Picasso's Moon

While in Sarasota I visited two yarn stores. Following online recommendations I tried Spinning Wheel first (no website), which was celebrated as well-established business with a great variety of everything you need. The name led me to believe that this might be the place where I could make my first purchase of roving, which is exactly what I needed that day, since I had decided I wanted to give spinning a try. Rather than drop spindles, spinning wheels, or roving, many cotton and novelty yarns in either pastel or über-bright colors greeted me. Not my kind of store, I quickly decided (which doesn't say much, since the store actually was quite packed with happy customers).

Next on the list was Picasso's Moon, and oh boy! would I have loved to gather my knitting and sat down in one of the mega-comfy chairs and started chatting with the knit'n'bitch group that was in session. The store isn't just a lovely yarn store that has, in addition to yarn, plenty of beautifully dyed roving, but it's also a fibery art gallery, a coffee/tea/wine bar, an antique shop with wonderful curiosities, and a place where friends meet. If it hadn't been for my step-dad waiting in the car, I think my mom and I would have wanted to stay there all day.

Debra, the incredibly friendly owner, saw me looking at the roving, and when I had picked something beautiful and casually mentioned that I knew nothing about spinning but was going to try it, she respectfully took the roving out of my hands and told me to start with something easy. BFL, for instance, in plain ol' natural:

Lacking a spindle and being tied to the bed still, I haven't played with it yet. It's a big mystery to me how this cloud becomes yarn, but I hope that after this summer I'll have some time to figure it out. And in the meantime I thought I should mention the store to you: if you're ever in Sarasota, do visit!

A surprise! Rachael, whose blog I love to read, had a wonderful give-away a couple of weeks ago. In exchange for book recommendation she gave away knitting books that she no longer needed, and yesterday's mailman brought this book of hers to my door:

Thank you so much, Rachael!!