2 Tables for Fiber Friday

Hello:

The weather has cooled down nicely, here.  We are back to the kind of summer days that I love, where the temperature stays in the mid-70's (F), (23.9 C), there is often some cloud cover in the morning, and the nights are low 60's (15.5 C).

The Fiber Friday group from Eastside Stitchers met at Crossroads Mall.  This group started with only 5 original members, one who has moved to the OTHER Eastside, and one who was on vacation today, and yet, we still had so many people show up, that we needed 2 tables.

Fridays have a different feel from the Wednesday meet ups.  Part of it is that Crossroads is a bit slower and quieter in the mornings, at least until it gets close to noon.  Also, we sit at a different table, one in the center of the mall.  This table is under the big skylight, and has good light for stitching.

One thing that is the same, though, is how nice everyone is, and how supportive.  I love how we can ask for help or advice, and how generous the more advanced people are with their help.  Another thing that is the same for both groups is the great projects people bring.

 Teahouseknits  is designing something new, so I could only photograph her yarn.

I won't say anything about the project except that I really like what she has finished so far, and we had a discussion about magic looping, and 2-at-a-time.  I am a fan of both.  Teahouseknits is not so enthusiastic.

Winterpromise31, in the quest for some easy social knitting, brought a new hat.  It is the hat pattern and yarn from the Goody Bags for the Seattle Mariners Stitch and Pitch.

One of the interesting things about this hat is that it is knit flat.  In the goody bags, in addition to a bunch of patterns, you get some yarn and a pair of wooden straight needles.  These are meant to encourage beginning knitters, I guess.  So, it makes sense that if you only have the needles that came in the bag, you would knit the hat flat and seam it. 

Colleen brought a ... shhhhhhhhhhhh!  secret project.  She worked on it for a while, but brought a Safe-to-knit-around-Preggos Project as well because we knew GwenS was going to stop by for a bit.  The safe project is her first seamed sweater.  I am calling it the Pink Practice Sweater.

Welcome back, CodyJunk! 

CodyJunk came with a bag full of the cutest toys.  Of course I only took a picture of the washcloth/soap bag thing, Soap Nut Vessel, she was knitting. 

This prompted a discussion of who knits washcloths and dishtowels, and why.  I find them to be great social knitting.  Also, they make quick, nice gifts.

Constance49 brought her 2013 Summer Mystery Knit-a-long Shawl from The Fiber Gallery.  She is knitting it in beautiful Hazelknits sock yarn.

CathieC brought the Racing Raindrops Scarf. 

On Wednesday night, CathieC was having trouble with this pattern.  It's not the easiest social knitting.  When she brought out the project this morning, I was surprised.  But, since Crossroads is a bit more mellow on Friday mornings, it is easier to bring a more complicated project.

Wireknitter was wearing a new shawl, LightWaves by Susan Ashcroft.  This is knit in Noro Silk Garden and Cascade 220.  I just love the short row waves.

her knitting project was Cameo by Paulina Popiolek.

At first I thought she might be making a Color Affection, because of the striping.  This is a really beautiful pattern.  I am very tempted to make one.

Skeinherder was working on secret projects.

It seems that I am only able to photograph her yarn lately.  Here is her finished Stage 3 Tour-de-Sock sock to show that she does not just bring yarn, she actually Knits at Crossroads.

GwenS showed up near lunch time.  All of the secret knitting was whisked away.  GwenS brought a baby project, too, but for a friend who is not in Eastside Stitchers.

Yes, it is another Aviatrix hat.  We both agreed that it is just about the cutest baby hat in the world.

BlueBerryMary was starting a new Hoody Jacket.

But, she brought the best finished project of all.  No, not the darling baby dress and blanket she has been knitting the last few weeks. 

She brought the baby.  Welcome, Genevieve Rose, her new great-niece.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the world with a published pattern (have I mentioned lately that I published a pattern on Ravelry?)

The Northwest LYS Tour Day 1

It's May, and that means YARN!

Today was the first day of the 4 day Northwest LYS Tour 2013.  My stitch buddies, Eastside Stitchers, and I will be hitting all 24, count them 24 shops on the tour in 4 days.

Today, alas, I did the first day of the tour all alone, and lonely (not really, I'll explain), because, the main group is doing the Thursday and Friday days after work, so our working members can participate, and I had a prior engagement tonight.

The Fiber Gallery
8212 Greenwood Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98103
206-706-4197

I headed out to The Fiber Gallery first.  They were the farthest from my house, and I figured that I would start way out, and work my way back home.

This shop has parking behind it, just off N 83rd St. All of the shops today had very friendly and helpful people.  This was very evident at The Fiber Gallery.  They are known for carrying natural fibers, and eco-friendly yarns.

They also have the biggest supply of Hazel Knits in the area.  I was impressed by their wall of Malabrigo.  I loved all of the "sock" yarns they had in stock, though, most are what I would call fingering weight not sock, as they did not have nylon in them.

I can't post photos of any of the special patterns that are free to people on the crawl, but I loved every one of them today.  I really liked both the knit and crochet pattern at Fiber Gallery, and hope to make both.

I was not totally lonely, though I was here alone, because I had to text Skeinherder for some info on a pattern on Ravelry.  One of the yarns that was for sale here was a Cascade Eco.  I bought a skein to use in the SavvyGirls CAL (crochet a long), and I needed the yardage.  Thank goodness, Skeinherder was home and could look it up for me.  I don't have a smart phone, just a dumb one, so I needed help.  It's nice to have knit buddies.

Have you only seen Habu at fiber conventions and events?  They carry it at The Fiber Gallery.

The Tea Cozy Yarn Shop
5816 24th Ave NW Seattle, Wa 98107
206-783-3322

The Tea Cozy Yarn Shop is in  Seattle's Ballard neighborhood.

There is only street parking, and a warning for tomorrow evening, Friday, May 17, 4 - 8pm, there will be no parking on the street right in front of the shop.  May 17 is Norwegian Independence Day, so of course there will be a parade in Ballard.  It should be a really fun event, but, parking will be limited during the festivities on Friday.

The motto for this shop is "basics and beyond." 

They have some very nice "beyond." 
Lately, they are very into Euroflax and have a wonderful selection.

They also have embroidery threads.

They have begun to carry yarns from Abstract Fiber of Portland, OR.  And have a large selection.

Loved their yarn crawl featured patterns, and had to forcibly stop myself from buying yarn for it.  I'm sure I have suitable yarn at home.

Bad Woman Yarn
815 N 45th St, Suite 215, Seattle, WA 98103
206-547-5384

This shop is in the Wallingford Center, which has over 17 local and regional based retail boutiques.  There is plenty of parking for the center.

Bad Woman Yarn is down the hall to the left after you enter.  There was a table set up in the hall for people to sit and knit.

I

I arrived close to noon, and the Crawl was in full swing.  The shop was crowded.

This shop is packed.  Packed with very wonderful yarn, not just people!  They had the biggest selection of Madelinetosh I have seen yet.

They also had tons of Berroco.

Again, the "sock" section was interesting.  I wish yarn companies would not call fingering weight yarn "sock" yarn if it does not have at least 10% nylon content.  Call it "fingering" weight, for goodness sake.  That being said, Bad Woman Yarn had some beautiful fingering weight yarns.  And they were open about the types of fingering they featured.

I recommend timing your visit to Bad Woman yarn when you are hungry, as 2 of the restaurants in the Wallingford Center are offering discounts to people on the Crawl, and Trophy Cupcakes and Party

 is offering 10% off to anyone with an LYS passport.

Go on, you deserve a bit of cake by this time.

As I came out of Bad Woman, I found two of my knit buddies going in.  Chockelet and MsWiz were getting an early start (for our Eastside Stitchers) on the tour.  I knew they were out and about.  Still, we could have passed each other on the road.  We could have taken circular paths.  We could have never seen each other.  But we did.  It was so fun, and well, heart-warming, to see familiar faces.  We stopped to chat, exclaim about the yarn selections available at the participating shops, and admit our purchases.  I hope you run into familiar faces on your crawl.

Acorn Street Yarn
2818 NE 55th St, Seattle, WA 98105
206-525-1726

Acorn Street Yarn is tucked away in the U district.  I loved the "neighborhood-ness" of the street.  There is only street parking, and since it was a bit crowded with yarn shoppers, I parked down a block on a side street.

This is not a bit shop, but every inch is packed with yarn.  They pride themselves on having a really really good selection.  They have been in business for 30 years, and they know their yarn.

There are shelves and shelves full of yummy yarns.  I saw a lot of brands that I didn't know.  The owner was so friendly and helpful.  She kept running back and forth, as more and more entered the shop for the crawl, to answer my questions about her shop.

They had a really nice fingering selection, and a real sock yarn selection.  They had a huge selection of Cascade Heritage Sock.  This yarn is very often my go to yarn for knitting socks.

I will be back.

Serial Knitters
8427 122nd Ave NE, Kirkland, WA 98033
(425) 242-0086

This shop is my most local of the yarn shops.  They have a great general selection, and some special yarns.  While they try to carry a wide selection,

they focus on handpainted yarns.

They have a wide variety of price points.  They want to meet the needs of high spending and low spending knitters.  There are quite a few yarns that I have never seen,

The staff is very knowledgeable.  They have one special staff member, Annelie Wallborn, who designs and teaches at the store.

That's all for today.  I will be with the group tomorrow night hitting the shops.  I don't know if I will have energy to blog when I get home, but I'l try.

Good night for now.
Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the world with new yarn (but just one skein.)

2012 Puget Sound LYS Tour Day 2

Yesterday on the 2012 Sound LYS Tour, Allifer, GwenS, and I hit 7 shops.  Yes, 7 LYS in one crazy day.  The great thing about the tour is that you get to see a lot of shops.  The bad thing about the tour is that by trying to hit 21 of them (and be in the running for the $500 gift certificate, because it's all about the prizes), we are just getting a "taste" of each shop.  Back to the good news;  we hope/plan to come back to most of them.



We drove up north to Pinch Knitter in Stanwood. We left at about 8:30 am and got to the shop right as it was opening. OOOOOO so cute. I loved how open and airy the shop was.  Not at all cluttered, but with a really great selection of not just the usual yarns.












For instance, they had a whole wall of Dale of Norway.  It looked like every color imaginable.  Now, I don't do colorwork, YET, but I hope to, and I know that I can find a ton of great colors here, in person.




Gwen liked the tons of colors of Malabrigo, especially Finito & Lace.  The staff was super helpful and friendly.

Stop 2 was at Great Yarns in Everett.

I think they had more cool buttons than any of the other shops.



 Their featured yarn was the mink yarn I put at the top of the post.

I plan/hope to make a pair of fingerless gloves with this yarn.
 Just think:  Mink gloves.  They had a very nice selection, and were quite big.  There is a bargain room downstairs.

Stop 3 was Main Street Yarns in Mill Creek.  GwenS really loved the special pattern this shop had available for the Tour. 

We ate a quick lunch after this stop.  Main Street Yarns was in a really nice retail area, and there was a good selection of restaurants nearby.

Stop 4 was The Fiber Gallery in North Seattle. 

This shop was fantastic.  It had a huge amount of Malabrigo (very important to Gwen), tons of sock yarn, and every color of Cascade 220.  It is close enough, that we can come back quite easily.  Thank goodness!

Stop 5 was Tea Cozy yarn.  This was a pretty small store, but still very nice.  It had a very good selection considering the size. 

Stop 6 was Bad Woman Yarn in the Wallingford Center in Seattle.



This seemed to be very tiny at first, but it was packed with yarn goodness, and had more space than I thought at first.  The staff was super helpful.  They had a nice bargain/sale area where both Allifer and I bought some yarn to make sweaters.  They had a ton of both Malabrigo and Madelinetosh.  I will definitely return. 



This was going to be our last stop, but we were making great time, so we decided to head back to the Eastside of Lake Washington, and visit our local yarn shop, Serial Knitters.  I had already  visited this shop yesterday, but Allifer and GwenS had not. Allifer got the featured pattern and a skein of sock yarn to make the special fingerless gloves.  She loves the pattern, and that there is enough yarn to make 3 pairs of the gloves.

That's all for now, I'm falling asleep at the keyboard.

Stay safe and well.

f1bercat
shaping the planet..zzzzzzzzz......