Yarn Shop Hoppin'

Just in case I haven't mentioned this often enough yet, the SLC knitting scene rocks! The latest and greatest that our local yarn shops are doing is to host a one-week "Wasatch Front Yarn Shop Hop." Just think: seven yarn stores, two free patterns per store inspired by favorite movies and/or books, and a prize drawing at the end.

Not knowing any of the yarn shops but my beloved around-the-corner, greatest knitting community EVAH, Blazing Needles, I hopped to two stores yesterday, despite a 60% chance of heavy snowfalls. In sunny weather I arrived at the Black Sheep Wool Company, very conveniently located in downtown Salt Lake, just a few blocks from the Temple (i.e., should you visit SLC for touristy stuff, you're really close to this LYS):

This is quite a lovely yarn shop, with a large, open browsing and shopping area and an adjacent room for classes. There's some sock and baby yarn, but mostly the store seems to feature heavier, sweater-worthy yarns. There's lots of Berroco, Rowan, Cascade, Debbie Bliss, and Sublime, and yarns of other companies, and the store carries a large selection of pattern booklets (which makes me happy--I love pattern booklets).

Then there were a few dress forms wearing Miriam Felton designs. Yay--a trunk show! So I asked, is Ms. Felton coming to the store anytime soon? Em..., the saleswoman said..., Miriam works here. Really?? Really.

That just blew me away. I mean, the Icarus Shawl was one of my very early projects, and since then I've collected many of Miriam Felton's designs. I love her stuff! She's frequently teaching classes at the store, and blimme, I'm signing up for one.

(Do I feel stupid for not having known that Miriam Felton is a local? No more so than when I discovered that Susan Lawrence spends a lot of her time at Blazing Needles...)

By the time I made it to The Wool Cabin, the clouds had gotten seriously dark, and the temperature had dropped by 10 degrees:

The Wool Cabin is a large store, with a separate room full of comfy chairs for knitting groups (in 2011 the store won the title of "Best Social Knitworking"). The store had been described to me as a store for "Mormon grandmas" (said without any judgment, by a man Mormon himself), and sure enough, the store is very baby-oriented: lots of cotton and acrylic blends in pastel shades, samples of baby patterns are everywhere, every available baby pattern collection is in stock (or so it seemed). There's Debbie Bliss, Rowan, and Sublime again, but also some Madelinetosh and (very little) Lorna's Laces. My verdict: it's not my kind of store, but I'm glad it exists and serves its community well!

After two stores my baby-free time was up, and I went home. If all goes according to plan, I'll visit two more on Tuesday. I'll be sure to report back to you....

PS: The snow never came.

Sock Love

Since Elinor posted the invitation to participate in her Socks Revived design contest, the blogging sphere has been buzzing with the news. Hers is such a great idea, I can't wait to see all the designs that people will submit!

And did you see who the judges are? Amazing. This will be such a blast. In fact, my immediate response was, Oh no! Too bad I can't participate. Designing is, much to my regret, out of my league. And as I expressed this to Elinor her response was: "Nonsense! Socks are tubes with heels and toes! You could totally do it!"

Tubes with heels and toes, eh? And I would have till April 19? Hmmmmmm. I need to think this over.

And time for thinking things over I have plenty, since Bob is still with me. I'm more or less immobile, but just 'cause I can't knit doesn't mean I can't think about knitting.

Speaking of socks. Between abandoning Slippery and coming down with Bob, I started Skew.

I'm almost done with the first one, and I'm eager to try it on. Alas, I can't reach my feet!

Make Mine Local!

That was the motto of tonight's Common Cod Fiber Guild meeting hosted by the guild's president, Guido Stein, at MIT in Cambridge. My friend Shannon invited me to come along, meet and greet the Boston knitting world, and see some of the local designers' newest work.

This was my first knitters/knitting event, and I loved it! I was surprised how quickly people connected and struck up conversations, and how genuinely enthusiastic knitters are about each other's work: experiencing this sense of community first-hand was quite different from just reading about it on blogs and in Sock Summit or Rhinebeck reports. It was terrific!

I also loved the decorative details of the event, like the knitted covers for the lecture hall's bannisters:

There even was a band! Our focus, however, was quickly drawn to the fashion show: Ten designers put seventeen knits on the catwalk. One of my favorite pieces was Suzanne's Moebius Shawl with Hood, modeled here by herself:

The funkiest and coolest piece was this vest, designed by Windsor Button's very own Rebecca:

There were several other really gorgeous hand-knits, among them two skirts by Jill of Yarns in the Farm, and I urge you to check out the guild's blog to see the video of the fashion show.

The MC of the show was former Bostonian Shannon Okey, aka Knit Grrl. After the fashion show she talked about her career as professional knit designer and answered questions regarding the publishing business.

And guess who was in the audience? Jessica!

I got a chance to talk to her (for about two seconds, before other peeps wanted to say hi):

Groovy!!