Stashin'

I've done quite a bit of stash busting this last year and have really been wanting some new and beautiful yarns. So, the timing was perfect when our Stitch N Bitch group decided to plan a "Yarn Crawl".

We met up early on a Saturday morning and piled into two cars to head out on our adventure. It was a cold and cloudy day and we went through some pretty heavy rain on our way toward the Los Angeles area. Since we don't get weather like that very often, it added a little more excitement to our day. We visited four yarn shops that I had never been to. And, I found some pretty fabulous yarns that had to come home with me!

Most of my new yarn came from my favorite store of the day, "Twist", in Manhattan Beach. I loved just about every yarn they had, the staff were wonderfully friendly and helpful, and they had lots of comfy seating. Right after I walked in the door, the gasps of "ooohs" and "wowwws" began and didn't stop. Even though the shop is small, they had LOTS of beautiful yarn...more, to me, than many large shops. I was in yarn heaven! I will definitely go back to this store and maybe very soon. It's worth the hour and half drive (one way)!

I may be a little behind the times when it comes to Malabrigo yarn. I've seen it a lot on Ravelry and heard people talking about it but I honestly don't remember ever seeing it in the shops I've visited. Twist has a LOT of it. Now, I know what all the buzz is about. Their yarn is beyond gorgeous! It's also super soft and affordably priced. I bought two skeins of this Malabrigo lace yarn in the colorway, "Nostalgia". I think I have a pattern picked out for these beauties! They are 100% baby merino wool, have 470 yards in each skein, and they only cost $8.80 each!

This is the first yarn I saw when I walked in the door of Twist. The colors are sooooo pretty! The cranberry, purple and green colors are so wonderful together! It was hanging on a dress form with a shawl that had been knitted with the same yarn. It was such a wonderful shawl that I may attempt to knit the same one. It's called "Herbivore" and it's available on Ravelry for $6. Although, rumor has it that the pattern used to be free. What's up with that?! The yarn is sock weight, superwash merino and has 440 yards in the skein. It was only $18.40.


I also got this one at Twist. See how much I love this store?! I couldn't resist the variegated cranberry and berry like colors. Beautiful! It's another Malabrigo yarn called "Arroyo" and the colorway is "Jupiter". It's also a superwash merino, sock weight yarn with 335 yards in the skein. It was only $18.40.


One of the shops we visited was "Unwind" in Burbank. It was a bright, airy store with pretty yarns, fun notions, a couple of seating areas, and friendly staff. I found this yummy, pumpkin colored yarn in their clearance area. It's Berroco Vintage DK and it's 288 yards were only $3.75. What a deal!


We visited two other stores that day. One was "Wild Fiber" in Santa Monica. I love this store! It's crammed full of beautiful yarns. There are so many choices that it's almost overwhelming. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything that day that I had to have. Although, their large selection of Koigu was very tempting!

The last shop we visited was "Yarn Lady" in Lake Forest. It's a large store with several large tables and seating areas to work at and lots of yarn choices. However, it was our last stop and I was shopped out for the day. I'm pretty sure I'll be popping back there for a visit someday. In fact, I wish I lived local to this shop because they have a spin night each week and a weaving night once a month! How cool is that?!

A couple days earlier, I made a trip to Riverside for my mom's knee surgery. On the way to the hospital, I made a stop at "Knitting with Sandra" and found a yarn I had to have. I'm not usually drawn to greens but this variegated green fingering yarn is so pretty! It's from a company I'd never heard of, "Hazel Knits". The yarn is called "Piquant Lite" hand painted fingering yarn. The colorway is "Woodland". It's 90% superwash merino and 10% nylon. There are 400 yards in the skein. It was a little pricier than my other yarns at $26. These pictures don't accurately show how gorgeous the greens are. But, trust me, they're pretty!


I wanted to try my hand at knitting more lace and I had a certain look in mind of what I wanted to make. I searched through patterns on Ravelry for days before deciding on the "Strangling Vine Lace Scarf" pattern. There are a lot of pretty examples by other Ravelers and the pattern is free. So far, so good. It's actually very easy to knit. So much so that I think I'll be able to work on this while chatting with others or maybe even watching TV. It doesn't look like much now but when it's finished and blocked, I think it will be beautiful.



I'll be spending most of tomorrow with my parents for my mom's follow up doctor appointments for her knee replacement. I imagine I'll be getting a lot of knitting time tomorrow!