Shop Hop + Podcasts = Fun Weekend

Small stash but - good stuff!

Twin Cities Treasure Hunt - Shop Hop
This weekend is the Shop Hop for 7 of the Twin Cities Yarn Shops. If you haven’t begun, there is still time. Here’s a quick breakdown of what’s going on at each shop. To start with you get your card stamped at each shop and at the last shop turn in your card to be entered in the grand prize drawing. Each shop has drawings for prizes every hour and if you win they will contact you so you don’t have to be present at the drawing. Also each shop is giving away a knitting tool and some are giving patterns.

Here’s what I got: Friday I ended work on the west side of town so I could visit a few of the shops. Trust me , this wasn’t an accident as to where my work day ended! I headed over to Coldwater Collaborative in Excelsior after work to start the event. I’ve always liked this shop but it is a bit far to travel for me. At the shop I got my first stamp. Being the first stop I got a plastic bag (with zipper) to hold all the treasures I’d be getting and their tool – a stitch holder (about 4” long). They also gave a packet of pattern leaflets. I found a great sock yarn from Chile I haven’t seen before.

The label says Araucania. It also says Ranco Multy, color 302. I don’t have many sock yarns that are hand-dyed with subtle enough color changes to be good for wearing to work. I like this one. I should also mention the yarn I got from my Secret Pal last month is also this type yarn – has color “movement” so it’s not boring but subtle enough to be visually comfortable to wear to work and business meetings. Back to the shop hop- I also found a copy of the new Interweave Knitting Holiday Gifts. I saw pictures of the projects on someone else’s blog and decided I HAD to have it. Lots of quick but not “cheesy” present possibility. My friends should be pleased with their Christmas presents this year if I get busy!

Next I went over to Needlework Unlimited. Their treasure was some safety pins. Big deal I thought, I drove all the way for a few lousy safety pins. I should have known better. Once I looked at them I realized they were coiless pins and will be great for marking rows (1 pin every 10 row makes it much easier to keep track of where you are in your knitting. They also gave some patterns from the shop.

There was still some time before 6pm so I got on the road, headed south and ended up at Zandy’s. They provided me with a new tape measure and of course another stamp for my card. I looked around a bit and headed for home with 3 of the 7 shops checked off my list.

Last night gave me time to watch Numb3rs and a few other TV shows and get a bit of knitting done on the Smooshy socks. I should get sock #1 done tonight. I should mention I’ve discovered (a bit later than most people) podcasts. I spent the last few days with Kelley Petkun of Knit Picks and her dog Xena. They have amused and informed me during my travels to the many shops. I started listening a couple days ago and just between work travel and shop hop travel I’m up to episode 17, Kelley has a similar knitting style to mine. I don’t mean she’s picker cause – I’m a thrower. But, both of us are multiple project people. You have to have project to fit your current mood and circumstance. I’m not going to take a big bulky project with multiple skeins when traveling, but a home – it’s perfect. She also got her start by learning to create your own projects. I learned the basics of knitting on Grandma’s knee with no patterns. We made Barbie doll scarves and other small items. After I took a bit of time off from knitting (4 grade thru sr high) I returned to knitting in college and made an afghan that I saw at my cousin’s house. It didn’t even occur to me to ask about a pattern. It was squares of knit blocks and squares of purl blocks. I went to the store bought a ton of blue and gold yarn, large needle and a small book on knitting. You see, Grandma never taught me to purl. She lived far away and we never got to that lesson. But I still have my first pair of knitting needles, metal pink size 8, and undying gratitude to Grandma for getting my started.

I’m starting to ramble – I’d better get back to the Shop Hop. This morning Bert woke me up early and demanded some quality butt in face time. Don’t you love how cats show their love for you by allowing you to see their back side close up! Fortunately Chief is more into petting my face to show affection so I only have to deal with one backside!

Sheepy Yarn Shoppe was my first 10am stop. They gave Chibi needles. One regular size and one small for socks. I didn’t know they came in small. This will be used very often! I bought a small purse pattern (which I forgot to get a picture of). The purse is multicolored cotton about fairly small but so cute I had to get it. Perhaps another Christmas present?

Heading south to Three Kittens. I haven’t been there since the new owners were having a huge “get rid of the old stuff” sale. They have done a great deal to the shop since then! They gave a gauge card as their tool. Lots of yarn. Lots of little nooks and crannies to search.

Journey onward to The Yarnery. Meanwhile, I found out Kelley at KnitPicks finished her baby kimonos. It was strange to have her as my travel buddy but fun. I actually found on street parking at The Yarnery – YEAH! I got stitch holders and decided I had to buy Charlene Schurch’s Sensational Knitted Socks. This is Kelley’s fault. One of the podcasts she went on about this book and, oh well, she convinced me. I also met another NW suburb person there. She was looking at sock yarn and I mentioned I was working on Smooshy. One thing lead to another and we figured out we both use Amazing Threads as our LYS. I was very stupid and didn’t write down her blog name. I remember Elijah is in the name but can’t remember the rest. If you happen to read this – leave a comment.

I left Amazing Threads for last. It seemed like the right thing to do, finish at home. I got my card stamped with the final stamp and turned it in. Then I headed up to the sale loft and found a few ladies having a ball digging through the baskets of ½ price yarn. I found some Mexican Wave by Elle – color 004 Pink Roller. If you look at the picture it looks like I got 2 different colors. Nope. It is that “slow” to make color changes. One of the ladies I was with bought yarn that was green/brown and pink. Here skeins looked totally different but we checked colors and dye lots multiple times to be sure. I’d love to see her sweater when she’s finished. It’s going to look “way cool”. I bought 5 figuring the baby mill at work will be able to use up this yarn. I’ve done 3 surprise jackets so far for work and I think there’s another baby on the way I haven’t heard about. I’m pretty good at knowing when people are expecting. I guessed my cousin was having her first about 2 weeks before she even knew. Just a side bar, I’m also good at guessing boy or girl. I’ve been wrong 2 times in my life. And no I don’t look at if she’s carrying high or any of the usual methods I just “know”.

Back to the Shop Hop. I got done and enjoyed it. My SUV is tired but it will survive. Bert and Chief are very happy to have new plastic bags to chew on. If you’re not doing anything Sunday, live in the Twin Cities and it’s between 10am – 6pm, think about going out and checking out the shop hop. You’ll enjoy yourself.

Quick Update - Renee knew the name of the periwinkle cable weater from my last post. Check out the comments from that post for the details. THANKS! Renee