8.08.2006

Unexpected Stash Enhancement

As promised, here is the haul from my trip. I swear that I departed on the trip with absolutely no intention of adding anything to my yarn or fabric stashes. You see, a recent cleaning of my apartment made it abundantly clear that I really, really had no more nooks and crannies into which I can stuff either materials. But, as we were winding our way along Highway 101 through the little town of Coos Bay, I spotted a sign along the road that said, "YARN," squeaked with excitement, and pointed. Dear I., well acquainted with my yarn obsession, dutifully pulled off the road and found our way to the parking lot. Surprisingly, the little store had an amazing stock of fibers, all of it spilling out from shelves lining the walls with additional packets overflowing from stuffed boxes. After a good half-hour of digging through skeins, I made my first stash enhancement of the trip there in that happy jumble of a shop: Lorna's Laces in Mixed Berry.


Yes, more hand-painted yarn. Not that I've yet found a suitable sock pattern (besides a plain one) that will not be overwhelmed by the variegated colors but these were calling out to me so in a vacation-souvenir daze, I bought them.

The next burst of consumerism happened when I. spotted and pointed out a quilt shop to me in Bandon (much to his regret later when I was lost in fabric matching for almost an hour). I finally left the shop with these, the greens with which I will be attempting a log-cabin pillow top with.



My last bit of shopping occurred in the lovely town of Ashland, home of the Shakespeare Festival and the absolutely amazing Web-sters yarn shop. Not only did they have oodles of yarn, they also carried weaving and spinning supplies. Sadly, my budget and time didn't allow me to consider either of those so I contented myself with the wall of Jamieson's Shetland wools, which I had never encountered before in person. I was absolutely blown away by array of wonderful heathered colors and before I knew it, I had this lot in my basket. These are all intended for future attempts at the intricate Scandinavian/Latvian mittens and gloves I have long admired. Two colored knitting with DPNs, here I come.



I also received some yummy yarns as a part of Secret Pal exchanges more on that next post.

2 Comments:

Blogger ofpinsandneedles said...

I can see where you went wrong immediately. 'Absolutely no intention of adding anything to my yarn or fabric stashes'. Ha! The only way not to buy yarn, I've discovered, is to decide on the yarn you are going to buy before setting out. This must be something very difficult to find, and very beautiful. Possibly, it doesn't even exist. Search for it in every yarn shop, compare each poor skein to the imagined beauty of mystery yarn, all will be found wanting and they will stay in the shop!

Clearly, you are going to have to adopt the Coos Bay approach to yarn storage. Failing that, you could make a wall display of all your variegated yarn. That Mixed Berry yarn is really lovely.

Also, if you start the mittens immediately, the yarn won't need any further storage than a knitting bag, which only spends some of its time in the house! Magic. Plus, I'd really like to see how you get on :)
I've been leaning further and further towards two-colour knitting, but I think I'd better complete a pair of socks first....

1:06 AM  
Blogger mathomhouse said...

I've been to that shop! and the caves look familiar, too -- I think it's the same one we visited many years ago on a trip to Ashland. Glad you had a good time!

"Souvenirs," not stash enhancement. Makes all the difference.

9:00 AM  

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