Store Stalker

A few weeks ago, a blogger who lives in my town mentioned that there was a new yarn shop opening up soon. I was so thrilled to hear about it, because we've been bereft of a yarn store for two years, ever since Verna decided to retire from having a yarn store. (Verna's decision to retire triggered a stash-enhancing gene that I never knew I had. I think I pretty much bought out her entire store. It's sad. I've never been the same since.)

Well, after finding out the location, I've been stalking the store which is called Just One More Row. Every few days I'd drive by v-eeeeee-ry slowly to peek into the windows to see if anything was going on. My impatience (ha ha!) was rewarded, when today I drove by - - -

- - - - and the shop was open! Not everything is on the shelves yet, but it was fun looking at all the pretty colors and feel the different textures. Ah, bliss! It looks like she's got a lot of nice wool, and the two main brands I saw were Rowan and Plymouth. It's a nice mix, because Plymouth is usually lower end (thus, cheaper) and Rowan is more expensive with better quality, at least in my opinion.

The owner had some interesting displays up. I meant to take a picture of the most adorable knitted cabled onesie that was on display in the front window, but I forgot. (This was due to my daughter suddenly deciding that dancing in the middle of the street would be great fun.) I did manage to snap a picture of this chair. Cool, huh? I doubt I'd ever have the time to do something that big, though. Maybe after the kids grow up and I don't have to worry about juice stains or crayon art!

I couldn't leave without getting something, so I went for the ol' standby, sock yarn. One can never have too much sock yarn, since everyone I know has feet, last time I checked. Plymouth Sockotta is one of my favorite hard-wearing yarns, especially for the price ($10), and I just loved the colors. There's mostly gray in there, but it has a few touches of blue that might knit up very prettily.

The yarn on the right (also $10) was new to me and had great yardage (435 yds?), so I could possibly get two pairs out of it, if I knitted for people with smaller feet and made a shorter cuff. It's got a nice blend of wool, nylon, and bamboo and feels wonderfully soft and squishy. I figured the color would be perfect for the coming fall weather. I tend to crave pumpkin colors in September.

I'm excited about the shop opening up, because one of my goals for myself is to finally learn colorwork and stranding. I taught myself to knit by reading a book, but for some reason trying to teach myself to do colorwork by book seems too daunting. I don't know any other knitters that can teach me this, so I'm hoping to take a class at the store. This little sweater is what I'd like to try first. It'd be for baby Gabe, so it wouldn't be too big of a project (that is, if I can finish it before the child is bigger than me. Goodness he's growing fast!)