It Followed Me Home

I did not come home from Arizona empty-handed. 

The first yarn store we visited in Mesa was Yarn Fifth Avenue.  The owner handpaints yarn for sale in her shop along with many quality yarn brands.  The multicolored skein below is her handpainted laceweight silk, over 1200 yards, enough for a shawl.  I'm thinking of Miriam Felton's Cleopatra Wrap from Sensual Knits.  The two smaller balls are Jojoland Rhythm, a yarn I'd never see before.  It's a twist of colors with long color changes throughout the ball.  The sample skinny scarf made me want to knit a little something with this yarn.  It's a smooth wool with a very soft hand.  Also, I had looked at the current edition of Verena on the new North American website and when I had the chance to pick it up, I did.  I am considering a subscription; it has some very stylish designs.
 

Next we hit the Fiber Factory in downtown Mesa.  It's a large store with a multitude of brands and types of yarn.  From there I chose more laceweight, wool and silk blend from Grignasco.  You get a lot of knitting for your buck with fine yarn.  I also picked up two skeins of hemp to make an Everlasting Bagstopper.  I know I shouldn't be buying Canadian yarn in the U.S., but it saved shipping costs and waiting.  The pattern booklet is for Berroco Naturlin and has some nice home decor items in both knitting and crochet.

 

The third, unanticipated yarn stop was the died-and-went-to-heaven best!  Knit 1 Bead 2 in Jerome is amazing, and the owner Erica Raspberry is super friendly and helpful.  The store was filled with eye-catching samples; I wanted to knit them all, but settled for purchasing one pattern.  I picked up a skein of Conjoined Creations handpainted soysilk (laceweight again) that was so soft I absolutely could not bear to put it down again.  Then I found the Kauni.  It's hard to believe the two balls below are the same colorway, just wound from different starting points.  Erica pulled up the pattern on Ravelry for the popular squares cardigan and helped me inspect the balls to pick good ones for fair isle contrast.  My friend bought some too, having fallen in love with the sample ruana displayed next to the Kauni cupboard.

 

Then when I got home, I got yarn in the mail from Freshisle Fibers.  It looks even better in person than it did on her blog.  It doesn't know yet what it wants to be when it grows up.

 

On the way home, I had knit two dishcloths, which sparked a binge of absolutely stress-free knitting. 

I think it's over now.  I've got a real bad case of second sock syndrome going on, about four single socks or started socks laying around.  The challenge will be to get some of them paired up before succumbing to summer lace.

Comments

[Brenda]

Sounds like a wonderful holiday. My kind of vacation.

[freshisle]

So many beautiful yarns. I love that pink laceweight. Hard to resist!