Yarn Crawl, FO's, and WIPs galore

This weekend Teresa and I went on a yarn crawl through Long Beach and Orange County (I'll send you to her blog since none of my pictures turned out). We began our journey at Alamitos Bay Yarn Company, where I had to seriously restrain myself - only the first store and I'm already overwhelmed by the selection of hand-dyed yarn (my thing these days) and mohair and....well, you get the idea. I bought a couple of Rowan magazines and ran out to avoid spending more. We then went to Lis Cat, where the folks at the table offered us coffee (they must have known how sleepy I was) Cute place with a pretty good selection of yarn, but nothing for the projects on my list. We then took a break to eat at Sushi of Naples - a short two blocks for Lis Cat and offering a wide selection of sushi and non-sushi. I'd have to say my favorite was the choice of sides you could get with your rolls: boiled spinach, vegetables, rice, and french fries. Yes, french fries in a sushi place. Of course I ordered them :)

Refueled on sushi, Teresa and I made our way to the Yarn Lady - I'd been looking forward to this store the most (ever since I saw her selection at the TGKA convention last summer). I wasn't disappointed - I found more yarn than I hoped for and even gave in and bought some Rowan yarn for once. The selection is amazing and we browsed for at least an hour. Finally, credit card pleading for a break, we went on to Velona Yarns and Needlecraft. I was a little wary given some of the reviews I'd read (one in particular has vowed never to go back). It's true, the store is crammed with yarn and very hard to browse. That didn't stop me from finding some more Rowan though :) And seeing a 45-year-old wallet.

Finally, our last stop was Stitches in Time in Bellflower. The streets were empty - no one on the sidewalks and not many cars on the road. We got what we thought was rock star (or Doris Day) parking only to find the front door locked. Peering in, we saw people and decided to try for the back door. The owners were very friendly and they had a good selection (including a yarn called "Frisky!"). Point of note - there's a store called Hootchie Mama Party Clothing a block down on the other side of the street. Just in case you wanted to know.

Our credit cards tired and our bags full, we headed home, encountering just enough traffic to remember why we'd left LA. The goods:


The blue is slated for this:

Lady Elenor Entrelac Stole from Scarf Style

The tweedy grey for this:

Lace and Tuck Ensemble for Interweave Knits Fall 2004

And the other grey for this:

Long Shawl-collar Coat from Hollywood Knits Style
sans child of course.

Finally - Turtleneck Shrug for Hillary from stitch ya neck out is mostly done - I've run out of yarn and bound off, pending discovery of more of the yarn in the same dye lot. I'm a little disappointed in the pattern writer - it seems like everyone on the swap list who made this ran out of yarn a few inches short of the neck end. But it is cute :)

I leave you now with some WIPs:

Everything bag, side 2, from Hollywood Knits Style

Another OSW

Lace knee highs, sock 1, from Interweave Knits Winter 2004

Somewhere in there I'll be making some gifts too....somewhere....