The Last Day of the Crawl

Well, mom and I hit up the last two shops on our list on Friday.  We first headed to the Mount Vernon area to see In Stitches Needlework.  This is a great shop for needlepoint, but frankly, their yarn selection is limited (though they were having a great sale on Sublime yarns). 

 But, it was a beautiful day for a road trip, and we then came back up US 1 to get to Fibre Space in Old Town Alexandria.  They now have a classroom upstairs, so the former classroom on the main level is filled with even more yarns!  Since I already had gone overboard in yarn purchases, I picked up a great little project bag for only $10 in support of Project Knit Well.

Hard to believe the Metro Yarn Crawl is over!  I ended up with 9 out of 10 stamps on my card (the only shop we did not make it to was The Knitting Boutique in Glen Burnie, MD, but hopefully I'll get up there before next year's crawl :-)

In the upcoming weeks, I'll be posting pix of my purchases and projects related to the Yarn Crawl, so stay tuned!

Day 2 of Metro Yarn Crawl

Whew, we hit up 4 stores today!  Started by heading east to get to The Tangled Skein in Hyattsville, MD.  It's a great big shop with a large selection of yarns and notions.  Friendly staff as well, and I got a lovely lace-weight silver yarn to weave in with my grey mercerized cotton yarn for an idea I have for that next great project of mine ;-)

Then, it was on to The Yarn Spot in Wheaton, MD.  I didn't get a chance to meet Jennifer, with whom I'm been corresponding about the fleece, but I did get to meet Victoria, who could not have been nicer and gave me some great tips for the next step of carding/combing the fleece.  Can't wait to go back for a spinning lesson :-)  Got some Schaeffer Yarn while I was there -- great deal!

Onward to Rockville, MD, to visit Woolwinders.  This is my mom's favorite shop -- it's a bit smaller but has a beautiful feel to it, still a great selection, and is in such a quaint area.  Even though my wallet was getting quite empty by this point, I broke down and got some Berroco Weekender Chunky to make a bolero for the spring/summer.

Finally, we stopped by Knit + Stitch = Bliss in Bethesda, MD.  I can't believe that I bought sock yarn that calls for a size 2 needle!  It's just so beautiful though, how could I say no to something named Strawberry Latte?!

We've got one more day of shops to visit (it's back to Virginia!), so there will be a third installment.  Then, I hope to be posting pix of the yarns I picked up and the projects they will turn into!!

Metro Yarn Crawl 2012

Ah, it's that time of year, and I am going to try really hard to visit almost all the store (I don't think I'm going to make it all the way to Glen Burnie this year though :-(

So far, I've been to Aylin's Woolgatherer and Uniquities Yarn Shop, both in Virginia (the website www.metroyarncrawl.com has a suggested routes map that's very helpful).  Uniquities is located in a lovely part of Vienna, Virginia and has an amazing selection of notions, knitting and crochet "equipment".  Their yarn selection is extensive as well, and the ladies there could not have been nicer!

Then, off to Aylin's we went.  That shop was much harder to find, but thanks to the ladies at Uniquities, we knew that we had to go to Loehman's shopping center, look for the building in which the 7-11 is located, go over to the side of the building, and go to the third floor.  But, it was worth the trip!  I love Schachenmayr's mercerized cotton yarn, and the shop has a great selection of colors, and also an extensive collection of knitting and crocheting booklets, with a number of European brands.  We also got to meet Aylin, who turns out to be from Turkey originally.  After making my purchases and tasting her delicious borek (Turks can never let you leave without feeding you :-), I made my way back to DC!

The next adventure is on Thursday, this time in Maryland!

What's on Your Needles?!

Yeah, that's right, I said it... needles!!  My dirty little secret this week is that I've been knitting and I've been pretty obsessed about it!  Two summers ago, I got the most beautiful, sherbet-like yarn from Kitschy Stitch in Rehoboth Beach.  It's a pastel pink-orange combo in a DK, lace weight, and I've been wondering what to do with it.  So, I went searching around on Ravelry and found Lala's Simple Shawl, and something just clicked!  Got some Addi Turbo needles in a size US 6 and off I went!

Here are the results so far:

I hope to have it done soon and will post the finished product :-)

Before and After

Melissa Marro is going to be so proud of me!  I have been struggling with a cluttered, dysfunctional kitchen for just too long.  So, I finally decided to do something about it!  See how awful it was:

But, the space actually had such potential -- especially the 10 inch deep "alcove" in the wall in which I had put shelves but wasn't making full use of all the space and instead piling everything up everywhere.

So, I drew out a very basic design and called The Closet Factory.  Thankfully, Carin answered the phone and "got me."  She came over with her computer and helped me really plan out a shelving system.  I wanted it to be modern, sleek, simple -- and that's what I got!!

And, look how great it looks once I put in my display-able items (and hid the rest behind the doors):

Nothing like beauty and function!

Clear Gear

Loving my new bags from Clear Gear.  I was listening to a local radio station that has "Free for All Fridays" -- the Friday morning show invites listeners to come to the studio, play some games, and hang out.  One of the listeners was Jill, and she said that she had just started her own company, selling these clear bags for storing and carrying things.  I just had to go check out the website and ended up ordering a set.  Really nice and sturdy, great sizes -- really helped corral some yarn that was making a break for it!

The Linked (Looped) Double Crochet Stitch

Welcome April!  So far, it's been colder here than it was in March, but no complaints as long as it stays sunny.  And I am definitely looking at spring as being a new beginning and yet another chance to get back on track (or at least not wobble off of it!)

Much has been going on behind the scenes.  I've got a new video posted on how to make the linked (looped) double crochet stitch.  It's a fun alternative to just doing a regular single or double crochet stitch since it looks a little like both.

Hope you'll check out my other videos on YouTube at www.youtube.com/manycreativegifts.  I'm finishing up some projects and starting my spring cleaning (which I don't think really has ended since last spring!)  But more posts on that coming soon!