Manic Monday: Waylaid

I was on a finishing spree, and was hoping by Monday I'd have a "Done and Done" post.  First up was to be Clandestine started for a CookieA KAL 3 (that's THREE) years ago. Close, finished the weekend at the toe.  I had cast on the mate immediately after finishing the toe of the first sock. As quickly as the second sock is going I don't know what really made the first one go so slow.  Was it the US 0 needles?  The intricate 14 row lace and twisted stitch pattern?  The dark yarn (with a name like Clandestine, they must be done in dark yarn, right)?  The 18-20 things I had on other needles. Whatever, but I love how they look.  The texture, the fit, the elegant lace.  Second sock is slightly looser in gauge, which is always an issue with me.  These have been claimed by dd #1.

So what happened?  Ravelry, that's what happened.  They finally added a "fiber" category for stash and a flow to handspun yarn, yay!  Ugh.  I started entering my fiber and quickly got lost down that rabbit hole. The good thing though is that now I see how much I really have -- and what's up isn't all of it by half!  Which means I gotta get busy because when this is spun it gets added to my already too big yarn stash. Double ugh.

I'm also nearly done with my Josephine mitts, just the top and the thumb to go (see bottom of previous post here).  But it's been that way for weeks.

Then there's Celestarium, and the Whovian scarf I want to start (what am I thinking, I don't even have the yarn for this yet), and a weaving project (for which I do have the yarn, but can't find) and...it's just another Manic Monday.

Yarn (and Cookie) Crawl

Maybe it's because a yarn store in Capitola was kitty corner to Gayle's bakery for so long (2 actually, different shops, same location) that I have no problem associating yarn with special treats.  I mean yarn is a special treat right?  But the SLO Yarn Crawl had sweet treats at nearly every corner.  The crawl was officially Sept 21-22, Saturday and Sunday, 5 shops in San Luis Obispo county.  I didn't go down until early Saturday morning, buy my Aunt and her friend went to a special talk by Alchemy's Gina Wilde at the new location (new owners too) of Cambria's Ball and Skein Friday evening.  On their way they hit up Red Moose Cookie -- this is a hidden gem that I've yet to try and find, but you should hunt it down, judging from the packages they took home.

I arrived late Saturday morning and was wisked away to Pismo Beach to have our passports stamped at Eileen's Treasures.  I came away with a skein of blue handpainted sock yarn, its twin purchased by my Aunt.  At the next stop, Nordic Yarn Mart I picked up some woody rose colored long striping yarn.  Yarns at the Adobe is also in San Luis Obispo where I snagged a sk of pink sport wt, plus a copy of IW's Unofficial Downton Abbey Knits, but don't leave SLO without going down the street and around the corner to Cowboy Cookie where not only can you get the second best chocolate chip peanut butter cookie (Gayle's has the best), you can also get an ice cream cookie sandwich!  The cookies are large here, so remember, they do offer a 1 cookie sandwich where they cut a single cookie in half.  Three shops down and we had to get back to Cambria.

I love the new location and layout of Ball and Skein.  They had a great selection and I won a door prize!  I bought a Gina Wilde book and had her sign it plus one I brought and I got 2 skeins of the new Rowan Fine Art -- in a tawny colorway.  I also got IW's Unofficial Harry Potter Knits.  Now I've already mentioned Red Moose, but if you miss that, then head towards Cayucos to The Brown Butter Cookie company where the second you enter you are assailed with the aroma of butter and invited to taste every cookie they bake. I think the original brown butter cookie is my fav, but the espresso bean one is a close second, there's also cocoa, citrus, coconut lime and a mint cocoa gluten-free cookie.

We saved Ranch Dog Knitting for Sunday so that I can just head back north from there.  This is one of the newer shops in the area located in Atascadero.  There I met Audry Knight who wrote Reversible Scarves and since I forgot my hardcopy had her sign my e-copy right on my tablet!  While there I purchased a lovely tweed wine/grape variegated skein and a mosaic(2-color) cowl pattern (I found some pink superwash in my stash that will combine nicely with it). 

I stayed at the best bed and breakfast in Morro Bay -- cost?  My skein of blue yarn.

Hitting up the LYS

So it turns out the Yarndogs closed for personal reasons, not business.  They were actually doing fine.  Still sad to see them go.  And with only 5 local yarn stores left I thought I'd visit one and a couple a bit beyond.

I went to my beloved GPY shortly after the Yarndogs closing -- my knit group meets there and while I was showing other knitters examples of the colorful magic that is Madelinetosh, I fell into a bin of a colorway I couldn't resist!  I wasn't planning on buying anything, but then again, I never am.  Like I always say, my favorite color is pink and my next favorite is rainbow.

I work in the East Bay close to Pleasanton, so I thought I'd drop by Knit This! Purl That!  What a cute store!  I had never been, seeing as I've only been working out here for just over a year and all that time before there were all these other yarn stores closer by.  It's really easy to get to and has convenient hours so I think it'll be my go-to lunchtime place.  I remember working near Bobbins Nest and going there for lunch.  There's a nice coffee place in the same center that makes great quiches.  I'll have to explore the food offerings near KTPT, but downtown Pleasanton looks promising.  I bought a new to me colorway of Crazy Zauberball in a purply-denim, and some laceweight Freia.

This last long weekend I visited another fav, The Golden Fleece in Santa Cruz.  We live just off 17 this side of the hill so we like to go down early and have breakfast in Santa Cruz or thereabouts.  We cruised down hwy 1 and made our way to Gayle's then back towards 17 to hit GF.  I got some Liberty in a nice pastel colorway and some HPKY in a not so pastel colorway!

 

And the best for last, since it's WiP Wednesday I leave you with this, I brought my Josephine mitts with me and knit on them a bit while I waited for GF to open.  Taken before I finished the thumb, I still have to start the other mitt.

And Another One's Gone

Today is the last day that Yarndogs will be open.  It was a quick sale, starting last Wednesday with 50% off most things.  The first day of the sale the line to get into the store wrapped around the block.  After today there will be only 5 stores left that I would call "local".  The Knitting Room, Continental Stitch, Uncommon Threads, Purlescence and Green Planet Yarn.  On the outskirts (from me) there's still Nine Rubies in San Mateo, The Golden Fleece and Swift Stitch in Santa Cruz, and Yarns by the Sea in Aptos.

Back in 1998 when I was still a newbie to knitting there were about 5 stores close to me, of those only The Knitting Room, Continental Stitch and Uncommon Threads (new owner) are still around.  At the end of 2007 there were 12 South Bay stores! 3 closed in 2008, and since , 1 would move and 5 more would close. I have to admit, as populated as the area which I live, 12 stores was a bit much.  But oh the choices!  And the yarn crawls!  So much fun.  So much creativity.  Each store had it's own unique offerings, from special yarn to fashion shows to all star instruction. 

So what happened?  Economics?  Did the internet take business away?  Sure, I buy online, Webs usually has some good deals and Jimmy Beans always has things I can't get anywhere else (at any price).  And now with Craftsy, even classes are easier to come by.  So what's left for a local yarn store to offer?  What it has always had the advantage in, service (sales, support as well as instruction), inspiration, community and instant gratification.  Give me a reason to go to a yarn store and I will buy something.  But it isn't just about the goods, it never has been.

I'm a mature knitter so I don't need much in the way of support.  And with my stash, I've long passed the need for more yarn.  But I will always crave inspiration. And community?  What knitter doesn't need that?  What online stores and classes can't offer is that um-hmm, yup that's it moment when you need some acknowledgement that you are doing things right.  Whether that's a technique, getting gauge or picking colors that go well together.  And what about encouragement when you've finished or nearly finished something?  These are the reasons to go somewhere local, meet with friends, learn new things, be inspired.  And oh, by the way, when you're there?  Buy the yarn.

Angel Wings

Here's my finished Wingspan, Angel version with a tweak.  Since I was making holes on purpose I changed the offset from 16 to 15, using the original caston amount.  This way in the end I could have all my yarnovers spaced evenly all the way across.  This was vacation knitting mostly done on a plane while I listened to a book. The yarn is Crazy Zauberball with which I got 7 of the 8 repeats.  I definitely want to do it again, maybe with a shorter cast on (I did the fingering version).  I downloaded the pattern while it was still free, but I'm tempted to purchase it because of the variations.  We'll see.  I've got lots of zauberball, as well as other interesting yarns this could be worked in. That's it for me on this Fiber Arts Friday and FO Friday.  I've got a bit on my mind with another yarn store closing in my area.  More about that later.