Tag Archive | yarn stores

Yarn for the Nerd in all of us

Have you heard of Make magazine? Or maybe the Maker Faire? They’re parts of a larger Maker movement that encourages people to…well, to make stuff. They want people to interact with their environment, to open their minds enough to think about how to do something differently, or to create something fun and interesting and helpful. The magazine has all kinds of project ideas, and my husband has been reading it for ages. He loves to find fun things to do with the kids. I’m awfully glad he does too, because it led to a new yarn source for me.

So, the Maker Faire. It’s “the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth—a family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement.” Sounds cool, doesn’t it? Kansas City hosted a Maker Faire last month, but unfortunately it fell on a weekend when we simply did not have time to go. But shortly after, the Make blog featured one of the KC vendors, Nerd Girl Yarns, and since Alex reads the blog, is a nerd, and has a wife who loves yarn, he watched the interview. (Watch her interviews here) And then he shared it with me, and I got all excited because guess what? NGY is in Odessa, Missouri which is only about 30 minutes from me!

I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard of them before, but as I poked through the website I realized that it was because she focuses on the dyeing, and selling custom orders. She does have a small retail space, but it seems to be more of a sideline. And I’m okay with that, because the yarns she creates are awesome. Yesterday I got out to the studio for the first time to see some of the yarn in person. The retail section is small, with just one little bit of wall devoted to yarn. The other side has the hand-dyed clothing, and there were a couple of chairs for those inclined to stay and be crafty. I wasn’t there for that. I was there for the yarn.

A lot of the colors are inspired by Doctor Who, like a blue and brown named Tenth Doctor. There was a red named I Am the Cyber King, and a Gallifrey with oranges and reds. There was a TARDIS blue, of course, and a yellow/orange with a touch of blue Sunflower. I was really hoping for the Blue Box Exploding, which is mostly blue with some yellow/orange too. She has Don’t Blink, Doctor Donna, Fantastic, Raggedy Man, Regenerate, and Time Machine. Both my kids (and the husband) are Whovians so I’d love to get some of each to make them lots of Whovian presents. I can’t do it all at once, though. I know. Patience, grasshopper.

They’re not all Doctor Who, of course. There’s Windu, Nevermore, Resurrection Stone, Serenity Firefly Class, Forbidden Forest, Walking Dead, Girl on Fire and so much more. So many references that I don’t even get! I can’t list them all, so you really should check out her stuff yourself. Go to her website here.

The really cool thing is that you can order the colorway on any base you like. So if you adore fingering weight, you can get that. If you love bulky yarn, like me, you can get that. You can get exactly the yarn you want!

“What did you get??” I can hear you asking. My eye went first to a gorgeous purple sparkly yarn named Secretly Spiders. The site says it’s inspired by Night Vale, and sadly I have no idea what that means. All I know is that I love it. It’s on Smashing, which is a DK of 70% merino and 20% silk with 5% silver-toned stellina to make it shine.I kept picking skeins up and putting them back. I really needed to restrain myself to 2 or 3 skeins, but it was hard. I struggled with choosing based on the Whovian names or the colors. I ended up going for the colors this time. So my second skein was a beautiful blue-green blend named #nofilter. The colors were more vivid on the fingering weights, but I knew I’d enjoy a heaver weight more, so I went with Foxy. Foxy is a DK weight too, but it’s 85% Polwarth Wool and 15% silk.Once I got through the initial getting-to-know-you phase, I was able to look beyond the wall o’ yarn, and that’s when I saw the sale section. It wasn’t big, and there were only two bowls of yarn, but any sale yarn is good yarn in my book. My third selection came from that.This is called Shtako. No idea what that means. Feel free to enlighten me. But the purple caught my eye, and as soon as I touched it, it was mine. It’s on the Luscious yarn, and it really is luscious. It’s Heavy Worsted, 60% superfine merino and 40% silk. It’s heavenly. It’s only 100 yards so it will have to be a small project; I’m thinking some fingerless gloves.

I also got a medium project bag with the logo, like you see in that first picture. You can never have enough project bags, and at $12 it was the perfect price. She didn’t have any Blue Box Exploding, so I’ll probably be ordering some in the near future. And we got to talk to Christa, the owner, for a little while, and she mentioned the possibility of doing quarterly events where they dye larger quantities of some of the popular colorways. I’m really hoping that happens, because I’d be there in a heartbeat! If you’d like to find out when that happens, follow her blog here. Maybe I’ll see you there!

When I grow up, I want to be…

Jul5

I’m so jealous of my husband. Alex actually knows what he wants to be when he grows up. He’s worked for a local software company for over 15 years, but in his heart, he wants to focus on his woodworking and build custom furniture. He’s thinking ahead, trying to plan it out so that it will actually be feasible in the future. But me? It depends on the day, and to be honest, I don’t know what my future will hold, or even what I want it to hold.

I quit my full-time job about two years ago to be a stay-at-home mom. I’d been in retail management for six years and I was beyond burnt out. Add in some family crises, and the job became even less important. We revised our budget, cut back a lot of expenses, and let loose of a lot of stress. It was wonderful–it’s been wonderful–in so many ways. I am beyond grateful that my husband has been willing to let me take this time to focus on family. I’m grateful that my kids have accepted the sacrifices I ask them to make so we can live within our means.

For the first few months, I worked on a book. I’d started a memoir about my retail adventures while I was still working, and I was inspired to finish it while the memories were still fresh. Once (I thought) it was done, my time opened up in front of me. Most people would see it as a huge blessing, and part of me did. But part of me saw it as huge pressure too. Alex and I had talked about my writing, and how this was the best opportunity for me to focus on it. And it was. It is. So why didn’t I revise my book, edit and polish it, and start querying agents?

Fear. Plain and simple.

Rejection is part of writing, every writer knows that. I try to brace myself for it, but it always knocks me down a little. And at that time, I think I knew I wasn’t emotionally strong enough to push through that process.

Now it’s two years later, and I’ve worked on the book a lot more. I’m venturing into the world of writers and agents in social media, and maybe it’s time to take that leap. I could finish this book, maybe find an agent and get it published, or self-publish. I’ve been writing for years, so maybe I could pull out the two completed manuscripts I’ve got in my closet and see if they’re worth revising. I could be a writer when I grow up.

But. Wait. In those two years, I’ve also started doing some freelance proofreading, and I love it. I was a copy editor in both high school and college, and English has always been my strong suit. I read widely and voraciously, and correcting spelling, grammar and punctuation is second nature to me. I love taking another writer’s work and polishing it so it shines. I’ve worked on four books so far and would love to do more. There are a lot of freelance websites out there, and if I put forth the effort to bid on jobs, I could probably make a bit of money from it. And when the kids are a bit older and I don’t need to be home so much, I could find a permanent proofreading position.

Hold on, though. I have a passion for yarn, for crochet and knitting. I have visions of a sunny, friendly yarn store where I could spend my days helping people with their own crafting. Alex and I have talked about a joint venture, a storefront where we have both yarn and furniture displayed for sale. We even have a potential name and we’ve scouted out buildings that would work well.

Picture an end table with a lacy runner decorating it, or a coffee table holding bowls of yarn and vases of handmade wood knitting needles. Picture a mannequin wearing a scarf decorated with a wood scarf pin. It’s a relaxing vision, a happy vision. It would allow Alex and I to spend time together, sharing our love for making beautiful pieces. It would keep me from having to answer to a boss, like I would with a “real” job. The kids could work there too, after school and summers. Maybe the dog would be mellow enough to come to work with me sometimes.

I think of doing this and smile. It would be a hard choice, though, with unreliable income, less time off, not much freedom to be spontaneous. I’d have to learn how to run a business, which isn’t why I would do it. I’d do it to be with yarn and other yarn-lovers, to create a space that’s lacking in my neighborhood.

So what do I do? How do I decide what to focus on? I know I can have all these things in my life to some extent, but I feel like I’m supposed to have a goal. What should I be working toward? How do I figure out which one is my true passion?

Souvenir Yarn

Jun23

Before we left for our vacation to Washington D.C., I made sure to research the local yarn stores. There were several in the metro area, and two actually in DC. I wasn’t sure I’d have a lot of time for yarn shopping, but I hoped. Thankfully, our hotel was only a 15-minute walk from Looped Yarn Works. I can’t remember if it was in Georgetown or Dupont Circle, but I do remember it was full of great old homes and unusual shops. Our second evening there, we had a free evening and I decided to get my yarn fix while I could. We left the hotel at 6:15 and the shop closed at 7, so I knew it would have to be a mad dash.

Thanks to my phone and the Fresh Stitches blog on DC yarn stores, I found the shop easily. We ran up the stairs and turned the handle…the door was locked. It was only 6:45 so I knew we weren’t late, and thankfully someone saw us and welcomed us in with a big smile. We were the only customers in the store, and there was a friendly, chatty guy working that night who showed us around and answered questions. My son liked him because he shared his Swedish Fish. There was one room with the bulkier yarns (worsted to super bulky) and there were brands I could find at home, some I’d heard of but never seen, and some I’d never heard of but coveted desperately. There was a small cozy couch and a couple of chairs in there, and samples everywhere. One of the samples was the Purl Ridge scarf I’d started on the train!

I touched a lot of skeins, but the first one to call my name was this vibrant green wool from Stonehedge Fiber Mill. I just love this bright grassy green, and I like that I can use this for felting if I want.

I saw some Manos del Uruguay Maxima, which I can get at home, but this was a gorgeous color.

Then I saw this nifty icy gray yarn, and for some reason, it said I needed two to take home. It makes me think of winter and snowflakes. It’s called Finch, by Quince & Co., and the color name is Iceland. I’d never heard of this brand before but I like it!

I was running out of time so I popped into the other room for a quick peek. It had all the thinner yarns, from sock to DK, plus a big table that I’d love to sit and knit at. I’m not a big sock knitter so this room didn’t tempt me much…until I found the madelinetosh yarn. I’ve read about it, seen pictures, but this was my first personal experience. The colors were vivid and gorgeous, and it felt delightful, but I could resist…until I saw this Iris colorway.

That was all I could do in 15 minutes, though I did find a neat little digital row counter by the register. I figured I was done with DC yarn. But late in the trip, we’d had a long day and I wanted some yarn retail therapy. Because I married the best guy in the world, we went back to the yarn store. They were open until 9, so we had plenty of time. There was a knitting group in the bulky room, and my daughter and I marveled at the women knitting without even looking at their needles. There was a beginner’s class in the other room, and I smiled at the women struggling with casting on, remembering when that was me.

I chose some Cascade 128 Superwash in a great pink called Cerise. I can find this yarn at home but I really enjoy knitting with it, and this was a color I hadn’t seen before. I picked out two skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Cotton because it’s one of my favorite yarns, and I’m collecting different colors to make a fabulous blanket someday.

I explored the sock yarn room a little more this trip, and found two little prizes in a corner. The first was two skeins of Cascade Ultra Pima Fine cotton, and the main reason I snatched them up is because they were only $4 per skein! Plus the cranberry color was pretty.

But my favorite finds that day were these two little skeins of bright blue Urban Silk yarn by Skacel. They’re 80% silk, 20% cotton and feel like a soft, puffy cloud. They were the last two skeins of that yarn, which has been discontinued, and at $8.50 they seemed like a good deal. They should make a lovely little cowl or scarf, maybe a shawlette if I can find the right pattern.

Thank goodness my addiction is yarn, because otherwise my suitcase would have been overweight coming home. I had yarn stuffed in every nook and cranny of my suitcase. But what a treat to come home and get to take it out and play with it again! I really enjoyed exploring that store; I wish I’d had time to visit others but can’t imagine any other store being better!