Yarn Mecca

Yesterday morning, I got in the car and took a drive west to Northampton, MA. I had a lovely drive--an audiobook to listen to, and nothing much on my mind except for yarn.

And then I got there. Webs. The yarn Mecca.

I had heard of course, of the overwhelming amount of yarn (which made even the Yarn Harlot pause for a moment) . I had perused their website, which gives a hint of what's to come. I looked at their online "tour" of the store.

None of which had prepared me for the moment I actually got there.

So. Much. Yarn!

An unbelievable amount. I managed to escape without completely breaking the bank (without, in fact, even going over my budget--mainly because Webs gives you a lovely discount (25%) off yarn when you buy more than $100 worth of items. Some of sale & clearance items aren't discounted any further, but they seem to count toward the total, so several of my purchases were discounted.

I bought sock yarn for Sockapalooza:

Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock in "Icehouse." I looked at their house brand, Valley Yarn Franklin, but decide that I liked these colors a bit more, and that since I've never knit with Lorna's Laces, I would go with this. My sock pal doesn't appear to have any in her stash on Ravelry, either, so I think she'll like it.

Now I just have to decide on a pattern. I want to do something cable-y, but I'm not sure if the colors will look good. Swatch first, decide later.



I bought a sweater's worth of this:

Elizabeth Lavold Silky Tweed in a nice dark blue. It's for a husband sweater--he's been bugging me a bit for one, and since he seems to be serious, and is giving me pretty much free reign, I got this. I've made hats for him, and a scarf, and a pair of socks (he wears the hat, but the scarf and socks only rarely).

He did ask for a pirate scull-and-crossbones, but I think not with this yarn. Any suggestions for a pattern?



To satisfy my lace kick, I bought this:

Hand-dyed for Webs--it's 80% Alpaca and 20% silk, almost 1000 yards. It's earmarked for a shawl for a co-worker with whom I frequently collaborate; the colors are pretty close to my large rectangle, I know, but she had admired the colors.








And this:

Three skeins of Malabrigo's new laceweight--super soft and lovely colors. This one's called "Blue Surf." It will become a shawl for my SIL--I'm trying to get an early start on Christmas this year. There are only two skeins pictured here, because the third one








Has been wound into balls (one knot, and one slub that I decided to avoid putting in the middle of the pattern) and I've cast on with it!