sweetgeorgia

San Francisco!

Yippee! I’m going to San Francisco in November for a little weekend in a bigger city! My husband’s childhood friend who now lives in San Francisco is pregnant with her first baby, so we want to fly down and visit the mom-to-be… PLUS, I want to do some shopping! Any recommendations on fantastic, must-see yarn shops in San Francisco? I’ll also be attempting to get myself to Carolina Homespun to try out a couple different spinning wheels and buy a ton of fibre! Yay!

Soft spot for Soft Shetland

A whopping 22 balls of Jamieson’s “new” Heather Aran in “Sholmit” (a light/med grey) is on its way to me from Anne at SheEweKnits — it’s destined for the DH’s Na Craga which I’m hoping to start soon. But then, I heard about this sale at Jamieson’s UK shop… The old Soft Shetland colours are up for sale and are more than 50% off! Yep, it’s not even 9:30 am and I’ve bought more yarn.

Now, I’ll have enough Soft Shetland to make all those sweaters I’ve been considering — Fern, Little Rivers, Irish Moss… Phew, I can see being occupied for years with these projects…

So weak.

On Saturday, I just happened to be at Urban Yarns and just happened to buy a little more yarn. I just felt like I couldn’t leave the store without it — heaven forbid someone else buy up that yarn that I wanted…

That’s about 800 yards of Handmaiden’s “Angel Hair”, hand painted kid mohair and silk. I’m thinking this is comparable to Lorna’s Laces Heaven, except that Angel Hair is less than half the price. It’s $25 CDN vs. up to $70 USD for Heaven. I’m thinking about using this for the Meadow Flowers Shawl out of Knitters Stash.

And yes, that’s more Kidsilk Haze. Two balls in Smoke for Sharon Miller’s River stole. I’ll cast on for this after I finish Birch — only 26 more repeats to go!

Destashing a bit…

A couple months ago, I had a bit of an oops moment when I bought duplicates of a Jaeger pattern book and some shade cards. I finally have gotten around to destashing and have posted them for sale on Ebay now. Check it out…

These are just the books for now, but I’ll be listing some yarn too in the next few days! Must clear out some space in the yarn tub(s) for Fall stuff!

Roving roving roving…

Last Saturday, the DH was off at his brother’s bachelor party… all day. What to do to get your mind off all the colourful activities in which your DH might be participating at said bachelor party? Go shopping… all day.

Penelope Fibre

I drove myself out to Penelope Fibre in South Surrey and Knitopia in White Rock. Penelope Fibre is a wonderful mother & daughter-run company that stocks fabulous fibres and equipment for spinners and weavers. If you want to visit them, call ahead, otherwise order off their lovely web site.

Here’s what I bought at Penelope’s:

• 1/2 lb Ashland Bay Trading Co. Merino in “Mojave” (red!)
• 1 lb New Zealand Merino (natural)
• 1 lb 50% Merino/50% Tencel Blend (natural)
• 1/4 lb Tussah Silk (natural honey colour)
• Spin Off back issues (Winter 2003, Summer 2004)

The natural coloured stuff is for dyeing, of course! The NZ Merino is SO fluffy and soft, I had to have it! And I wanted to try some different fibres, so that’s why I picked up the wool/tencel and silk. I’m thinking of dyeing the silk a solid colour and then plying it with some of the merino.

Knitopia

Knitopia is a cute little shop just inside White Rock and is just packed with stuff…some Dale, some Rowan, some Fleece Artist. A lot of the Rowan stuff was on sale, so I picked up a pack of Rowan 4-ply Soft (Smoke) for 50% off! Love it! I’m thinking about making the fair isle cardigan from Sarah Dallas’ Vintage Knits book…

I saw this beautiful baby pattern book: Baby Knits from Dale of Norway… Such cute patterns but at $40, I left it on the shelf. Might get this next time I’m there!

Knit Cafe

Ok, I’m bummed about this one. I actually took the time (40 minutes) to drive from White Rock to Langley (oh and I got lost along the way) to get to the Knit Cafe. I’ve heard raves about the Knit Cafe. They serve lattes and yarn… you can get ice cream there… whatever. You can’t get any of that if THEY ARE CLOSED!?!? Closed on a Saturday. Closed because of Victoria Day weekend. Whatever.

On Order

After a particularly unpleasant experience of untangling a pile of energized singles, I ordered a niddy noddy online…and some other things. These are things I’m waiting for:

• Ashford Niddy Noddy
• Ashford Precision Lazy Kate
• Knit Picks Shine yarn for the argyle vest in “Special Knits”
• Knit Picks dye-your-own sock yarn
• Knit Picks Andean Silk in Sangria x 10 (I can’t remember why I ordered this. Oh god, that’s terrible. I think it’s for a Sitcom Chic.)
• Electric Bobbin Winder
• Bobbins
• Spin Off Back Issues x 6