Indulgence

I think we have established that I'm a loser at blogging. I think about my blog every day. I plan out what I will post. I ruminate about my yarn adventures. Yet, as I tell my students, "I don't have access to the information in your head. I only have access to what is written on the paper." ...or in this case in the blog. So I need to take my own advice! :S

With so many yarn adventures swimming in my head, it is time to put the pen to paper...or fingers to keyboard. I'm going to start with my amazing series of yarn shop visits last week. In the 8-day period between July 9-17 I was on a roll. I hit EIGHT yarn shops in 8 days! Let me report.

Bloomington, IL
First, I visited Bloomington to see Jenelle before she moves to Virginia to start her new job. Her very first academic job after receiving her Ph.D. Yay! (Hi Jenelle!) Oh, back to the yarn. Well, Jenelle is a crocheter so we decided to go on a small yarn crawl during her three-hour lunch hour. Wow, Jenelle, who did you work for there in Bloomington, Grace Adler? (LOL)

Anyway...our first stop was at Mary Lynn's Yarn Garden in downtown Bloomington. Ok, so it's in an unorthodox location -- third floor of an office building, not the customary retail space. But it is a fabulous yarn shop! Mary Lynn carries tons of nice yarn as well as a good selection of knitting bags and accessories. You know I am the accessories queen. I got some luscious Pagewood Farms sock yarn, some Knit Happy notebooks, and Namaste candles!! Yes, Namaste (the knitting bag company) made candles that come in these super-cute boxes, but no more. I got the last two! (Score!) I have to say that I just loved Mary Lynn, the shop owner. I will definitely be back to the Yarn Garden!

Our next stop was at Village Stitches. But first let me back up and say that finding the place was an adventure in itself. It probably took us 30 minutes of driving back and forth and then finally stopping in at a hotel to ask at the front desk. The neat thing about that was that they gave us a map -- hahaha! Well, it is a hotel. We finally found Village Stitches, a cute shop, but sadly...mostly needlepoint stuff. They have a small room of yarn but nothing so fabulous that it knew my secret knitter name. So here is something that you will rarely hear me say: I walked out of the yarn shop without buying anything.

By this time Jenelle's half-day lunch hour was over [oh, we did have lunch in between yarn shops] so I drove her back to ISU and then went to a third yarn shop by myself. This shop was Ewe Knit, a nice shop near the ISU campus. The owner was very friendly and helpful. I ended up getting some Cascade wool-bamboo and some Malabrigo sock yarn because I loved the color. In sum, my trip to Bloomington was super-fun, I loved getting to spend some time with Jenelle and thank her for indulging me in the yarn crawl! Bloomington is not as far from Monmouth as I thought -- only about 1.5 hours, so I am looking forward to going back for more yarn one of these days.

Muscatine, IA
The next week, my BFF Robin and I met for our regular weekly yarn trip to Serendipity Yarn Shoppe in Muscatine. Serendipity is dear to my heart and even though it is 60 miles away from my house, I consider it my LYS. Robin and I meet there one day a week all summer long. This week Francy, the owner, had gotten in some new luscious yarns. I got some Mushishi, which is a tweedy wool-silk blend, and you get nearly 500 yds in a hank! Also new at the shop is Berroco Remix, which is recycled cotton, silk, linen, & nylon blend -- very soft. It definitely knew my secret knitter name. As always, we have a blast at Serendipity.

Morton, IL
Friday I met Jen and Aaron at Ewe-Nique Yarns in Morton. This is a big, fabulous yarn shop just south of Peoria. They have a nice selection of yarns and a big sale wall, which I always have to check out. This time they had some Queensland Collection Rustic, a super-smooshy yarn that I love, and it was 40% off! The only hitch was that it was an ... um ... unattractive color, kind of a greenish-yellowish. Jen and Aaron dubbed it "BP Oil Spill." Now, I have never bought ugly yarn before, but I could not leave that yarn there for 40% off. So I got it, and now I like it a lot more!!! (Can you say dissonance reduction?) Aaron also helped me find some yarn in "boy colors," as I never seem to have any yarn appropriate for making manly projects. Now I have gobs of it.

Iowa City, IA
The last day of my yarn indulgence happened in Iowa City. I went to my knitting womb, Fae Ridge Farm, owned by my dear friend Janette. I go up and visit as much as I can and hang out all day Saturday. I bought two bobbins for my spinning wheel and some gray-blue Highlander by Alpaca with a Twist. This is super-smooshy yarn that I love working with. Got it to make some xmas presents.

While in Iowa City I also ventured with Robin to a couple of other yarn shops. We stopped in at Home Ec to say hi to Codi, our friend and owner of the shop. I love Home Ec! I raided the sale bin and got some lovely wool-cashmere blend that will make something nice. Next we went to The Knitting Shop where I got some merino-silk from the sale bin, which will make nice xmas presents for a boy. :)

What an amazing whirlwind of yarn shopping! ♥