Yarn (Store) Pr0n: Unwind

So here's the deal.

On my last trip to California, I visited Unwind. And it was awesome.

And somehow I never blogged about it. Until now.

It's been a while since the trip, but I wanted to give the shop it's proper review. I don't remember as many details as I'd like, but I wanted to at least share the pictures.


The Knitting Nest has a wall of Cascade, Wildfiber has a wall of Koigu, and Unwind has a wall of Lorna's Laces. (I'm pretty sure this is all Shepherd Sock.) So pretty. I was tempted to buy some, but I decided I had enough Shepherd Sock in my stash.


Also, I drooled (but not literally) over this basket filled with cashmere and silk blends. The owners at unwind did a great job of combining yarns in the shop. (Like the Berroco yarns.)


I did buy a skein of this. This is Cherry Tree Hill Limited Edition sock yarn for September 2008. The colorway is "Burnished Berry." Yummy.


There was a friendly group of knitters gathered at the shop. You could tell they were regulars. I wish I remembered their names.


The dog was also a regular.


I was impressed by the ball winder. It's unlike any other I've seen. (See it in action here.)


The details have faded, but the yarn remains. You can see what I bought in detail here.

All my pictures from Unwind are here. I wish I had posted this sooner, but it feels good knowing I did it. If you are a regular at Unwind, please leave a comment and tell us more.

FO: Jules's Gentleman Socks

This socks were a long time coming.

Last summer, I went on the yarn crawl with the Meetup group. Sandra Singh allowed us to come into her home to shop for yarn. (She has an online business.) We were all excited because Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock was on sale.

Jules and I had been talking for a couple of months at that point. I decided to get some yarn for socks for Jules. If we made it to Christmas, I would knit him some socks. He would be sockworthy by then.

I went back and forth on which color to get. I normally choose stuff too bright for the average guy. I almost went home with Blackwatch, but then I casually looked at something in a sandier color. I saw the colorway was Seaside, and I knew that was the yarn I had to get. Jules loves the ocean. I bought three skeins just to be sure I had enough. (I only needed two skeins, since I shortened the leg.)

Fast forward to October. We had been "official" for a while, and we were making plans for him to come and visit. I went back and forth on which socks to make. If you can't tell, a name can really sell me sometimes. I considered Boyfriend Socks, but the pattern wasn't right for this type of variegated yarn. I finally settled on Gentleman Socks, because he called his scarf "gentlemanly." Also, the crossed stitches seemed good for the yarn, and the ribbing was forgiving. After all, I couldn't measure his foot for myself.

And trying to get foot measurements was a hassle. He told me his shoe size, I consulted books, consulted the pattern, called him again, asked for measurements, asked other knitters, called and asked to re-measure....you get the picture. I finally settled on a men's medium.

Gauge was another issue. I kept going smaller and smaller, until I got 8.5 stitches per inches on US size 000. Ravelry doesn't even go that low. (In case you're tuning in late, I have very loose gauge. The pattern calls for US size 1.)

I think if there was less of a time crunch with the holidays, I would have enjoyed it more. But I was running out of time. The crossed stitches meant I had 80 stitches on tiny needles. I'd sit down at knitting group to work on it, and when I'd leave I'd look down and think "that's all I got done?"

It was my fault for choosing a pattern with such a small gauge. It wasn't really a difficult pattern, just tedious. Like I said, it wouldn't have been a big deal if there hadn't been a time cruch. I'd knit them again.

The sole was interesting too. There was the weird slip stitch pattern to help the socks fit around the arch better. I was skeptical, but it worked. (I have pretty flat feet, so I don't need design features like that.)

I spent three weeks on these socks. (Imagine if I'd hadn't shortened the leg. The pattern says to make it eight inches long.) It was good to knit socks with a larger gauge after I was done.





You're probably wondering if he liked them...



...I think so.

My boyfriend is sockworthy.