yarn crawling

Betsy is back up north and we took full advantage to embark on a Yarn Crawl. These are fun – if you’ve never gone on one, what it is is you got to several yarn stores in one day. We try to hit a new place each time, but will also usually hit a favorite store as well.

Our first stop of the day was at Madison Wool. Love this yarn shop! Michelle is so friendly and it is just a cozy place to go! We poked around a bit, chatted for a bit, drooled a bit (Lorelai too! Gotta start ’em young!) and purchased. Betsy went for the Cascade 220 and stocked up. I bought some “Soft Cotton” yarn intending to knit Baby Merry Janes (Ravelry link). Red mary janes with white socks, should be cute. Though, the yarn is an aran weight and the pattern calls for DK… I might need some math help there.

Our second stop of the day was a short drive up to Old Wethersfield for Sit’nKnit. Ok, if you like bargain shopping there is also a GREAT Marshalls that you pass on the way there (and a TJMaxx across the street) so if you need more of a reason than just yarn to head up there… It’s a cute street, similar to what you would find in Essex – very quaint New England. Sit’n Knit, too is above a garden place. It was a little tricky to get the stroller up the stairs, but we did it. Inside there was plenty of room for the stroller so yay on that. What a great shop – a fantastic selection of all kinds of yarn (from acrylics to the fancy stuff). There is also a great room they call “The Bridge” – fantastic sales! Betsy again did fabulous – she got Lobster Pot Yarn for 50% off! I didn’t do so well with sales, but I did find a little kit to knit Bramble the owl from knitwhits. So cute! They had the penguin too – tough choice! I also fell in love with this pattern: a neckwarmer – their sample was knit with Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk (which, BTW, they had on the bridge, on sale! Betsy scored again, but I passed as the colors didn’t grab me. I’m thinking that Schaefer Esperanze in Pomegranate that I have coming will work…)

Our journey continued on to Branford’s newest offering, The Yarn Basket. I picked up a skein of Berroco Sox to make aCelestine Sox toy for Lorelai. I’ve been keeping my eye out for a ball for her, but they all seem to be too big / made in china / dog toys, etc. So I’ll knit one eventually. I also couldn’t resist a very new Noro (it’s only in 4 stashes on ravelry? What is up with that? People, it is GORGEOUS! and mostly solid!!) – info here. I think it may be a hat – wonder if it would work for the hat in the new IK? Only bought one skein, so I’m limited, but it is gorgeous!

Highly successful day. The funny thing is, we both went out with a list and were very project specific. That kept my spending in check and the items I bought that weren’t on the list were small (the yarn for the ball and merry-janes were on the list, the owl / noro and pattern were all impulse).

I finished one front of my CPH at SnB last night, so I feel I’m in a good position for taking up my ravelympic projects today. I’m in the Afghan Marathon and WIP Wrestling. I’ve worked on both already and will get back to them after I post. Yay teams!