I'm not a very good yarn store tourist these days. While "a lot of stash" is a relative concept, I feel like I have gotten to a place where I don't need to accumulate at quite as rapid a rate (which is partly why there has been so little spinning in the past year, I think). As a result, when I travel, I don't spend as much time seeking out yarn stores as I once did. It's not that I don't enjoy the atmosphere of rooms full of yarn, it's that I have my own room full of yarn that fills up the psychic space that I used to put yarn store visits into.
But when I asked y'all to guess where I was, and so many people mentioned Loop and Rosie's Yarn Cellar (and then I realized that I had actually heard of those stores before) and I realized that I could walk to both of them from my hotel I decided that maybe I had a little space in my stash after all. Besides, the stunning weather we had in Philly called out for a walk. And if I hadn't taken a walk, I never would have had a chance to see some of the wonderful neighborhood around Rittenhouse Square.
However, I decided that I could only make yarn acquisitions if there was something special about the yarn that made it hard to find near my own home. I thought that would limit my purchasing opportunities. And it did, but it didn't keep me from bringing home some goodies from Loop (I enjoyed Rosie's but didn't find anything that reached out and grabbed me). The yarn on the left is a skein of Black Bunny Fibers Superwash Merino Classic in "Reptile" and the yarn on the right is a skein of Colorful Yarn Superwash Merino sock yarn in "Berry" (the color is just slightly more purple in person, really a stunning deep magenta). Both yarns are hand dyed in Pennsylvania -- and the Colorful Yarn yarn is spun in Pennsylvania as well. (The book is Socks from the Toe Up: Essential Techniques and Patterns from Wendy Knits
-- which I can get anywhere, but thought it would be nice to support a yarn store with the purchase).
Nice mementos of a business trip! Certainly beats all the post-it notes and pens that were my other options...
But when I asked y'all to guess where I was, and so many people mentioned Loop and Rosie's Yarn Cellar (and then I realized that I had actually heard of those stores before) and I realized that I could walk to both of them from my hotel I decided that maybe I had a little space in my stash after all. Besides, the stunning weather we had in Philly called out for a walk. And if I hadn't taken a walk, I never would have had a chance to see some of the wonderful neighborhood around Rittenhouse Square.
However, I decided that I could only make yarn acquisitions if there was something special about the yarn that made it hard to find near my own home. I thought that would limit my purchasing opportunities. And it did, but it didn't keep me from bringing home some goodies from Loop (I enjoyed Rosie's but didn't find anything that reached out and grabbed me). The yarn on the left is a skein of Black Bunny Fibers Superwash Merino Classic in "Reptile" and the yarn on the right is a skein of Colorful Yarn Superwash Merino sock yarn in "Berry" (the color is just slightly more purple in person, really a stunning deep magenta). Both yarns are hand dyed in Pennsylvania -- and the Colorful Yarn yarn is spun in Pennsylvania as well. (The book is Socks from the Toe Up: Essential Techniques and Patterns from Wendy Knits
-- which I can get anywhere, but thought it would be nice to support a yarn store with the purchase).Nice mementos of a business trip! Certainly beats all the post-it notes and pens that were my other options...
I've been really tempted by the Black Bunny Fibers when I visited her online store, but I try to mostly buy yarn in person. It's sometimes hard to tell what it really looks like with the computer monitor!
Your purchases look gorgeous!
Anything that makes a business trip more palatable isn't a bad thing, though--stash or no stash! It looks like you brought home some lovely things.
The berry color is beautiful!