Today began as any other: feed the boys, put on a pot of coffee, fix some maple and brown sugar oatmeal, pour some juice to gulp down the morning meds. I had no expectation that I would find something delightfully soft, colorful and home grown.
Despite instructions to the contrary, I took a walk along the patchy snow-littered streets. Alone and unaided by steadying hands, I made my way to a brand new yarn store whose existence I’d just learned of this morning. It turns out that I am acquainted with the woman who owns this sweet shop mere minutes away from my home. Nice corner space, tastefully decorated with a selection of the usual high-end suspects: Noro, Debbie Bliss, Claudia Handpaint, Blue Heron.
What pleased me the most was the unexpected handpainted yarn from a Chicago-area company called Dream In Color. I left the store with 3 skeins of their yarn: 2 100% Australian merino worsted weight skeins of Lipstick Lava (# 270) and 1 very generous skein of merino sock yarn in the Wisterious (#240) colorway.
I couldn’t wait to get my needles into it. As soon as I got home, I got my swatch on with the worsted (yes, I know my cable is crossed the wrong way, but I don’t care):
Subtle color blending of the reds, orange, deep pink and the occasional dot of purple. Nice twist with no splitting of the yarn. Good stitch definition. Big bonus? I found none of the splotching, pooling or striping that can sometimes be problematic with handpainted yarn. This is bad because I need more yarn like…well, you know.
My recommendation? Get your hands on some at your LYS. You won’t regret it.
Okay, you have just suckered me into going to that store. There’s no option now, I simply MUST go!!
Wow. and I love the way the pink coif turned out in that yarn.
Looking good.
Once my boards are done, hopefully i’ll see you at the SNB!
Cheers
t
Beautiful yarn. I am lucky enough tohave a yarn shop that open within walking distance of my house a little under 2 yrs ago. It is definitely a nice perk to have.
Love the color, and the hat in the free pattern. I am BEYOND JEALOUS THAT YOU HAVE A YARN STORE WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE FROM YOUR HOME!!! I am also glad for you too. There is a townhouse next to my LYS, and it is only $419,000 – really, that is the price. Strangely enough I am not packing… Happy knitting, and love the yarn you recommended.
Oooooooooh! Nice yarn AND sooooo close to you. If I had wrote this post the bottom wd. have an addendum – went back and got more…I love maple and brown sugar oatmeal – gives me lotsa energy to knit 🙂 Ok enabling by K again! Terry
What a lovely project with the Dream in Color yarn – I really enjoyed working with it & plan to use it again.
I’ve seen lots of mentions about that new shop – I’ll need to check it out. 🙂
BTW – the crochet is indeed going well – it has been a fun learning experience.
Beautiful sproingy yarn but I can’t believe you went out to get it!! I also can’t believe you have an LYS in waqlking distance! I would be in SERIOUS trouble!!