deedle and the yarn crawl (and my new toy....)

i got a yarn ball winder and a swift for christmas this year! from my aunt who always gives me not so great presents....so that made it awesomer! i've been dying to use it...but i haven't bought hanks of yarn in like forever.....

sooooooooooooooooo

not last week, but the week before...i was having a shitty week....and on saturday my mom came with me on a yarn crawl....

there are a whole bunch of yarn stores in the area that i just became aware of and had never been to....so i wanted to go! and we did!! i was going to go that friday because i had taken a mental health day, but as it turned out, it snowed real bad and well, me and my non 4 wheel drive didn't leave the house (and yay! work decided to not take a day away from me and left it a regular day- the office wasn't closed, but a lot of people didn't come in so...yeah)

annnnnnnnnyways

as it was, the only lys i had been to was yarnware and the skein attraction.....but yarnware doesn't exist yay! oh, did i say yay? i was not a fan of their brick and mortar store...i found they were a lot nicer to deal with via their web store....i had ordered online with them a couple of times, and they were so nice and helpful....when i went into the store, they seemed, i don't know....like, i don't know...i don't want to say condescending....but when i didn't know what guage the project called for it was like "ugh, well do you have the pattern with you?" and like, its a blanket....i need yarn...i'm going to give you gads of money because i want to use nice real yarn, not stuff from michaels....don't treat me like i don't deserve help with stuff...

sorry....didn't mean to rant....that wasn't even a full rant.....

then my mom saw an article about a yarn store in teaneck....the skein attraction, which i love the name....and i went to check it out, and they had some manos del uruguay and i was sold (the bf's fam is from uruguay....) and they were so nice and helpful...didn't make me feel like less of a knitter for not knowing much about guage and not having anything specific in mind.....and they offered to wind it for me! (yarnware didn't offer it...) and they're super helpful and close and yay!and oh i've also been in majestic yarns in ridgewood, but i didn't know really what i was looking for so i left....

but yeah, i need more than just one lys ya know? every store offers something different....

so back to the yarn crawl....first we went to creative knitworks.....looking for a good substitute for the yarn for the rusted root....i want to knit myself a sweater and ya know, a nice short sleeve sweater i should finish in time for the right season....so i went in there and seriously its like a kid in the candy store....i don't know the name of the woman who helped me, but she was very helpful helping me find a suitable yarn for the project.....and we looked around and they have a great selection of yarn...and omg they have the cutest buttons! so they offered to wind up my hanks but i said "no thanks, i got a winder and a swift for christmas and i can't wait to use it!"

so this is the yarn i got for the rusted root, its cascade sierra in ruby...the color isn't that bright in real life...i'm not a red person really, but this color struck me

on the way to that store, we passed by a new yarn store, yarn diva....and ya know, i felt like we should stop in, it's the right thing to do....noone was in there but the owner and her mother.....so i was looking around, and i felt like i should buy something, cuz i didn't want to just go in and leave....and then after some perusing, i found malabrigo! after reading how much everyone who's used it loves it and i needed to get my hands on some to see what the big deal was...so i grabbed a skein of this beautiful green color and omg! it was love at first touch...i bought 3 skeins....i started up with the my so called scarf with it...then maybe i'll make a matching hat? i don't know....i never buy enough for a large project...but whatever....mmmalabrigo love! and then mom and i started chatting with them and found out that it was a mother and daughter and they seemed really nice....and i hope things work out for them...its like a block or so away from creative knitworks...but ya know, they carry different yarns, so it should be ok...they too offered to wind it up, and i told them the same thing ;)

how pretty is this green?? i mean really......and more uruguay yarn! i can't wait to go there and get yarn from the source...hot!

from there, we went on to closeknits in ho ho kus.....there were quite a few people in there....they had a good selection too, but seemed a bit cramped....didn't buy anything there....but i'd definately go back....i used my gps to tell us how to get to and from all these places....and so we were looking at the directions....and then i realized how close it is to me! and there's a sale going on now....so i think i might be going there on saturday....i don't need more yarn, but...soooo tempting!

soooooooooooooo then i was looking up online more yarn stores in the area, and modern yarn in montclair, i plugged in that address to mapquest and found that it is only 15mins from me at work...uh oh! soooooooooooooooooooo i went there during lunch....and well, they have malabrigo too!! so i bought one more skein of a different color there....i guess i make a hat or something with it? some fetching? i don't know....i love it.....i'm going to one day seriously buy enough and make me a sweater out of it...promise...i also bought some cascade 220 in green and black to make the argyle sweater from the son of stitch n bitch book for my daddy.....its not good to know i can make it to a lys during lunch.....danger!

yum! more mmmmmmmalabrigo!!!!




omg yay!!!! winding yarn is so much fun!!!!!! i know i know i look tired, but i was infact tired...but omg! look at how cool the swift and the winder and what not is! i love it! must.buy.more.hanks.