Metro Yarn Crawl 2017

I can't believe another Metro Yarn Crawl has come and gone!  We actually made it to 8 stores this year, but we still didn't make it to the store in Occoquan.

Nina, Mary, and I did the Maryland stores on the first Friday of the crawl, visiting Second Story Knits to pick up our totes (and some yarn of course).

We headed to Knit Locally's new location in Gaithersburg, where I scored some beautiful red yarn and a shawl pin.  They have such luxurious yarns there, this is definitely for a project for ME!

Our last stop was at Woolwinders on the way home.  Just like last year, it was a rainy, cold day, so what better to do than visit yarn shops and buy yarn!  Actually, this year, even though it may not seem like it, I tried to concentrate on getting new gadgets that would help in using up my yarn.  I will let this one speak for itself :-)

On the second Friday of the crawl (rainy and cold again!), Mary and I headed to Virginia.  It was a real adventure out to Leesburg to visit Finch Knitting and Sewing Studio.  It was worth the trip!  Such a great store, and you'll be seeing my new gadget from there in another post.  But here's a taste of the amazing vibe and decor.

Then off to Red Fox Yarns, where Uniquities used to be.  The new shop is delightful, with an emphasis on baby yarns and reasonable prices!  And you can't help but stumble upon a cute little stuffed fox everywhere you turn :-)

Our last stop was Nature's Yarns, where I scored a Della Q organizer for my knitting needles (haven't actually organized those needles yet, so no pix).  Love that store; it's definitely a place where you could sit and spend an afternoon so comfortably...

On Saturday, I bribed the hubby to driving me to Old Town Alexandria for a quick stop at fibre space, and I walked on Sunday to Looped Yarn Works (for the locals, that's about 3 miles!).  Another awesome Metro Yarn Crawl!

Corner-to-Corner Baby Blanket

I do love the crochet and knit demonstrations on Facebook!  A few weeks ago, I came across a wonderful technique demonstrated by the Crochet Crowd called the Corner-to-Corner Afghan Project. 

It showed up right in time because I recently found out that a friend of mine is expecting baby number 2!  This one's going to be a boy (the first baby is a girl, and she got this baby blanket and still carries it around :-), and the nursery theme is safari.  So, off to A.C. Moore I went before Blizzard 2016 (now, yarnies, don't judge!  Acrylic yarns these days are pretty decent, and, for a baby, the wash-ability and allergy-free nature of the yarn is key) and found "Camouflage" by Red Heart (that's another thing, there were no safari-like or camouflage yarns at fibre space or Looped).

It did not take long to get to this point with this worsted weight yarn and an H hook:

I ended up having 18 "boxes" across and 22 for the length.  I probably should have tried to have 24, but I was running out of yarn (the main body took just one skein) and didn't want to chance it.

Now, I'm putting on a double crochet black border and am thinking about experimenting with adding a row of beige/camel in there too.  I'll be posting a better photo of the final project soon (she's coming to visit at the beginning of February!) with more details if you want to give it a try as well.

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!

Combat Knitters

Great article in today's Washington Post about the "Combat Knitters" in Afghanistan and a group in Virginia who's been shopping at Fibre Space and shipping boxes of yarn to the knitters!  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/09/AR2011030905233.html  Of course, I'm sad that we're not talking about "Combat Crocheters" (even has a better ring to it!), but hey, hard to complain in this situation ...

And, tomorrow is my annual pilgrimage to the Washington Home and Garden Show at the convention center.  I just love seeing all the beautiful gardens and landscaped backyard displays, then wandering through the marketplace looking at all the live info-mercials!  Yes, I admit it, it's a guilty pleasure to get sucked in by all these products that are going to change my life ;-)  I have to say, except for one or two duds, I usually come away with some useful stuff.  One year, I had to call my husband and have him come meet me with the car because I couldn't carry everything!  But, the last few years actually have been a bit sparser in offerings.  I think the economy has hit this sector pretty hard.  Well, I will report back about my finds.