Thursday, September 07, 2006

I take it back, I take it all back

Did you ever hear me rant about the "mean yarn shop lady" in Encinitas? It's well known that I like Common Threads, it's like a home away from home. Last Friday, I had the yearly doctor stuff in San Diego. In less than an hour I had been pap smeared, pelvically scanned, and boobicably squished. It was only 12 more miles to Encinitas, so damn the horse races, I was bound for yarn shopping!

I was in search of a specific pattern for some cool mohair stuff that I bought in Providence. I had swatched, and it was impossible to pull out, so I decided to go with the yarn manufacturer's suggested pattern, since they know much more than me. I called 3 shops that were supposed to carry this company's patterns--Common Threads first, and The Needlecraft Cottage second. Neither had the pattern. Third and last on the list was The Black Sheep, the shop where I was scolded for touching the felted bag on their wall display.

I called ahead, and a very pleasant lady said that she would hold the pattern for me. OMG. I take back every back thing I said. Mind you---they still have rules here--no touching the display that is still up on the back wall, and a sign stating no cell phones calls allowed while you are in the store. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....so I turned my phone on mute, not wanting to get sent to the corner for bad behavior or 86'd from the place entirely. They had almost a whole wall of Fiesta's La Boheme. I see why Deb opted for the Shimmer Shawl. I've never seen that much of it in one place. A tactile delight.

They also carry Habu Textile's yarns (link is on the title above). This is a Japanese company with very interesting yarn. DeeDee and Linda and I saw it last fall at Arizona Knitting in Scottsdale. I had promised myself that I would not buy any more shawl yarn ( I have 2 shawls-in-progress that are in the time-out room), but didn't have the same sanction against a possible scarf yarn purchase. I bought a scarf kit from Habu that has 3 yarns. Two are called "linen paper" and resemble raffia. The other is a stainless steel yarn wrapped with silk. It is really strange. It is extremely fine, about half the size of sewing machine thread. You hold the steel with whatever color of linen paper you want to knit with, changing colors PRN. Of course, being ADD (or an exceptional multitasker?) I have already cast on and started it. It does scrunch. When you are done knitting, you are supposed to roll it into a ball and "mush" wash by hand in the water, "like you are trying to make a rice ball". Definitely not a functional scarf, just a fashion accessory. I also got some little packets that are combination of paper, linen, and nylon. They haven't spoken to me as yet. I tried to take photos of these, but my camera is on the fritz. I will bring them on Sunday. They definitely need to be put on the Yarn Crawl list. They are open Sundays, tool.

Speaking of Sunday--I hope to see you at the (in)Skeiin Asylum---till then, Knit On!