Monday, December 11, 2006

Projects & LYS

Just in case you didn't know (although I firmly believe I'm usually the last to know), the Winter Knitty is available. I carefully looked at & contemplated each design & ended up LOVING two of them, liking a few of them & really wondering ??? about the rest. I've even already started one of the projects, Venezia. Of course mine does't look anywhere near as beautiful as the ones in Knitty, but since I've only made 2 so far, maybe practice makes perfect on something like this.

I'm using 32 gauge wire instead of the 34 gauge that the pattern calls for. My local craft store didn't have the 34 gauge & I thought the 32 would work, but now in hindsight, I think you must need the 34 gauge so that it keeps its shape (since mine seems to collapse). All in all I really enjoyed the project but I think I may venture out for that 34 gauge wire to see if it makes a difference in the finished object. Especially since I need more than two of these for the gift I'm making.

The second item I fell in love with was Argosy. It looks fine in the Hempathy, but when I saw it in the Noro Silk Garden, I just knew that it was something I had to knit. I don't have any Noro in my stash though, so this new love necessitated a shopping trip. I've previously vowed never to return to the LYS about a mile from my home, so I checked around a found that there was a LYS about 6 miles away.

Upon entering Sit 'n Knit I was greeted by a small dog and since I'm a "dog person" this was a good sign to me. My immediate thought was that the store was quite large! There are two very long & large wooden table & chair sets set up in two different sections of the store & one of them was occupied by a woman learning to knit & the other was completely filled with women sitting around just knitting various projects. The store owner greeted me & asked me to let her know if I needed any assistance. Wow! Real human contact .. this was a first for me.

My initial impression .. warm & cozy & I could SO knit here! But ... as I looked closer at all the bins of yarn along each wall, I noticed the over abundance of novelty yarns. Okay, okay, she was probably one of those shop owners who got sucked in the novelty yarn craze & is now left with a bunch of the stuff, but for heavens sake put that crap on sale & make room for the good stuff!

Upon further inspection of the yarn selection I KNEW this was the store for me, because I believe they need my help. The majority of yarn was either Berroco or Plymouth. I know it's decent yarn (I've knit with some lovely Berroco yarn before), but I was expecting more than 12 skeins of Debbie Bliss & 8 skeins of Noro (not the type I was looking for though) & I was definitely expecting more than one skein of sock yarn! I always seem to have trouble finding sock yarn .. is this because I live in Southern California & we don't wear socks? I knew then & there that it is my mission to spend some good quality knitting time at this LYS knitting beautiful items from yarns that they don't, but could carry. Is that wrong?

About the almost-finished hat. This is an exact copy of a hat my little brother (who is now 27) had when he was about 2 years old. He now has his own son & requested awhile ago for me to knit his son a hat that looks like his old beloved hat that he lost when he was 5 years old. Thank goodness my LYS had a similar type of yarn I was looking for. Unfortunately I didn't realize until after I left the store that this yarn has been reported as a non-consumer friendly yarn! (always my luck). I guess I could've returned it, but it's my first time at the store, the yarn is machine washable & the colors are perfect, so I'm going to keep it & vow never to do it again.

9 comments:

Karen said...

Wow, knitting with wire? You are so brave!!! :) That Argosy scarf caught my eye too - hope you find your yarn soon. I love your mission to help that LYS . . . . they may not know it yet, but they are lucky to have you watching over them!! :) The hat is really cute - your brother and nephew are going to love it!

Shar said...

I've gone to that store as well. It has potential but they need to enhance the selection.

jillian said...

Those Venezia are beautiful! Perfect gifts or to spruce up the casa. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people who has need for napkin rings :)

I say give your feedback to that store. As I've visited more and more shops and talked to people in the "business" I've come to realize that sometimes store owners are absolutely clueless! There was a blogger I talked to once who works PT at a yarn store, tries to talk the owner into getting more sock yarn, but won't because the owner doesn't believe sock yarn is popular!! What a git.

Anonymous said...

I loooooove the Venezia, really...so beautiful.

(also thanks for the wishes..I am ok ;))

Cathy said...

Wow, gorgeous! The hat is great too :) I would hope that the LYS would appreciate some friendly input, maybe to help their business :)

Christine said...

I love your charity knitting! Very good looking stuff going out in the mail. Your grandsons are adorable, how fun is that, going to Disneyland with their grandparents? You guys rock!

Stephanie said...

I used to go to that shop regularly, twice a week. The owners are super-nice people but I was always disappointed in the yarn selection (they ALWAYS have tons of novelty yarns) and the abundance of chunky yarns. Also, their prices seemed kind of high. They love to knit socks but for some reason the owner is totally married to Sockotta and (the last time I was in) wasn't planning on carrying anything else.

Lara said...

I love those wire napkin holders. I think you are right about the wire, but yours still turned out pretty. I think those would be tough to knit!

As far as the LYS, I would talk to them too. I have an LYS where I live and have spoken to her about different yarns. Her problem is the investment it takes to start up with a new yarn company. I have another LYS about 15 minutes away who has amazing selection of everything - I think she must have deeper pockets! Keep visiting the LYS with good customer service. I was cracking up at your previous experience. That is just terrible!

Stephanie said...

Hi Kristie,

I want to answer your email to me but blogger won't give me your email address either (am I a total idiot? I don't see it on your blog). If you could email me your address at conchobara@yahoo.com, I will be able to respond to your questions.

Thanks!
~Stephanie