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.

A Slow Swing on a Trapeze

Happy Fiber Arts Friday folks! I have for you and everyone at FO Friday my Trapeze!
Yarn: Pagewood Farms Aleska in River Rock, 2 sks
Beads:  size 8/0 in pearl pink and matte purple
Setting:  4th Thursday knit night for the South Bay Knitters at Green Planet Yarn in San Jose.  My Celestarium in progress behind me on the table and blogger Vivian to my left. 

Here's the view from the back. Thanks to blogger Carol for taking the snaps!

Unblocked but otherwise finished, this was a Mystery KAL that I joined last summer.  It starts with 3 trapezoids knit in the round which are joined with lace beaded triangles and finished with an icord border at the neck edge and a lace beaded ruffly border along the bottom and ends.  I didn't have enough yarn so cut my losses and ended the border less 2 rows. 

Loved the pattern, very unique which accents the subtle tonal changes in the yarn. 

Manic Monday: Progress?

I don't know if you can call it progress when I had 20 projects on the needles and still have 20 projects on the needles. In my last Manic Monday post I had 4 projects I was dying to start and 4 projects that had to get done before Stitches. I finished 2 of the 4, a reknit of my Giant Kelp in Cabled 8 and Drunken Path in So Soft Sock, and started 1, Canyon River in Super Twist in time. But after Stitches I really, really wanted to cast-on like crazy. So I started and finished 2 projects, the Lucy Hat and my Downton Abbey MKAL gauntlets.  I also cast on Celestarium, which including Canyon River which I've made a little more progress on keeps me at my running 20.  To date if I finish any 2 things I'm now working on I'll have reached my underachiever goal of 6.5 in 2013, okay 2.5 things -- but really?  What constitues half done?  A sock?  I think I have one of those.  I'm shooting for our annual participation in The Golden Fleece anniversary in Santa Cruz to have at least one Canyon River sock done.  Handwerks will be there with yarn and I'll be there with patterns.  If you missed us at Stitches, Santa Cruz is just down 17 and near the beach, stop by and say hello on Saturday, April 20.

And while I've made progress on the knitting (really I got stuff done!), I have not stopped the stash enhancement.  During the birthday week I made a trip to the new location for Green Planet Yarn to get supplies for this beautiful apron by Pam Powers, basically 7 sks of Spud n Chloe, for the flowers I'm using leftovers (does that count as stash reduction?)

Somehow or another other skeins seemed to have found their way into my basket.  Here's a mini parade of stash acquisitions from various stores, local and online:

Finally, I didn't buy much from Stitches West, but I did manage to get these slated to be a handwoven scarf on my soon to be obtained Cricket Loom (belated bday present from the dh, just haven't gotten around to purchasing):