knitabit

Yarn shop adventures

No photos today, just too dang tired.

Yesterday, I trekked over to Boulder with my list in hand: a third skein of Koigu KPPPM; the Fall 2002 edition of VK (for the Koigu pullover pattern); some Brown Sheep Nature Spun worsted for the Master Knitter swatches; and a 32" Size 4 circular needle.

They didn't have the VK. They were all out of the Koigu in the color that I needed. They did not carry Nature Spun in worsted, only in sport weight. So I didn't buy the circular needles, either (actually, I ran out of time and had to go pick up some kids.)

I had a business trip out to Sterling today, so that was an opportunity to visit a rather famous yarn shop there - Fiberspace. They are famous for their felted fish in the "Knitter's Stash" book. What a totally adorable shop. (Turns out that her dad was on the Board of Directors at the conservancy district meeting I had just attended. Not too surprising in a small town...) Sterling is out on the eastern plains of Colorado - not exactly an economic hot spot. The shop is located in the downtown area. She stocks a lot of natural fiber yarns in there, but also has a few acrylics for the hobby knitters. A great selection of books - got to glance through "Poetry in Stitches" and some other Norwegian-type books.

So here's the haul: "Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques" or whatever it's called (by Wiseman, maybe? I'm too pooped to go upstairs and look at it); another book about Swedish design and patterns (I'm 3/4ths Swedish, so it really caught my eye); 4 skeins of Nature Spun worsted in Aran; 32" Size 4 Addi Turbo circular needle; and the Knitkit "Little Companion" pattern.

This shop is every bit as cute as DJ's Fibercrafts in Florence (a small town west of Pueblo - famous for "Supermax," the prison that houses the Unibomber and other assorted terrorists domestic and foreign.) DJ's website looks like it's still under construction - it had just a placeholder for the longest time; I check every once in a while to see their progress in developing an online presence. I decided it felt really good to drop some money into the Sterling local economy as opposed to Boulder or Fort Collins.

I guess I'll have to contact Vogue directly to get that back issue, or at least get a copy of the pattern. And I'll start trolling the net for that Koigu color - the sock would still be cute with a contrasted toe, I'm just not ready to give up on finding the match.

Lochinver update: picked up the stitches for the first sleeve, and am 2 rows away from finishing the gusset.

Comments

Just an idea: sometimes even "recently" old VKs come up on eBay.

Posted by: Patricia Tryon at October 8, 2003 09:02 PM