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.

Mooching at The Knitting Nest

Last weekend when I went home to mooch off Mom and use her wheel, I also made a trip to The Knitting Nest to mooch off Stacy and use her yarn meter. As you can see, they're celebrating their victory.


The shop had several new yarns, including Queensland Collection Tahiti, Elizabeth Austen Andes and Rozetti Baby Soft. However, the Baby Alpaca Chunky Paints was my favorite new yarn. It's soft, pretty and makes for a quick knit.


Of course, I had plenty to do with my own yarn. Here's my Coopworth Single. I now know I have about 251.66 yards (or 755 feet.)


Remember my two-ply merino? I have 202.33 yards of it (or 607 feet.)


Then it was time to measure the Cookie Monster Single I had a lot of problems with it breaking. I may have spun it a little too fine.


I had 208.66 yards (or 626 feet) total.


The hardest part was spinning from the ball so I could have to singles to ply together. Each single is about 104.66 yards (or 314 feet.) Not bad for one ounce of fiber.


Did I mention that I got to spin on Stacy's wheel? It's an Ashford. I'm not sure if it's a Traditional or an Elizabeth.


Somehow, the wheel has both Scotch tension and a double drive band. I'm not sure exactly how that works. I think you can decide which one to use.

I'm starting to think I'm an Ashford person.

You can see all my pictures from my last trip to The Knitting Nest, including more spinning wheel photos, here.

Yarn (Store) Pr0n: Yarnorama

Yarnorama was the third stop on the yarn crawl. We had lunch while we were there. (It helps that they have their own cafe so you can grab a bite after the drive.)


Yarnorama isn't strictly yarn. They have equipment for several types of fiber arts. I was looking forward to buying more fiber. Here is a herky-jerky look at their fiber selection.


They had some beautiful drop spindles. Click on the picture to get a better look at the craftsmanship.


Here's some more spindles and other tools. I considered getting a wrist distaff that doubled as a wraps per inch tool, but I decided to save my money for fiber.


They also have a nice selection of wheels and looms. Clara bought a Louet Julia while she was there.


This is Susan, the owner. She answered a bunch of my questions, and helped me decide what fiber to buy. She also said I could come back and try out the spinning wheels on the floor before I decide which one to buy. She also helped Clara buy choose her wheel, demonstrated how the silk hankies work and how to spin them.


Speaking of silk, here's some whole silk cocoons. If you shake them you can hear the silk worm inside. (Yes, they're dead. It's gross, but that's how you get silk without breaking the cocoon.)


They had plenty of yarn as well. There was cashmere, Malabrigo and a nice selection of yarns dyed in-house. Here's some of Yarnorama's hand painted sock yarn. They also their own hand dyed linen yarn and silk hankies.


As the sign says, this yarn is from local llamas. I think it's mill spun. Very nice.


In the end, I bought fiber instead of yarn. The one on the left is Corriedale, bought specifically for testing out spinning wheels and learning new techniques.

The middle bag is Coopworth. I'm spinning it right now. After spinning Merino, I was surprised by the "teeth" in the wool.

The one on the right is Blue Faced Leicester (or BFL). I plan to ply it with the Coopworth. Susan thought it would work. All the wool is natural, none of it is dyed.

Yarnorama is a bit of drive, but it is worth it for the selection of spinning surprise. I think I'll be back.

There are more pictures of Yarnorama here.

Yarn (Store) Pr0n: Wildfiber

I owe Jules, because he was really understanding when I planned stops at two yarn shops into my trip to California. One of them didn't pan out, (more on that later) but that left me with more yarn budget for this one.

Wildfiber is located in Santa Monica. I'm kicking myself for not getting a broader shot inside the store, but nothing beats the panoramic picture on the store's website.

This is Natasha, and she's the owner. She was really helpful and patient with my picture taking.

This was one of the first yarns to catch my eye. It's Paca Peds HT (Heel and Toe) from The Alpaca Yarn Company. It's a yummy blend of Alpaca, Superwash Wool and Nylon. The directions say it can be machine washed on delicate in a lingerie bag.

The "HT" includes 25 grams of yarn for the heel and toe. I'm trying to figure out where it's hidden in the hank. Or was it separate and I didn't buy any? I didn't see the HT on the label until I got home.

Also, I didn't get the colorway I was holding here. I got Caribbean Chocolate, a color Jules pointed out.

Here's one I'd never seen person either. Natasha said it was really popular in the shop. It's Sock Hop Yarn by Crown Mountain Farms, a superwash merino handspun. I only got one skein in Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. I think I might make Chapeau Marnier with it, but I haven't decided for sure.

(Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. How cool is that. I didn't even notice the name until I came home. The names of the colorways are all from songs.)

They also had Chasing Rainbows, which I think is affiliated with Crown Mountain Farms.

I was really excited about this find. This is Cascade Greenland, an Aran weight superwash merino. I had no idea such a thing existed. I think it's new. I was the first to stash it on Ravelry.

I think I may have found my yarn for the Susie Hoodie. I can't wait to swatch it.

Here's another one that was new to me. This is Noro Silk Garden Chunky. I didn't know Silk Garden came in chunky.

Wildfiber has the biggest selection of purse handles and straps that I've seen in one place. I bought some purse handles for my Mom. They also have buttons.

Lots of buttons. There's even more than what I posted here.

They had a nice selection of roving too. I managed to abstain. I think most of this is merino.

Are you ready for the best part?

It's the great wall of Koigu. Mostly KPPPM with a little Kersti in there.

I've been looking for the opportunity to pick from a good Koigu selection ever since I bought Knits from a Painter's Palette (or as I call it, "The Koigu Book.")

After I took this picture, I think they put even more out. (Apparently there were one or two pegs empty.)

Natasha explained how she manages to get so much. Koigu is such a small operation that there is a waiting list to become a vendor. Once you become vendor, there is a limit to how many colorways they'll send you. The longer you're a vendor, the more colors you can get and the more choices you are given. It's the only way they can keep with demand. Wildfiber has been a Koigu vendor for a long time, so they have a great selection.

Natasha was really patient with me as I tried to pick out colors. She even put them up for me when I was done. She said she didn't mind because it was an excuse to play with the Koigu.

Here are my final selections.

I picked four for a mitered square scarf in the Koigu book, two for the Chevron Scarf from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts and two of the same color for socks, handwarmers or something of that nature.

Natasha recommended some of the splotchy colors like the one I picked up. She said it looks unimpressive in the skein, but fabulous knit up. I remember seeing socks in a similar colorway, so I went for it.

There were several Koigu samples. The tag on this pattern says it's a modification of the Children's Neckdown Cardigan from Knitting Pure and Simple.

This is the Daydreams Stroller Blanket from the Koigu Book. Natasha knit it. She said she made lots of modifications because there were errors in the pattern. Looks good to me.

This shot of sample shawls in the sunlight was too good not to post.

Here is my final purchase:
You can go here to mouse over the yarns for more information.

There are more yarn pictures where these came from. All my pictures from Wildfiber are here. You can also see it as a slideshows. (Click in the middle if you want to read the captions.)

I took u a picchur, but I eated it

I was going to have pictures of Clapotis tonight, but I can't find the camera cable. So, you'll have to wait until later. For now, you can haz cheezburger.


more cat pictures

I found out today at work I got a promotion. Sort of. It's more of a certification. Basically, they will periodically take me off my current team for special projects. (During those projects, I'll make a little more money.) So it was a good day.

It's only a couple of weeks until I go to California. I had only planned to make A Major Knitwork the only yarn shop on my trip (for Jules' sake), but when I found out about Wildfiber, I had to make it two. I've heard they have an entire wall of Koigu. So it's two yarn shops. That's it. (And I'm saving my money up.)

Yarn (Store) Pr0n: Old Oaks Ranch

This is the third part in a three part series on the Meetup group's San Antonio Yarn Crawl. (It's about time, I know.)

Our final stop was Old Oaks Ranch in Wimberley. In addition to yarn for knitting and crochet, they have supplies and classes on weaving, spinning, dying and other fiber arts.

We arrived in the middle of spinning class. Fortunately, no one seemed to mind.

This is the spinning teacher, Carol Wyche, looking through some milk fiber roving. Yes, that's actually made from milk. (I'm not sure how.) According to the website, Carol does $25 private lessons. I think I'm going to sign up for one.

Here are some of the looms.

Here's a nice tapestry that they had on the wall.

I had to snap a picture of the angora bunny painting while I was at it.

Here's the gratuitous yarn shot. I don't thing it's in this picture, but they had Colinette Jitterbug, like the other two shops. And like at the other two shops, I didn't buy any.

I'm pretty sure the yarn on the second to bottom shelf is all Henry's Attic alpaca. That was tempting as well. Again, I was watching my budget.

I did buy a skein of this. Spun from their own alpacas (if I remember correctly.)

And they do have their own alpacas.

This is the new baby. (I couldn't get it to come any closer.)

However, this one wasn't shy. I had no problem getting him to come closer.

He (or she?) didn't mind smelling my hand, but didn't want to be pet.

Did I mention that they have a sculpture garden?

I made another friend.

You can see all my yarn crawl pictures here.