Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Spreading the Green or Plastic...

The weekend of Valentines Day DH and I took a trip to Raleigh, NC for some time away. I have made it my personal mission to help turn the economy around so of course I started with yarn shops. I had to get references from the natives and I got two names; Shuttles, Needles and Hooks and Great Yarn.

When we arrived at Shuttles, Needles and Hooks, I thought we were in the wrong place. It's in a wood frame house disguised as a yarn store.
I would love to link you to the store website but all I get is the city directory listing. Not a good business move in my opinion but the shop has a following that connects on Ravelry. I scored three skeins of yarn there. Here is what I was lucky enough to get!

Being on Ravelry exposes me to yarns that I might not find here locally. So when I go out of town I look to see what is different. I bought a hank of Jitterbug. I have been reading about it in my sock group and thought I would pick it up to try it out. I love the colors, but I was disappointed this was the one and only hank. As I was leaving to pay the owner's daughter was unloading a nice batch of these.
This is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, colorway Mother Lode. I bought two of course! I took this picture in natural light it completely changed the color of my yarn. It's more earth tones with shades of purple, gold, maroon and plum. No blue. I have no idea why that it blue on the end. I am going to do my best to make a pair of socks that match. We shall see!

The next place I tried to help out was...
This is the front of the store. I was really thrilled at it's location. They are right down the walk way from this place. Be still my beating heart.
This was a wonderful place. It was well organized and I found some things that I wanted in there too. The ladies in the shop was very nice and they let me get off some great shops.

I found these amazing towers of endless buttons. If you need a button, I'm thinking they've got it. Have you ever seen so many buttons in a yarn shop before??
This is the backside to the one above. Just amazing!

Even though I don't look wonderful in gray, the display still caught my eye.


Pink is one of two colors that I really am not fond of but this was another display that I really liked.
I bought three skeins of this lace weight It's Jojoland colorway #Ms14. I swear it's not as pink as it looks in the photo. I bought three balls to make a shawl. Now if I just could remember the name of that shawl...any hoo...it's lovely. Superwash lace!!!

I have never knit with Noro before but since I found a beige I liked I snatched it up. One of the women in the shop had a nice feather and fan scarf. I think I am stealing her idea. And lastly, my total weakness...more Misty Alpaca. I just love this lace weight. They had just gotten a new shipment of this color and I melted for it.
So I have documented my efforts to help the economy. Now the rest of you have to do you part. I have to knit now...




4 comments:

Susan Luni said...

Nice haul. Looks like you are set for summer knitting. My favorite is the button pic. So many buttons. I wish my lys had that kind of selection. I'm dying of envy.

Tracy Batchelder said...

You did your part well. Enjoy your yarn.

Paula said...

Wow! Looks like you had a wonderful trip... er... except for the house disguised as a yarn store.. LOL
I hope someday I can learn to knit...*sigh*... I'm a slow learner, so I pity the person that tries to teach me!

vlb5757 said...

Luni, I just couldn't believe the button towers. They were so impressive I just had to take a picture of them. I really loved that they had so many buttons. What a selection!

WW-I always try to do my part when I can!

Farm Chick Paula-I thought I would never catch on to knitting but for some reason, I got a really patient group of ladies to spur me on. Sometimes, I would be in the shop everyday working on knitting and then ripping out a project. It took some time and now I can't believe I didn't do it sooner. I just love knitting. Now don't get me started on sewing-ugh!