Schaeffer Anne! Elizabeth Lavold! As I walked in the front door I looked at the projects hanging up on the wall and what did I see? A feather and fan scarf knitted out of Noro sock in the same colorway I'm using for Quant. It looks gorgeous in lace. We definitely have to visit this shop again. Preferably sometime in summer when the rose garden is in full bloom.

Yarn Garden

Next up: The Yarn garden in Gig Harbor. A yarn shop with beautiful waterfront views and AC! Whew. Very fun yarny people here and a knitting employee with the cutest lime green shoes. Mutti and Sue bought their Blue Heron Yarn here and I got the Claudia Handpainted. Lots of luxury and novelty yarn with some tweed and acrylic blends thrown in. There was one skein of Tilli Thomas wound with thread that was hung with beautiful aquamarine glass. See that tank top hanging to the left of the purple cardigan on the model? That's the tank top knitted with The Blue Heron Yarn that Mutti and Sue are going to knit. Mainly St. st. interspersed with purl sts.

Spin Alpaca

After The Yarn Garden we headed out (and further out) to Spin Alpaca in rural Auburn which is not so much a yarn shop as a farm with some baskets of yarn and fiber. There was a lot of Misti Alpaca yarn and a few baskets of alpaca roving. The couple who own the farm were in the process of building their house and Eva was sitting on the porch oiling her gorgeous Canadian spinning wheel. We saw a few alpacas, but no crias although she mentioned that she had a pregnant female on the farm. Patti bought some worsted wt Misti Alpaca and we headed out.

Lamb's Ear

The drive to Tacoma wasn't too bad. I think the extreme heat was keeping people home. We found parking in the back and crawled in to the shop. We were all pretty beat by this time and we didn't want to linger since it was about 4pm and we had to get to the next shop before 5. I got a skein of Dream In Color and Paulette picked up some more sock yarn. I wasn't really impressed with this shop. She had a little fiber, but I'm not sure if it was for sale or if someone just brought it in to work on. There was a very nice sale however. The usual 10% along with 40% off on Opal sock yarn and a 50% sale wall. Mutti got her Opal here.

Shibori Dragon

We were in this shop in Lakewood for an even shorter amount of time than Lamb's Ear. They have a lot of novelty yarn which I'm not keen on. I didn't see anything I liked, but Paulette bought some Elizabeth Lavold ribbon yarn for $5 a ball. The main thing I was interested in here was their couch which was soft and cool. I could've taken a nap. I did find that felted clog pattern that I've seen all over the internet from Fiber Trends though. We scooted out of here and went to the last (and my favorite) shop on the passport. I know this is a long post, but I hope you made it this far. Keep going just a little bit so you don't miss out on the best yarn shop of the bunch.

Yorkshire Yarns

We left this shop for last since Sonya was staying open until 8. It was so nice to go into a shop and not run out after 10 minutes. She had a comfy couch (Thank You!) and a superb yarn selection. I envy the knitters who said Yorkshire Yarns is their "home turf". Lucky, lucky knitters. She has Kauni. I had a major yarngasm. It's so beautiful. Mm-mm. She also has some gorgeous ombre laceweight which I'll apologize for not remembering the name of. We couldn't stay as long as we wanted to ('til closing) because Patti had to pick up her daughter. We will be returning to this shop very soon. How could we stay away? Sonya is a blast and so is everyone who works at the shop.

I really have to thank Patti, our chauffeur for the day. She drove us everywhere and didn't complain once. That's a lot of driving people. I'm knitting her a pair of socks as a big thank you. I'm using Lorna's Laces in the colorways China Blue, Carrot, Sunshine, and Berry.

There will be a spinning post soon. Corriedale and some superwash merino.