Delightful New Goodies

Well, I had a pretty good time in San Francisco last week with my sister and her family and my mom. It was a really great visit. Of course, given everyone involved, you know there were a few trips to yarn stores on our itinerary. We actually only made it to two stores, the third one we could never quite manage to make it to during business hours. Still, that was more than enough. I thought you might like to see the lovely items I picked up in my travels.

The first store we visited was The Yarn Boutique, pretty much right in my sister's back yard. It was a fun little shop with lots of wonders, although I felt it was a bit small and crowded. That could have just been because my daughter was with us and was getting into, well, everything. The employees were very friendly and patient and knowledgeable though, so that makes up for quite a lot on in my book, I have to say. 

Funnily enough, I didn't actually get any yarn there. But neither did I leave empty-handed. Here is what I procured from that store:

Jane Austen Knits 2011

I have been drooling over this pattern book for a while now, so when I saw a copy on the rack in the store and picked it up to flip through, I knew it would be going home with me. I am going to have to do some serious leveling up in my knitting skills before I can attempt to make pretty much any of these patterns, but oh my goodness the gorgeousness. I am looking forward to getting to try these out.

Namaste Bag (baby not included)

This gives you a better idea of the shape. It is the Laguna style bag in Peacock.

Oh I am in love with this bag. Never in my life would I ever have dreamed of spending so much money on a bag but as I chased my daughter around the store this gem kept catching my eye. Finally I had a moment to pick it up and look at it and there was no going back. These pictures don't even start to do it justice. It is ginormous, able to hold a ton of stuff (knitting, diapers, and other), but it doesn't feel like a big clunky bag. It has already replaced my regular purse. I'll admit I've been drooling over the Namaste bags in my Knit Picks catalogs for a while now, but I never considered actually buying one until I saw this one in person. I guess to touch it is to love it...

Our next stop was a shop in Oakland that my mom wanted to check out because she met some of its employees during last year's Sock Summit. It is a lovely little store called A Verb For Keeping Warm (which I think is just a fantastic and random name for a store of any kind). In addition to yarn they also carry quite a bit of fabric. It was a nice open sunny shop, and they had a wonderful stash of books and toys for kiddos under one of the display tables. In fact, Baby Girl zoomed in on that as soon as we walked in, pulled out a Sesame Street book, and once placed in a nearby chair, spent the entire visit happily reading through that. This allowed me plenty of time to ooh and ah over all of the wonderful yarn on display. I made up for the lack of yarn purchased at the first store here. The pictures don't really do these beautiful yarns justice, but here's a gander nonetheless.

Wishing II in Chartreuse Sister

This is the store's own line of yarn, hand dyed using completely natural methods. It is a lovely silvery green multi yarn. I think this is only about half a skein, it was in the clearance bin, but it will work up to something small and lovely, I have no doubt.

Malabrigo Sock in Aguas

Malabrigo Sock in Impressionist Sky

Malabrigo Sock in Indiecita

As you can tell, once I hit the Malabrigo section, it was pretty much all over for me. This yarn is so soft and gorgeous. My mom recognized the Indiecita and said she's used it before and it works up really prettily. I just can't wait to find some socks to make with it.

Speaking of socks being made by me...I did manage to start that pair that I took with me to work on during the trip, but I didn't get very far on them. 

Well, it's almost all of a cuff...

I was doing most of the driving and on the plane I really didn't want to get to into them in case my daughter decided to get fussy. Also, I was doing quite a bit of visiting. That's okay though. I've managed to finish the cuff and start in on the leg since I've been home, and that's all just straight knitting. These will be good to work on during Jeopardy! since the blanket I am making requires me to count every stitch, which I can't do while answering clues. They will be a nice side project while I get these next few blankets knocked out for sure.

So, those were my yarny adventures while I was on vacation. Next week I'll have a few finished projects to show off for you, so stop by then, won't you? 

TTFN!