Road Trip, Day 5 and 6 - East Texas

The fifth day of our trip started in Austin, Texas with a short drive to East Texas to see family. The drive was gorgeous!  We went through rolling green hills with lots of trees, flowers and farms. It looked like a story book.  Perfect and beautiful!

We made a stop along the way to visit a yarn shop called, iPurl in The Woodlands, Texas.  I found it online when I started planning the trip.  I've been following them on Facebook and in May they posted some great tools they'd gotten in the shop.  I was hoping they'd still have some by the time I got there.

We received a warm and friendly greeting when we walked in and the entire visit was nothing but enjoyable!  The people were super nice, the selection of yarn and supplies was wonderful, and they had lots of inspirational projects displayed around the store.  And, yes...they had the tools I was hoping for.

I finally got a lucet!  I've been wanting one for a while but haven't found any in yarn shops until now.  This one is made with beautiful cherry wood and it comes with directions complete with photos.  I'm so excited to give it a try!

The other tool I was hoping they'd still have was one of these yarn ball holders.  It spins and keeps yarn easily available but doesn't let it tangle.  One of the sweet ladies in the shop said it's one of her all time favorite yarn tools.  They not only had some left, they also had a choice of finishes.  I chose this dark wood one.  I love it and I'm so excited to try it out too.

I looked up the company that made these wood tools and it turns out they came from California....where I'm from!  Funny how I never saw them in yarn shops at home and had to come all the way to Texas to find them!  I'm just happy to have them and happy they're handmade in America.

I'm so into crochet thread lately and always on the lookout for pretty colors.  iPurl had lots of it in a few different brands.  I had to get some!  I already have in mind what I want to make with it!

While my items were being added up, I noticed some cute purse handles hanging near the cash register.  Yes, I had to get some of those too!  Aren't they cute?!

They had them in several different colors but I had to have the red ones.

I think they'll look super cute on a black felted purse.  Or, who knows...maybe another color!

As she bagged up all my goodies, she put a little gift inside for me...

a set of cute little stitch markers...

My daughter even bought some yarn!  It's a beautiful sock weight yarn with pinks, oranges and (I think) some purple in it.  It's pretty!  She's planning to crochet a lacy cowl with it.

We enjoyed our visit to iPurl so much!  I think they enjoyed our visit too as we chatted a lot and before we left they took our photo and posted it on their Facebook page...

I wish we had a local yarn shop where we live.  And, I wish it was like iPurl!

Not only did they have great stuff and wonderful people but they also have lots of classes, stitch-alongs, charity project stitch-alongs, groups, etc.  It sounds like so much fun!

Back on the road...we headed north to visit my wonderful aunt and cousins.  We had a wonderful visit!  I love them so much!  I'm not posting any photos of them though as mine all turned out blurry (my daughter got good ones). It's always wonderful to see them and spend some time together.  Since we live so far apart, we don't get to see them very often.

We were excited to find out they have Cardinals and were quickly on the lookout for some.  It didn't take long.  My aunt re-filled her bird feeder and they were there in no time.  They were, however, quite hard to get pictures of.  In fact, they seemed camera shy.  We could walk near the window and they didn't always fly away.  But, as soon as we tried to take a photo, they'd fly away.  I did get a few from a distance though.  I just zoomed in with editing to get a closer look.

Here's a wider view to see her lovely yard.  It's so green!

Here's one of the Cardinals.

See...he's looking at me and about to fly away!

There were lots of other pretty birds there that we do don't have at home. I just wasn't able to get pictures of them either.  Oh...and my daughter saw her first firefly!

My aunt had Passion Flower vines on her fence .  I'm always fascinated by them.

I posted this one on Instagram.  I used an effect but it really was purple.

Isn't it amazing?!

Hopefully, Ladybug won't mind me posting her picture.

She's my aunt's dog and she's such a sweetheart.

I finished knitting my Gap-tastic cowl while I was there. It was perfect timing too!  It may be summer but people and businesses seem to keep things extra cool in the south with AC's turned up high.  I actually wore it for a while in my aunts house.  Ahhh...it felt so good!  I'm happy to report that my handspun Merino yarn is very soft and not itchy.  Yay!  I posted this on Instagram that day...

I had to get a photo of this before we left.  It's an antique child-sized desk that someone gave to my aunt when she was a child.  My mom played with it as a child too.  And, I got to have it for a while when I was little.  I have great memories of having this in my room.

Our visit was short but wonderful!  After a day and a half we had to hit the road again for our next destination...New Orleans, Lousiana!  I'll start posting about that as soon as I can.
The hotel we are at right now has bad wifi and I am finishing this on my cell phone.   It is quite challenging...to say the least!

Hello, Yarnover Truck!

Last week, I posted about a project I was working on and how I'd run out of yarn wayyyy before it was done.  At that time, I wasn't sure I wanted to spend any more money on it.  And, I wasn't even sure that more yarn would be available.  I'd purchased the yarn over a month ago.

After I thought about it for a while, I decided that I liked the project a lot and that I really didn't want to rip out all my hard work.  So, I sent a message to the Yarnover Truck (where I'd bought the yarn)

to see if they happened to have any left in the same dye lot.  They did!  They said they'd be happy to hold it for me even if I couldn't make it to one of their locations until August or later.  Wow!

They were in San Diego on Sunday.  That's not all that close to me but I love

going down there and it was a great excuse to beat the crazy heat we had at home.  

An hour drive and we were in temps 30 degrees cooler than home!  Wow!

Hello, Yarnover Truck!

I went in and they had my yarn right there waiting for me in a bag.

They even gave me a Yarnover Truck button.  They're so nice and I really enjoyed

chatting with them for a few minutes.  I was excited to congratulate them for

winning the 2013 TNNA Business Innovation Award.  I know a lot of us thought

their idea was genius.  It's awesome that they have been officially recognized for it.

They had their glass trophy sitting on the counter.  :-)

I know that I said it this after my first visit to the Yarnover Truck and I'm going to say it again after my second visit...this is one of my all time favorite yarn shops.  That says a lot because I go into every yarn shop I can find in Southern California and everywhere I travel.  I think that just about every yarn they have is super gorgeous.  They have both knitted and crocheted samples that are stylish and perfect for the season.  And, their little shop is nicely organized, bright, airy and just plain fun!  

If you ever get a chance, go shop the Yarnover Truck!

They had a couple of these signs for sale...cute.

I know that food trucks are super popular now.  I had no idea there were stores on wheels...except 

for the Yarnover truck!  Turns out there's a whole association for them.  This event was put on by

the AMRA (American Mobile Retail Association).  Who knew?!  This event was held behind a very nice wine bar called "Fifty Seven Degrees".  It was near down town San Diego and Little Italy...just above the airport.  There were over half a dozen trucks, a DJ spinning some cool tunes, food and drinks.  The theme was fashion and there were a lot of really cool and cute clothes.

Here are some of the mobile shops...

I like the name of this one and they had lots of cute stuff.  They even had a fitting room on board.

The shop next to the Yarnover Truck had lots of hand made art type clothing and Steampunk styles.

We saw a lot of really cool stuff that was very inspired and impressive.

This is another shot of it.  The "mobile" part of their business was a nice, restored VW bus.

What a fun day!  I'm definitely going to keep my eye out for more events like this.

And, of course, I'll definitely be back again and again to shop at the Yarnover Truck!

I may only need one more skein but I bought two...just in case.

This is officially my most expensive yarn project ever!

But, it's not even done yet and it's filled with fun and happy memories.

I was a very happy girl last night as I wound my new ball of yarn

and started working on my project again.  Yay!

I'd also made a pitcher of sangria last night that was oh so delicious.

It was a very good day!

Old Town Exploration and Yarny Finds

 I did some exploring on our little get-away last week.

I set out to look for antiques, take in the scenery, 

and visit the one and only yarn shop that I found in the area.

I started my morning with a hot cup of coffee and relaxed at a sidewalk table along Main Street

in the old town/downtown area of Visalia.  Shortly after 10, I headed over to 

Creekside Yarns for some yarny fun.  The store did not disappoint!  

They had rooms full of beautiful yarn, a room full of patterns, and lots of beautiful hand knitted, crocheted, and woven samples. It would have been very easy to buy bags full of beautiful yarn but I have a budget and a practical side that keeps me from doing crazy fun things like that.  But, their website was right about carrying unusual fibers and beautiful yarn from around the world.  The selection was incredible!  I wish I lived nearby to shop there again and again.

I did come home with some beautiful things.

I was inspired by knitted necklace/scarves they had on display.

So, I bought this beautiful, brown ball of Rowan Cotton Glace yarn.

I'm planning to pair it with turquoise, red coral, and silver beads for my knitted necklace

I just have to find the right beads so I can get started.

I also bought this skein of Aslan Trends Lecco cotton yarn.

I have something similar in mind for this but some I have some other ideas for it too.

I love the natural color, the texture and that it's cotton...my favorite!

Since I have so many shawls, I'm always on the lookout for nice and affordable shawl pins.

I found this beautiful Carnation wood shawl pin for only $10.

I love it and have already worn it twice.  The wood grain and color is so pretty.

After I left the yarn shop, I did some antique shopping and had lunch.

Then, I started heading toward Porterville, where I was going to pick up my husband at the end of the day.  I took back roads and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of acres and acres of nut groves, lemon groves and other farmland.  I stopped to explore small towns like Exeter and Lindsay.  I loved seeing the beautiful old homes, cute cottages, old downtown areas and history of the area.

In the old town area of Porterville, I stumbled across a yarn shop in the back corner of a gift shop.

It was small but a pleasant surprise because I hadn't seen any yarn shops in Porterville when I searched online.  The store was called Country Pleasures and it was on Main Street.

I couldn't resist the beautiful pink color of this Crystal Palace, Kid Merino yarn

or the price of 50% off!  I bought 480 yards of it for only $5.50!

It was a sun shiny, beautiful day and I thoroughly enjoyed the peaceful, 

slow pace of the rural areas and small towns.  It was such a treat!

Bringing home some pretty yarn was like icing on the cake.

Stashin'

I've done quite a bit of stash busting this last year and have really been wanting some new and beautiful yarns. So, the timing was perfect when our Stitch N Bitch group decided to plan a "Yarn Crawl".

We met up early on a Saturday morning and piled into two cars to head out on our adventure. It was a cold and cloudy day and we went through some pretty heavy rain on our way toward the Los Angeles area. Since we don't get weather like that very often, it added a little more excitement to our day. We visited four yarn shops that I had never been to. And, I found some pretty fabulous yarns that had to come home with me!

Most of my new yarn came from my favorite store of the day, "Twist", in Manhattan Beach. I loved just about every yarn they had, the staff were wonderfully friendly and helpful, and they had lots of comfy seating. Right after I walked in the door, the gasps of "ooohs" and "wowwws" began and didn't stop. Even though the shop is small, they had LOTS of beautiful yarn...more, to me, than many large shops. I was in yarn heaven! I will definitely go back to this store and maybe very soon. It's worth the hour and half drive (one way)!

I may be a little behind the times when it comes to Malabrigo yarn. I've seen it a lot on Ravelry and heard people talking about it but I honestly don't remember ever seeing it in the shops I've visited. Twist has a LOT of it. Now, I know what all the buzz is about. Their yarn is beyond gorgeous! It's also super soft and affordably priced. I bought two skeins of this Malabrigo lace yarn in the colorway, "Nostalgia". I think I have a pattern picked out for these beauties! They are 100% baby merino wool, have 470 yards in each skein, and they only cost $8.80 each!

This is the first yarn I saw when I walked in the door of Twist. The colors are sooooo pretty! The cranberry, purple and green colors are so wonderful together! It was hanging on a dress form with a shawl that had been knitted with the same yarn. It was such a wonderful shawl that I may attempt to knit the same one. It's called "Herbivore" and it's available on Ravelry for $6. Although, rumor has it that the pattern used to be free. What's up with that?! The yarn is sock weight, superwash merino and has 440 yards in the skein. It was only $18.40.


I also got this one at Twist. See how much I love this store?! I couldn't resist the variegated cranberry and berry like colors. Beautiful! It's another Malabrigo yarn called "Arroyo" and the colorway is "Jupiter". It's also a superwash merino, sock weight yarn with 335 yards in the skein. It was only $18.40.


One of the shops we visited was "Unwind" in Burbank. It was a bright, airy store with pretty yarns, fun notions, a couple of seating areas, and friendly staff. I found this yummy, pumpkin colored yarn in their clearance area. It's Berroco Vintage DK and it's 288 yards were only $3.75. What a deal!


We visited two other stores that day. One was "Wild Fiber" in Santa Monica. I love this store! It's crammed full of beautiful yarns. There are so many choices that it's almost overwhelming. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything that day that I had to have. Although, their large selection of Koigu was very tempting!

The last shop we visited was "Yarn Lady" in Lake Forest. It's a large store with several large tables and seating areas to work at and lots of yarn choices. However, it was our last stop and I was shopped out for the day. I'm pretty sure I'll be popping back there for a visit someday. In fact, I wish I lived local to this shop because they have a spin night each week and a weaving night once a month! How cool is that?!

A couple days earlier, I made a trip to Riverside for my mom's knee surgery. On the way to the hospital, I made a stop at "Knitting with Sandra" and found a yarn I had to have. I'm not usually drawn to greens but this variegated green fingering yarn is so pretty! It's from a company I'd never heard of, "Hazel Knits". The yarn is called "Piquant Lite" hand painted fingering yarn. The colorway is "Woodland". It's 90% superwash merino and 10% nylon. There are 400 yards in the skein. It was a little pricier than my other yarns at $26. These pictures don't accurately show how gorgeous the greens are. But, trust me, they're pretty!


I wanted to try my hand at knitting more lace and I had a certain look in mind of what I wanted to make. I searched through patterns on Ravelry for days before deciding on the "Strangling Vine Lace Scarf" pattern. There are a lot of pretty examples by other Ravelers and the pattern is free. So far, so good. It's actually very easy to knit. So much so that I think I'll be able to work on this while chatting with others or maybe even watching TV. It doesn't look like much now but when it's finished and blocked, I think it will be beautiful.



I'll be spending most of tomorrow with my parents for my mom's follow up doctor appointments for her knee replacement. I imagine I'll be getting a lot of knitting time tomorrow!

Yarn Trippin'

The Riverside Knitting Guild hosted a yarn trip on Saturday to four Los Angeles yarn shops. The $25 charge was a good deal, considering it would have cost that much or more in gas to drive there myself, plus lunch, and I would have had to deal with traffic. This way, we all boarded the bus, visited, knitted and didn't have to worry about which freeways to take, addresses, parking, or traffic. Lunch was even included!

There were about 40 of us. They had us split in half and dropped half at one shop, half at another, and then switch. We did that again in the afternoon with two more shops. It worked pretty well for us to see the shops but not overwhelm the shops (too much) with too many people all at once.

Our first stop was in Brentwood. What a lovely place. The J. Paul Getty Museum was on a hill just above the yarn shop (a must visit museum and garden). The shops and cafes were charming...


The area was filled with fancy cars, fancy shops, and even fancy dogs...


The yarn shop was tucked into a group of little stores with a fountain, pretty tiles (on the stairs), and the day was simply gorgeous...blue skies and temps in the 70's.


Jennifer Knits is a cute little store with a really nice owner and employees. They can make custom patterns for their customers. And, they even have an upstairs area with bargains...yarns for $5 and up!


Our second stop was at "Compatto Yarn Salon" in Santa Monica.


The shop was just up the street from the ocean and was busy with classes and customers. It was filled with lots of beautifully colored yarns!


I was on the look out that day for gorgeous lace weight yarn. I found some here! They wound all 950 yards of it on an electric winder...


It's "Madeline Tosh, Tosh Lace, Hand Dyed yarn" in the color, "Baltic". Gorgeous!!!


Next, we all gathered at a park for lunch. What a beautiful day!


The third shop was "Wild Fiber", also in Santa Monica. I loved this store! It was filled with soooo many gorgeous yarns!


So many wonderful possibilities!


I bought "Punta Yarn, MeriSock, Hand Painted". It doesn't have a color name, just HP60. But, just look at all the pretty colors!


We stopped at one more shop but I won't name names because I wasn't impressed. It was mostly discount and outdated styles of yarn...acrylics, furry yarns, etc. Plus, I was shopped out by then and had spent plenty on my two fancy skeins of yarn. At that point, our bus decided to break down. As we waited for another bus to come and get us, we made good use of our time. Some of the ladies worked on projects they brought, others started new ones with their new yarns, patterns and/or needles, some relaxed and chatted, and some of us wound our new yarn by hand...that's what I did with the beautiful MeriSock yarn that I bought.

I'm excited to get started on new projects with my new yarns!

Cyber Shopping Sucks!

I like shopping the old fashioned way. I like to physically see my options, compare them, maybe even touch them. I like to pick up my selections and put them into the cart. A real cart. A cart that has wheels and the only problem it might have is a wobbly or noisy wheel, or it might be a bit hard to steer. Despite a wobbly wheel, a squeek or difficult steering, it will go where I want it to, when I want it to, and it will only hold what I put into it. Then, when I decide I've found everything I want, I can place the items onto the sales counter or checkout stand, watch it being rung up, be sure prices ring up correctly, see the total and make my purchase, knowing that I have everything I want, nothing more, nothing less, and leave with it in my hands.

These days, even though we have big stores with lots of stuff and even lots of little shops, the things I want aren't always available. So, to get these things, I have to resort to cyber shopping. Ugh! It's something I don't enjoy. It's hard to compare items...all the back and forth and waiting for screens to change is annoying. I can't touch the items and I have to hope that the colors I'm seeing on my screen are somewhere close to the actual color the item(s) will be when I recieve them. Then...there are computer glitches!

Right now, I need some yarn to make Christmas gifts and have not been able to find what I want...despite numerous trips to yarn shops and craft stores. I kept going back and hoping that, miraculously, the yarns I wanted would appear. No such luck. I knew I could get what I wanted from Knit Picks but kept putting it off because I hate cyber shopping. But, Christmas is getting closer and closer and I knew I couldn't put it off any longer. So, to the Knit Picks site I went. What a mistake to do it yesterday though...on "Cyber Monday". Duh!

I kept trying all day to get their site to work and it just kept locking up. I think lots of other people may have been procrastinating on placing their orders too. The site finally started working late last night and I carefully placed things in my cyber cart. When I finished making my selections, I checked and re-checked my cart multiple times. It all looked good. I had bought just enough yarn to get free shipping. I then proceded to check out. Across the top it said something like, "items previously put into your cart have been added". Huh?! What was that supposed to mean? I checked and re-checked my cart again and it all looked good. So, I entered my credit card number and made my purchase. After that, the site didn't give me a screen with a confirmation number, order number, what I purchased...nothing! It just went to a screen that said my order has been placed. I hit the "back" button to see if I could find find an order number or something and a screen flashed for a couple of seconds and then went back to the one that said my order had been placed. But...the total on the screen that flashed was a lot more than what was on the screen of what I had purchased. Hmmmmm?! Could it have been those "previous" items that I couldn't figure out?

I called the 800 number but they were closed. I waited and kept checking for the order confirmation that the site said would be emailed to me within an hour. Hours later...nothing! My only option was to call them at 5am this morning when they open. I set my alarm, got up at 5, stumbled downstairs, checked my email and finally had that confirmation. There were multiples of yarn I had chosen. Ugh! I called up and was able change my order. Whew! I got through in time before it was packed and shipped. But, wait! The new total she gave me didn't seem right. I called again and she said it was the shipping charge. Oh...hmmmm?!...ok. I said "thank you" and I hung up. But...I had worked hard to make sure I ordered enough yarn to get free shipping! I started tapping away at my calculator (still sleepy....it was very early!) and realized that the amount was wrong on another yarn...there were only two balls instead of three. I called again to fix it but this time it was too late and it would cost more than that extra ball of yarn to ship it and I might not even get the same dye lot. Argh!

And...I thought I remembered Knit Picks operators being friendly and warm from previous orders...or was that was another store?! Regardless, they weren't very warm this morning...either it was because it was early or lots of other people were calling to get their "Cyber Monday" glitches fixed too.

Lesson learned...never shop on cyber Monday or any other day that the website I'm shopping on keeps locking up. And, if it says something weird like, "previous items have been added"....call them up before making the purchase...even if they aren't showing up in the cart. I've never had a problem before but I'm sticking to shopping the old fashioned way as much as I possibly can! It's so much better, I know what I'm really getting, what it's really costing before I pay, and I can walk out with it in my hands, ready to use and enjoy right away! And, besides...real carts are a lot more fun!

Now...I'm wondering...with all the shopping going on yesterday at Knit Picks...will I get my yarn in time to make all these gifts before Christmas?! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Bittersweet Deals

Yarn shops are so much more than a place to buy supplies. They're a place for inspiration, learning, friendships, fun and a place to go to feel good. They can become such an important and special place in our lives. Finding out that your favorite yarn shop is going to close can make that even more clear.

The owner of Knit N Stitch in Riverside, California is retiring in a couple of weeks and the store that I know and love will be closing. It's become my favorite yarn shop for lots of reasons. I remember going there with my mom when I was a kid (the shop had a different owner at that time). I've always felt so welcome there and the ladies make everyone feel so special. I love that! It's like a home away from home.

When I first heard the news that it was going to close, I was shocked and sad. I ran out that evening and bought some lottery tickets, hoping so much that I could win so I could buy the shop and save it. I didn't win. But, there's good news...it's going to remain a yarn shop! The yarn shop down the street, Designer Handknits, will be remodeling and moving in. Yay! It's been a yarn shop for so long that I think it would be so sad if it went away totally. The thought of that happening chokes me up. I'm so glad that this landmark yarn shop will live on and that I'll continue to see the wonderful ladies I've gotten to know and love! :-)

The Knit N Stitch retirement sale began yesterday and many of us were there bright and early to take advantage of the 35% off sale.

I bought a little yarn. My daughter chose this beautiful Katia Collibri. I knitted a shawl with it last year and loved the results. Since then, I saw a project on Ravelry where someone had woven with it. It was really cool! I'm thinking of trying it with these...


I couldn't resist this CoolSpun Cotton in Baby Pink, White, and Apple Green. I've been working on some ideas to use this with some of my Sugar N Cream collection.


This is one of the first things I wanted to find out about when I arrived yesterday. It's a wicker body to display sweaters, scarves, shawls, whatever. I'm excited to have it because it's a piece of Knit N Stitch and because it might be a great prop for project photos. It was a great deal too...only $3!


I bought a few knitting tools. I got some needles for a knit project I'm about to start (Yup, I haven't forgotten about knitting during my recent crochet frenzy! lol), a 16" size 10 1/2 circular and 10 1/2 double point needles. I got a clicker counter that I think will be very handy and fun to use. I splurged on a pair of size 13, Lantern Moon Rosewood needles. They're something that I normally wouldn't buy because of the price but this was a special event and the sale made them more affordable. They're soooo pretty!


And, I bought this cute little set of rosewood cable needles in a little woven pouch. It seems like the little grooves might make them very nice to use, adding a little grip action to hold the stitches on.


We got a few more great deals at the sale yesterday too. My daugther bought an oval mirror with an ornate frame for $5. She's planning to paint the frame and use it in her shabby chic decor. She got several nice notebooks with clear pockets for fifty cents each that she can use to organize her ever growing collection of harp music. And, I got a clipboard for fifty cents to hold patterns that I'm working on. Instead of a big clip that could catch on my yarn, it has a curved wire that I think will work out well.

I had a special suprise yesterday when one of the ladies brought me a stack of crochet books. She's been going through her supplies and organizing and thought I'd enjoy these. She's so sweet!


I'm especially excited about this one. It has so many beautiful edgings in it that I haven't seen in other books. I'm excited to try some out!


I've been driving to Riverside a lot more often the past few weeks to enjoy every moment I can with the wonderful ladies in Knit N Stitch and enjoy the shop before it closes. There will be an Open House on August 13th and 14th, the final two days. I plan to be there!

I'm going to miss Knit N Stitch so much! But, I'm so glad that it will still be a yarn shop, a place to gather, to learn, to create, and to enjoy the company of wonderful people.