Birthday in Paradise

It's my birthday!  Because I work tonight I have so far seen no other living soul save the UPS man who was delivering a package not to me but to my roommate (I still came close to opening the box.  What could she possibly want that came all the way from Texas?).  So I have spent the majority of my day working on this.

Nutkin by Beth LaPensee in Madelinetosh Sock, Cousteau

It feels appropriate to blog about this sock on my birthday because the yarn was an early present from my parents.  Last week my dad was in the hospital.  Yes, he is ok, and the waiting while he was in surgery was so tiresome that I knit an entire hat, but that is not the point of this story.  As anyone who has had a relative in the hospital can tell you, there comes a time when the patient just wants to be left alone and go to sleep.  So last Tuesday while my dad rested before a late discharge, mom and I went five minutes down road to the most glorious shop.

Really, the name says everything.  Yarn Paradise is one of those shops that seems to have enchanted a tiny house so that there really is no end to the yarn.  As soon as you go in the door you fall into a pile of Koigu, and the fun just continues from there.  Mom wanted to get me something from here for my birthday but the choices were so overwhelming that I hemmed and hawed for quite some time before suddenly I turned around and was presented with

An entire section of Madelinetosh.  Now I have seen Madelinetosh on the internet and heard many a podcaster extol its virtues, but I had never actually been in a shop that sold it.  Boy does it live up to the hype.  In addition to the yarn my mom bought, I also picked up a skein of Tosh Vintage in Steam Age, a lovely grey streaked with teal and purple that is destined to become  a cowl.

It wasn't the wool fumes, or the fact that I had not been in a yarn shop since May, that made me fall in love with Yarn Paradise.  It really is a lovely shop and its proprietors are that perfect blend of helpful and distant.  When they came to check on the loud crash that was me fainting from the sheer variety of sock yarn they just smiled, offered kindly to help if I had any questions, and then left me to my glee.  If you ever make it to Ashville, NC, you should really check it out.  Hopefully you'll be in the area to enjoy our area's lovely foliage rather than visit the hospital.

Loki Wool

I have the coolest friends.  They go to the coolest places and see the coolest things.  I live vicariously through them a lot because I never seem to go anywhere or do anything really exciting.  But the coolest thing about my really cool friends?  Sometimes they send me yarn.

My friend Erica recently went to Iceland on vacation.  She's a fellow knitter and knew what my immediate reaction would be -- "oh my gosh, Iceland? like where all the wool is?  Iceland is so cool.  I hear they have the best wool!"  So she promised to send me something from her trip.

I know absolutely nothing about this wool except that it is Icelandic.  There's something about having a skein of yarn on which the first words on the ball band are not English.  It's just so cool.  This skein is called Álafoss Lopi by Istex (copy pasted from Ravelry).  It's a bulky yarn with just over 100 yards.  I'm thinking of making a cowl with it, though I'm not sure which.  The color makes me think of Loki, though more the recent Thor version rather than some of the more menacing comic book portrayals.  Any pattern ideas?

(Nearly) Scottish Yarns

It all started a few weeks ago on Facebook. Dr R (you remember her as my beloved English professor and Buffy mentor) was in England with some students for a summer program and had found herself with a very unusual occurance -- a day free from any previously-scheduled activity.  So as any person with intellectual and well-traveled friends might do she posted a request for suggestions as to where she might go or what she might do.  I, the armchair traveler that I am immediately recommended that she go to a yarn shop.  Sounds weird to suggest to a non-knitter (though the conversion process can begin at any age), but I have known yarn shops to be a unique community and reflection on the culture and thought she might enjoy it.  Actually, I just made that up to sound smart.  Really I was largely joking and suggesting what I would do if I ever make it to the UK.

Fast forward to last night.  I, deep into the second month of my no-yarn-buying-must-pay-rent depression plan, am making dinner for Chris and myself.  Because I have no desire whatsoever to leave the apartment I send him out to check my mail for me, from which he returns with a package.  It's from Dr. R.  I immediately rip it open to find a card and these little lovelies inside.

It turns out that while in Edinburgh, Scotland, Dr R thought of me and decided to stop in at a yarn shop.  With the help of one of her knitterly students she picked these out.  Even though they're not Scottish, they did come from Scotland and are some of the nicest yarns I've ever had the privileged of owning.  When I finally stopped buzzing around the apartment like a frantic bumble I actually took the time to look at the yarns, photograph them, note them in my stash, and then immediately wind them.

Manos del Uruguay is a yarn that I'm sure you've at least heard of.  It's one of those in the yarn shop that I always make my mom pet with me.  It's manufactured in Uruguay by local artesians.  Every skein has the location of its creation hand written into the tag.  Essentially, it's one of the most humanitarian yarns you can buy (the Savvy Girls Podcast did an excellent interview with them).  This is Wool Classica in some very generic colorway number that in actuality is not generic at all.

The other skein is Scrumptious Chunky by Fyberspates.  I couldn't figure out why I had not seen this yarn before so I looked it up.  Lo and behold it's an actual UK yarn made in Wales.  Wales is insane!  This gorgeous yarn is 45% silk and 55% merino, making a delicious soft yarn.  The colorway is called Water and it could not be more darling.

Now I must get back to my yarn.  I may or may not have immediately started knitting with one of the skeins last night.