I'm relatively an experienced knitter/crocheter, but i have only been to a handful of knitting events and ONE yarn store. so when i heard about the RED LINE CRAWL i was intrigued. three shops, one day, and a loaded charlie card later, i was knee deep in cool stuff!
But let me tell you, it was not easy to get to it, considering i had been waiting to pick my dad up all night and didnt sleep. i was up for 33 hours before hitting the pillow. but it was a great adventure.
at 9 am my adventure began at the Stitch House in Dorchester. i had heard about the stitch house from the internet but i have never been, my friend Jamie-Lynn lived nearby and so i called her and we met for their door buster sale, i was the second person to enter the store so i got first dibs at everything from the door buster sale.
The store was beautiful and airy and full of yarns everywhere! and they even remembered my name!
i gotta tell you these people were probably insane letting such expensive and rare yarns go at such rediculous prices. i bouught some elegant Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace yarn in a creamy white. It was $5 a ball in 70% alpaca and 30% silk! i grabbed the only 2 balls left, and made m purchases. i also received a coupon for 20% of all cascade yarns at a 10am yarn tasting, i also got a yarn crawl gampiece, if i got all three shops to stamp my game piece i would get 15% off my next purchase, so it was great.
at 10am they had a tasting of cascade yarns. i had no idea that they created so many fabulous fibres in so many colours! i tried this new pima cotton yarn in a sportweight that was so soft and knitted like butter, i think i will get some an make a scarf!
i also bought some crazy cascade eco worsted weight yarn in a wild lime green colour! it was 20% off so i think i will make some insane hats with it like the Jayne cobb hat on ravelry in green, so now i will have to find two more green yarns... oh bother...
After the Yarn tasting, Jamie and I parted ways and I took the red line all the way to the other end to Minds Eye Yarns. on the directions it said it wasnt far from the station. but i never have seen it. so how shocked was i when i descovered that it was in fact right across the street! So i went in.
OMG, it is TINY! the entire shop is two rooms of the owners appartment. the kitchen in the back was her own! I came in and saw some wheels and fibres i have never seen before. in the middle room Bijou Basin Ranch. I fell in LOVE with thier yak fibres not only because the were soft and exotic, but they are made by real people and not by huge corporations (red heart....). imagine being able to meet the animal that you made your hat or cowl from!?
i sampled their yarns and found them to be super friendly, the only downside to it is that they are EXPENSIVE, but the yak cormo blend i like is reasonable so i will buy some for my birthday!
i ended up buying some gorgeous 100% silk roving, some black topwool and an Ashford spindle. i am excited to practice my spinning, and to give the silk fibre to my friends at Easton Mountain, hopefully they like it. at checkout, the owner gave me a packet of wool wash and some adorable mini skeins, she told me to go online and vote for my favourite! they are just too cute!
afterwards i went to lunch at my favourite chinese restaurant in Davis Square, and was relieved to find that it wasnt packed like all the other stores in the area. It was a gorgeous and tropical 70 degrees...
after lunch, i headed to my all-time favourite yarn store, Windsor Button. they were PACKED, on a decent day they would have 7-9 people in the store at any given time. but that day they had at least 3 dozen! Rowan Yarns did a tasting at this shop (at this point i noticed the trend). I wasnt interested but I sat and Knit my herbivore scarf, in this yarn that Caprifool (from ravelry) sent me from Sweeden. People ABSOLUTELY went nuts for it! the shop managers told me to let them know if they could get local dyers involved. maybe i should let him know.
anyways, after working on the scarf, i went to get my next yarn. i bought some gorgeous berrocco ultra alpaca in a beautiful blue fingering weight. and some Lions brand woolease worsted for a sweater, but im going back to use my savings for more for that sweater.I've decided that i am going to to a vest in some lovely dark grey for myself in the woolease, its one of those yarns i cant live without in my stash!
As i was waiting to use the swift, this poor lady got her yarn tangled on the spinner, we spent an entire hour untangling it. tha shop owner and her husband were busy so i agreed to help. after we got hers done, i had the same problem with my ultra alpaca!!! i think they need an industrial grade yarn spinner! but after the madness died down the shop owners wound my bohemouth skein of cascade into 3 balls. I also recieved an adorable yarn cutter!
after a long day, i retired to the stitch house which of all things had a childs birthday party going on?!?!?! i sat and knitted and talked to the knitters, every one was just as exhausted from the heat and enjoyed the AC that the shop had turned on...
after all the madness, i went to MY Thai and had a wonderful dinner. it was truly a freakin wonderful day!
