Needles & hooks

Adventures in Harlotry…

…or “I saw that on the Internet!!”

Last night The Giant Glove and I went on a little excursion to meet The Yarn Harlot. In the middle of the afternoon, I exchanged vehicles with my friend because The Hand won’t fit in my Honda Civic. We loaded it into the back seat of her extended cab pickup and I climbed up into the largest vehicle I have ever driven for the 90-mile trek to Webs.

Because there were 600 people registered for the event, it was held a little distance away from the store at a theater. I got there around 5:15 and took a seat near the back. My goodie bag contained a ball of red Cashmerino Aran and pair of Boye straight needles. I pulled out a smaller glove to knit on and settled in. At 6pm, Stephanie took the stage and entertained us for about an hour. She took questions for another half hour. At the first bit of final applause, I was up and out the door so I could drive The Hand to the store and get in line.

When I got to the store, the employees were all thrilled to see The Glove. And as luck would have it, we (The Glove and I) were first in line for the signing. I sat down and waited. I fielded a number of questions and The Glove received a lot of attention.

Around 7:45, the signing began. A few people had been placed in a priority line for various reasons and they were allowed to go first. I held back and shielded the Glove so their Harlot time was not hijacked. Then it was my turn. I handed her my book to sign and said “Hi Stephanie, about 2 weeks ago you caused my blog traffic to explode when you posted a link to this…” and I pulled The Glove into her view. She was speechless for a minute and looked like this:

Then she finally said “I guess it wasn’t Photoshopped!”

She climbed over boxes and came around the table to take a photo of me sitting in the chair holding her Sock (I’ll link to her photo when she posts it). And then I got a picture of her sitting in it:

She signed my book and I moved The Glove off to the side, in front of a display of weaving shuttles, while I got down to the more serious business of shopping. On occasion, I came back near it to see people taking photos in or with it, and I overheard lots of “I saw this on the Internet!” I talked with people from time to time about it and was implored to take it on the road to places like Rhinebeck and MS&W. I suppose if I’ll be in town for the Boston Knit-Out this year, I’ll have to borrow the Truck again.

Around 9pm, I had paid for my purchases (that in a later post) and picked up The Hand. It gave a wave to the sales staff and I loaded it back into the Truck and drove home.

Already I’ve heard from one person who had a Glove Encounter last night. If you took pictures or wrote about it, I’d love to know! Send me an e-mail or leave me a comment and I’ll link you below.

Close Encounters of The Glove Kind
Robyn: Make sure to check out her baby boy cupped in the palm of The Hand.

Comments: 8 — Posted under: Absurd, yarn safari

What Not To Wear: U.S. Customs Edition

I visited a number of yarn stores when I was up in Vancouver last month. I had intended to take careful notes and write up another safari post. That fell through somewhere. But there was one store where I bought tangible souvenirs, so I can document that. One must-see store was Urban Yarns. I got a couple of balls of something silky with a nifty scarf pattern on the label. But I also got this fantastic girly T…

Front:

Back:

If you can’t read the photos: “She was quite a nice girl…”; “until she started all that knitting”.

Of course, I had to get the shirt. And I was so excited by it, that I wore it home the next day. Home on the plane. On the international flight back to Los Angeles. The poor wisdom of this didn’t hit me until I was going through Customs/Security at the Vancouver airport. Where the front of the shirt was visible through my open cardigan and jacket. And the security guard asked me what it meant, and I proudly showed off the back as I removed the jacket and zipper cardigan and placed them in the x-ray bin. And I realized I marked myself as someone possibly risky, sporting pointy needles, trying to board an international flight.

Fortunately, everyone had a good laugh. And I got to return to the United States. And I got to keep my needles.

Comments: 3 — Posted under: Absurd, yarn safari

Yarn Safari: Threadbear Fiber Arts

When on the way to Threadbear Fiber Arts, I told my sisters that I didn’t expect to be more than 15-20 minutes. That estimate comes from many other experiences visiting new yarn shops where I can quickly scope out the entire shop and determine if anything interests me. Seeing as I also didn’t have a project that I was shopping for, I couldn’t imagine any reason to dally.

Then I entered the store. And staggered out well over an hour later.

Threadbear is without compare.

First, it’s huge. Second, it makes use of its space incredibly well. It is scattered with freestanding bins of yarn, each organized by color, arranged and tidy, and easy to browse. As you wind around these yarn islands, you encounter little nooks for knitting with comfy chairs and couches. There’s a large class area in the middle of the store, surrounded by sock yarn. There are knitted samples everywhere, some perched on the various yarn islands, many others hanging from the ceiling. Every yarn line they carry seems to be stocked with the full color line, and often the color cards are right there with the yarn. It seemed that they’d thought of everything, because every time I looked for something, it was right there - “gee, my arms are getting full, wish I had a basket…” and look there’s a stack at my feet.

And, it’s bustling. The class on socks had close to a dozen people in it. The rest of the store was packed with shoppers. It’s not in a location that would encourage much foot traffic, so everyone was probably there with a purpose. I used to read the owner’s blogs as they were starting out and it warmed my heart to see the store doing so well.

So, of course, I bought stuff.

First, for myself, some kettle dyed Rio De La Plata in Sparkling Grape. Maybe it will become some chunky gloves.

Then, some crazy colored Biberon merino that will likely become something cute for my baby niece. The store had a sample knitted up from Mason-Dixon Knitting, so I’ll look through the book and see what I think.

Of course, I had my sisters with me, so I did a little shopping for them as well. First, I helped my baby sister, K, select some yarn for a scarf. She got 3 shades of a novelty yarn and some black cascade as a base. She intends to make the colors stripe up the length of the yarn. I got her started before I left.

My other sister, L, is not a knitter, so I got yarn to make projects for her instead. First there was a hat she liked near the Cascade. She tried it on (and there’s mirrored columns in the store so you can see how you look!) and loved it. Then she spent about a half-hour trying to choose two colors. In the end, what she picked reminds me of watermelon. It turned into my plane knitting for the trip home and I’m almost finished with it, so I’ll show you in a couple of days.

Then, just as I thought we were wrapping up and were safe, she spotted the store sample Geisha Wrap. And tried it on (darn those mirrors!). She loved it and pawed through the kits they’d assembled. It’s made with various flavors of Colinette and she balked a little when she realized that the price she saw wasn’t for the kit, but for one skein of yarn. I grabbed it from her and got it for her birthday. Now I have 19 days to knit it. Here’s the yarns:

So, the trip was a total success. I tracked Matt down as we were leaving and complimented on him on the fantastic store. If I lived nearby, I would be spending most of my free time and more than my disposable income on that store, I’m sure. So it’s a good thing that I have to take a plane to visit.

Anyway, today is my second day home sick on the couch with a head cold. And it’s the last day of February. The last day of my month of hell. It’s warm and sunny outside today, the snow is melting and spring is coming. Not just spring for the area, but maybe spring for my life as well as a new phase begins for me. March is going to be a busy month.

Comments: 5 — Posted under: yarn safari

Los Angeles Yarn Safari

My extended stay in Los Angeles continues and I didn’t have any specific plans for the weekend, so I decided to go on a yarn safari. I had a rough idea to get some sock yarn to make the Bee’s Knits Ruby hoodie but other than that, it was just an adventure. And it happened to be an odd rainy day as well, so I wasn’t giving up any sun soaking time. My hotel is near LAX, so I mapped out a handful of yarn shops on the west side (Manhattan Beach to Santa Monica) and set out. These are my travel notes:

1) Beach Knitting, Manhattan Beach. A few parking spaces in the back with an entrance through the stock room. Open airy store. Several couches and a big coffee table for a nice knitting nook in the back. Good selection of books. Modest selection of novelty yarns, several hand dyed sock yarns (Lorna’s Laces, maybe Claudia Handpaint), nice wools. Staff introduced themselves to me when I entered.

2) Slipt Stitch, El Segundo. Free 2 hour street parking. Crowded small store with stock to the ceiling, square bins piled with yarn, hard to see full selection. Small knitting table at front for stitch and bitch that greeted me when I entered. Tiny amount of Koigu, a few other handpaints. Nice selection of Cascade. More acrylic and novelty yarn than I would like. Knit samples all over the place. Some books and patterns crowded in near cash wrap. Didn’t look them over as I felt somewhat claustrophobic.

3) Azalia’s Yarn, Culver City. Storefront empty.

4) A Mano Yarn, Mar Vista. Free street parking. Small shop, densely stocked, cluttered feel. Boxes of unpacked stock shipment all around. Large table in front for stitch and bitch that was hosting a sweater class when I was there. Was greeted when I came in. Knitted samples everywhere. Huge selection of Koigu KPPPM, large Cascade selection, lots of Lorna’s Laces (not just sock yarn), Karabella. A wide variety of yarns I’ve never seen before. Good color selections in all carried. I found the sock yarn for Ruby here. And also walked away with some Lorna’s Shepherd Worsted and Karabella Chameleon in an odd purple/pink/lime green mix that I couldn’t put down. Don’t know what I’ll do with it. Got the Lorna’s for another EZ Baby Surprise. Was feeling motivated to start working on it ASAP, so I wound the yarn at the store and started asking around for the pattern at the shops I visited.

5) Yarns Unlimited, Santa Monica. Metered street parking (4 mins per nickel). Well stocked shop, tall walls. Room in back with large knitting table. Tons of novelty yarns. Most other yarns are acrylic blends (Bernat, Patons, Lion Brand). Honestly don’t recall if I saw pure wool at all. Pattern selection seemed to be mostly magazines and leaflets. Didn’t bother asking about EZ pattern.

6) Wild Fiber, Santa Monica. Metered street parking (4 mins/nickel). Large open airy stylish store. Very inviting, space to wander and fantasize about projects. Seemed to be mostly organized by manufacturer. Large island of Manos. Wall of Rowan. Wall of Koigu. Also Karabella, Debbie Bliss. Balls of bright colored roving stored decoratively on tops of shelves. Huge book and pattern area. Knitting/class area in back room behind a curtain. Didn’t see what was going on, clearly not a drop-in kind of thing. Had to interrupt employees at cash wrap to ask about EZ pattern. They didn’t have it.

7) L’Atelier, Santa Monica. Tiny parking lot, street parking. Small store, table filled with stitch and bitch. Store packed with people. Felt somewhat cluttered. The stock was all novelty yarns and luxury cashmere blends. No workhorse yarns at all that I could see (no Cascade or other wools, no simple cottons). I asked about the EZ pattern and the woman had no idea who I was talking about (I had to repeat “Elizabeth Zimmerman”). I visited this store 5ish years ago when I still lived in L.A. I recall they had better stock then and more of it. The table replaced several rows of shelving that they used to have. Shame. Because I found nothing appealing in this store.

8) Knit Knacks Plus, Santa Monica. Address didn’t exist.

9) Stitches from the Heart, Santa Monica. Metered street parking (4 mins/nickel). Small open store, stitch and bitch table at front. Was greeted when I entered. Mostly acrylics. But also tons of Alpaca bulky by several manufacturers. Small amount of interesting handpaint Manos-like yarn. Also had a Noro look-alike. Seemed to be randomly stocked. As it’s a store-front for a non-profit yarn charity, the wealth of acrylics made sense. Lots of discussion about all the charity projects the store had done.

10) Needlepoints West, Westchester. Street parking and large free lot down the block. A small disclaimer. I saved this store for last because I used to frequent it a lot when I lived in L.A. Back before I learned to crochet and knit, when I did a lot of cross-stitch. And it was my mecca. Lots of patterns and supplies. The storefront moved a few doors down while I was there and then the owner sold the shop just before I moved away. So when it popped up on my search for “yarn stores”, I was hesitant. It never had yarn before. Well, it does now. It still focuses mostly on needlepoint and cross-stitching. In fact, I think the supplies and stock for these crafts may be better and more nicely organized than ever. Although I thought the pattern section was less than it used to be. As for yarn, there is a small but respectable stock. What used to be the classroom at the back is now a yarn room. I noted a lot of alternative yarns - soy blends. I almost bought a ball of Tofutsies just because it’s made with chitin (shellfish).

As it was still sort of early, I went back to the first two stores to see if they had the EZ pattern or a solid yarn to match my sock yarn for Ruby. Slipt Stitch had an EZ book, but not the pattern. And they had some solid sock yarns, but none a good match. Beach Knitting had closed at 4pm. On a Saturday.

Summary
I’m spoiled.

In Boston, I have several stores I rely on for the basics. And they are well stocked. Wild and Woolly in Lexington satisfies my needs for anything but sock yarn (they never seem to order more than a pair’s worth in any “sock” yarn). I rely on A Good Yarn in Brookline for that. Now, I know that the Los Angeles climate isn’t suited for heavy wools. But no wools at all? And a poor selection if any? (Someone should tell L’Atelier that novelty yarns are out and felting is HOT!) I saw a decent amount of mercerized cottons at most places. But I didn’t even notice lace yarns anywhere.

I saw Artyarns and Malabrigio somewhere. Several places had a variety of Noro yarns. No one had any Dale yarns (and I was really hoping for Dale Baby Ull for my solid Ruby yarn). Most of the baby yarn I saw was DB Baby Cashmerino. That was stocked just about everywhere.

I tried to imagine which stores would serve me if I were to move back to L.A. I think A Mano is up there, despite the cluttered feeling (reminded me a little too much of Woolcott & Company in Cambridge which always puts me off with the clutter and struggle). Although this was the only store that compelled me to really look at things. I picked up a bunch of stuff that I didn’t buy. The owner clearly had a good eye. I think I’d also visit Wild Fiber again. But neither store would be the first place I’d head to when starting a project like Wild & Woolly is. The list of L.A. yarn stores is still quite long, I guess I’d have to keep looking.

Comments: 6 — Posted under: Retail Therapy, yarn safari