Stash Enhancement or How To Save the Economy..

Mercury Missed Us

Let a couple yarnies loose on the yarn shop hop perhaps? But I mean, supporting local stores is really important. You have to sell things to have jobs. And yarn is really a necessity. Cause it keeps you warm. That is an important thing in the frozen tundra after all.

Yarn stash much? All of our Shop Hop Haul

Ok, I'm competitive, I had to get all the patterns, all the charms, and dang it ALL THE YARN! Since our day on Thursday was cut short, we were determined to finish this today. The little fact that Devin was supposed to be playing at a nursing home smack dab in the middle of the hop had little effect on us! Nope, we loaded up the dogs, the kid, the people, and off we went.

Our first stop was a quick stop as it's our closest yarn shop. Amazing Threads was chock full of fun yarns like always, and amazing patterns. We nabbed their store pattern, a beautiful shawl, their yarn, a gorgeous 3IG worsted merino and dashed out. We were on a schedule at this point afterall. The store was also packed with hoppers, and I think I own everything there anyway. Not really, but we go there a lot.

Up the road to Shepherd's Choice. Strangely, amazingly, weirdly, we didn't buy anything, though we donated to the food shelf for our charms, and I did eye their roving and sock yarn. They carry a beautiful hand painted sock yarn from Pagewood Farms, and I was sorely tempted.

We then ran to the other end of town, where we met up with the nursing home performance group. This was really cute, several kids were playing the piano, the violin, or singing. The violinist was amazing, and the singer was really funny. She was about 8, and would get up there, close her eyes, clutch her fists and take a huge breath then launch into singing. Very funny. Of course Devin did great, he loves playing in public.

Then off again to more shops. Next on our list was A Sheepy Yarn Shop. It's adorable, with a super cute fireplace and couches. I found a beautiful skein of Mountain Colors yarn there, and we were off to our final shop!

We ended up at Lila and Claudines, really close to closing time, but that may have been a good thing as otherwise we might have bought the store out. Luckily the lovely cashier signed us up for their frequent buyer club as we're almost halfway there already. We bought: 2 skeins of worsted merino from Lorna's Lace, another Lornas in Merino/silk sportweight, a skein of Noro Taiyo (cause we're supporting the Japan economy too of course), and special ordered the yarn they were out of, plus bought a skein of Peaches N Cream to experiment on washcloths with. Yup, pretty much the whole yarn store. I did put back a Malabrigo Rasta in gorgeous purple. After all, I have to go back in 2 weeks for the special order anyway... They had a great selection of handpainted yarn, which is totally right up my alley.

L-R, 3IG handdyed Merino, Mountain Colors, Lorna's Lace Merino, Taiyo,
Lorna's Merino/silk, Peaches 7 Cream, LL merino

Tomorrow, we shall sit, knit, and relax. I may, or may not be working on socks again...

Hippity Hoppity Shopitty Hoppity

Today, I convinced Mom to take a day off of work, and for us to go on the Frozen-Tundra Shop hop. Where each yarn shop has a special yarn, a special pattern, and the doors wide open on this pretty spring (with no flowers or green, therefore not that pretty) spring day.. This is where, I will not say that if I was in Seattle, there are like 25 shops to visit, and there'd be flowers. Nope, we are going to focus on the yarn. The pretty, beautiful spring like colored yarn!!!

We started off the day with a change in plans, as the van had decided to have a flat tire on the way home last night. Thank goodness Kevin came to help me change it (note: I can change a tire myself, but it's easier with 2 people), that the nice policewoman came to hold her high powered flashlight, that the grocery store had WD-40 for the seized up tire, and that the tow-truck driver gave us a discount since all he had to do was use his sledgehammer to unstick the very stuck tire. Anyway, I got home late, and I nixed the idea of using a good part of Shop-hop day replacing the tire, so we took the car. Which meant we had to leave the dogs home, cause really, there's not room for dogs and yarn in the car. Ok, maybe we didn't buy THAT much yarn. After all, we only got halfway through before having to go pick up the kids. We will be finishing our trip up Saturday.

First up was a town to the West, the lovely Coldwater Collaborative. It had a great sitting room, friendly people, by far the best organized for the shop hop. They greeted us at the door, gave us our cards, and sent us on our way to collect our free pattern and look at yarn. We ended up with a Dream in Color skein in Discover that was languishing on the clearance shelf (I loves me some clearance yarn), and a skein of Misti Alpaca Baby Me Boo. Can't wait to try that out, so soft! Their pattern an adorable shawl!

We then popped down the road to Skeins where we purchased a big skein of Plymouth Mushishi and got their free cowl pattern.

Continuing east, we ran into SteveBe's. I'd never been there before, and I have NO IDEA why! It is now my favorite ever yarn shop! They also do a bit of spinning, and I think I'm going to venture back there for a spinning day. Oh I loved their yarn! So, so many things to see there! Super friendly, super organized, and way too much to take in on one trip to the store. Matter of fact, I can see it on our horizon for Saturday when we go hopping again. Truly 2 visits in a week are necessary. We ended up buying 2 skeins of Three Irish Girls yarn there, in bright happy greens, both store exclusives. Love them! And somehow some yak/merino roving got in there too. Along with a super adorable hat pattern for the hop.

By now, knowing we had 2 hours left before kid time commenced, we raced to The Yarnery, where we bought a skein of Berocco, and their gorgeous All for the Love of Yarn hand dyed. Their pattern is a cowl, which they provided in knit or crochet (very generous).

Our final goal of the day was Darn Knit Anyway! My other favorite shop (why do they all have to be so far away?) under a time crunch though I panicked and only bought one skein of clearance yarn. I somehow didn't buy their 3IG special yarn, and now I am living in a pool of regretfullness. Especially cause it was a DK in Silk/Merino. Argh! What was I thinking? Probably that we'd already spent too much money. It just means I have to go back. I also want some of their buttons, especially the one that says Idle Yarn is a Cat's Plaything. Somehow that fits our house.