I left on Thursday, to travel to VA. Immediately upon arriving at my hotel, I whipped out the lap top computer, and found a nearby store. Upon inquiring on the best route from the woman at the desk, she informed me that she thought that the store was closing soon. This helpful woman called the owner, and found that she was, indeed, closing early for health reasons. Whatever. She also recommended another shop, still open, that she intended to take classes from this fall. I think that she was beginning to knit. Chalk one up for Knitty Serendipity. My own phrase.
This yarn store was crammed. Here's a word to the wise LYS owner
1. Air condition your upper room. Between sheer astonishment and the incredible heat, I nearly passed out, and you would have had to lug me down those narrow stairs. Not pretty.
2. Have more colors.
OK, there was some sale going on, so she probably got cleaned out, but she had millions of different colors of Trekking, and about 13 skeins of Great Adirondack in the same color. Exaggeration, but I wanted to get something, sock yarn seemed perfect, but the color selection was boring. Also, I failed in my quest for the perfect yarn for the Endpaper Mitts. I do not want baby blue and pink mitts!!! And I can't use crazy colored sock yarn for a Fair Isle project!
That said, I enjoyed fondling the Mongolian Cashmere (wow) and looking at that cute bag, perfect for portable sock knitting. I enjoyed the colors, everything. I didn't enjoy the $55 price tag. I don't mind spending money on stuff that I really like, but that's a bit much. Maybe $25. Someone with more money will certainly buy it sometime; it was lovely. I felt bad that I couldn't find anything that I wanted in the limited amount of time that I had there, but I couldn't find anything really, really perfect.
Used book sales attract me like a fly to honey, and one was very nearby. I stood (sat) in line, and whipped out my sock. Understand that I have never seen anyone else knitting in public before, although I am fairly oblivious to my surroundings at all time. Imagine my delight and astonishment to see a woman, just ahead of me, using fine metal needles in a thin white sock, her thread-like yarn coming from a large cone that she carried in a bag on her arm. Knitty Serendipity Strikes Again!
Most of the sock had been rolled up and pinned in place, to keep it from draggling. My family is afraid of my knitting, but hers was absolutely amazing!
I am not the type of person who just jumps into conversations, right and left. That is my older sister, and everybody loves her. However, I felt more confident in our shared interest, and discovered that she was knitting knee high 1800s period socks, in cotton! I don't usually gush, either, but these were freaking cool socks. She gave me some helpful tips on where I could find stuff to do this, including a yahoo group called VicKnits, who do this stuff for a living. I'm joking, but it's a cool group, and I joined.
Knitty Serendipity struck several more times, in the several women who wanted to know what I was using, just wanted to see a sock (that one was a knitter, but had never tried socks) and the 50% copy of the Stitchionary book at a Barnes and Noble. $15 instead of $30 suits me just fine!
All in all, a very good trip!
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