Yarn Overload

I really think I am yarn obsessed.

My daughter, TeAntae, and I get together once a week when I am in town. Sometimes we go to farmers markets, unique shops, thrift /consignment shop crawls, or just knitting and watching travel videos. We also like to do yarn crawls and thought that we had hit every shop within an hour to hour and half area. On Tuesday we found out we were wrong.

I enjoyed the knitting shop in Newark, Delaware, so much that I wanted my daughter to see it. From her house, the shop is only an hour and half away. I met her at 9am and off we went, stopping for breakfast of course. We arrived at Stitches With Style to find that Tuesday's is there Sit n'Knit. We met with some wonderful ladies but but decided not to sit with the group this time.

The array of goodies is mind boggling but would you believe we did not buy any yarn. Found things we could not live without but controlled ourselves. I did buy the KA cable stoppers for the KA interchangable set that I had given my daughter. I had purchased them for myself but found that I knit on the tip of my needles and the join on those sets is larger than the cable making it difficult for me to get the yarn onto the wood. I loved knitting with then otherwise. The cable stoppers were not available when I brought the set. I also brought a couple of cables for my Hiya Hiya interchangeable set. I do not like the set because I have broke two cables and the cables come apart from the needle tip when knitting. I was sent grippers from the company that help, in fact I am using them on a project now and they have not come loose. I only use them in a pinch. With Knit Picks if you tell them something is wrong with your set, they send you a replacement. WIth Hiya Hiya, I have to send the broken part. One of these days, I will find the email and get the broken cables sent back.

We got hungry and decided to go to Tuesday Morning that was 3 miles away to see if we could find more of the yarn that my daughter needed for a project she was in the middle of. Found the store but they did not have the yarn. Went to Five Guys for lunch and talked about whether we should see how far Chadds Ford, PA was. I checked the GPS when we got into the car and found that it was 1/2 hour away. That was quite durable.

We arrived at A Garden Of Yarn after traversing a very windy road. I think that the GPS thought I wanted to go the scenic route. My daughter, TeAntae, posed for me as we walked in, and this is the owner of the shop.

This was such a cute shop, they even carry Malabrigo. They had a bulky malabrigo that had just come out at TNNA 2010. We pulled out our IPAD and Iphone to look for projects for it. We each brought one ball because that is all it took for a cowl that we both liked. Unfortunately, it called for a 19 needle. I will try to pick up one of those eventually.

It is difficult for me to get my head around the fact that not everyone that knits or crochets and especially shop owners is not on Ravelry. The owner told me that she had signed up but never gets on.

You will find a wide array of yarns from companies like Manos, Berrocco, Feza, Cascade, Malabrigo, Skacel, Trendsetter, to name a few. She also has yarn that is dyed exclusively for her shop. In one area you will find the Cafe. Okay, it is just a coffee pot with a sign above it that says " Cafe", I still think that was cute. There is also a small table that you can sit at to knit. She had a nice sale table that you will need to check out.

My daughter likes to make hats and she was thrilled to find the beautiful handmade flowers that were from Italy, I fell in love with shawl pins, flowers, and other accessories she had around the cash register area. I had a difficult time not to buy the yarn for a drop stitch shawl that she had hanging. She gives you the pattern if you buy the yarn. Trust me, the shawl is on my Christmas list to myself.

A few steps away is the most wonderous tea shop cafe, Special Teas Tea Room. They do not have a website, just the little info that shows up about them in the shopping center post. However, this is a marvelous shop. We went in to get some tea to drink on the trip home. I was not prepared for such a lovely shop. The shop is owned by two sisters. One of them makes most of the pastries (trust me the scones or delicious). When you first walk in, you come into the shop area that has loose as well as teas in tea bags. There are lots of tea strainers, tea bag holders, etc. What caught my attention was the Sugar by Sharon. When you have your next tea party or just feel like wanting to pamper yourself , you must have one of these sugars to drop into your cup. The sugar comes in a variety of stunning shapes - floral, seasonal, butterflies, roses, to name a few in pink, pale green, lemon yellow. And yes, I brought a pack of the ones shaped like roses to put in the package I am sending my spoilee in the Tea/Coffee Swap.

The cafe area serves soups, salads, hot and cold sandwiches. You can also have Morning tea which appears from the menu would be a cup of tea and scone or Afternoon Tea that runs $14.25 a person.

You would think that I was yarned out but the next day was the Mt Airy Knitters group sit n' knit. We were making a road trip this time. Susie (Susiewick) had organized the trip to Kent Island (Maryland) to a yarn shop there. When we met in the parking lot of the farmers market, we had planned to take 2 cars because there was 7 of us. However, Susie got a call from Jennifer (Kneadler) that she was coming and would drive her Suburban. I was happy that I did not have to drive and was amazed at how much room was in that big SUV.

We arrived at Island Yarn Boutique a little after the shop opened at 11. Sue, the proprietor, greeted us warmly and said that she would give all of us a 10% discount on anything we purchased that day. The shop carries your basic yarn brands but what I was not expecting was all the kits. She had a kit for all your needs from placemats to scarves. Sue also has stitch markers and other knitting accessories made by local artisans that make the shop a little unique.

I brought a couple of patterns, one was the mohair bias loop ( I have a lot of mohair from a binge that I went on a few years ago) and Barb's Koigu Ruffle scarf. I think that almost everyone brought that pattern. I have some yarn that I brought at the Midwest Fiber Show that I had no idea what to do with but loved the color, I think that I might use that. At least the weight will work. I did not notice that both of these patterns are from Churchmouse Classics until I got home. I went to their website and found a couple more patterns that I like. The last pattern I purchased was Starry Starry Night, a wrap made with fingering weight yarn (I really have a lot of that in my stash) by Jeanne C. Abel of NatureSpeak Knits. Jeanne, the designer is local, Annapolis, MD. I love buying from local designers and indie dyers. She has a Ravelry group that I plan on checking out as well as some more of her designs.

The shop is really cute, not one I would make a special trip to since most of the yarns are what you can get anywhere, however the owner is very nice and the shop is well laid out. There is no place to sit and knit. I was told that she has a place on the second floor that she holds classes. Maybe you could sit up there but that sounds very isolated. I can be isolated at home.

Again, I did not buy any yarn. I am getting so proud of myself.

We left the shop and went to lunch. I had a blackened shrimp quesadilla. YUM!! I make quesadilla's all the time just never thought of a shrimp one.

My TV is still out, my son will look at it this weekend. I am listening to podcast and watching Hulu or streaming movies from Netflix on my computer..... I want my TV back.