Adding to the sock stash

Some knitting progress has been made, but none particularly of note. Yet, anyway.

I’ve been missing out on San Diego gatherings again. This is sad in and of itself, but even more so because I had to miss the last knitting event at Kris‘s place before her move. Sorry, Kris! I’ll miss knitting with you, and I hope the move goes well.

Last weekend, I missed the knitting meetups because I went back to my hometown. It wasn’t really a trip made for fun, but I did get a tiny bit of time to myself. Predictably enough, I used that time for retail therapy, hit the two yarn shops in town, and ended up with the following:

The yarn is Louet Gems Pearl. Fingering weight yarn is the only kind of yarn I don’t mind a) impulse buying and b) stashing in moderation, because I can always find a use for 100g. I’ve also been making a concerted effort to try new yarns, which is why I ended up buying this and not, say, more Koigu. (I did have to try very hard to resist the Koigu, though.)

You’ll also see a sheep tape measure. Would’ve loved a black one, but oh well. I’ve wanted one of these for awhile, and I decided that Sunday was finally the time to buy one.

And now, for some musings on the two yarn shops I visited:

 
Yarn!
2311 Santa Clara Ave, Alameda, CA 94501

(Lamest name ever, no?)

I’d been here once before, about a year ago, and lamented on how it wasn’t organized in a seemingly logical fashion. But this time, I noticed a few things were placed differently than they had been on my previous visit, and now it all makes sense.

They have a good selection of yarns. They’re mostly at retail price, though, and things end up being even more expensive there, as sales tax is 1% higher in Alameda than it is in San Diego.

Given that pretty much the only kind of yarn I’ll impulse-buy is sock yarn, I did spend a bit more time lingering in front of that section. Other than several colors of the Louet Gems Pearl, they had several colorways of Koigu that I haven’t seen here in San Diego, which I may very well go back for on a later trip. Assuming that I’ve made a dent in my sock stash by then, that is. They also had some Opal (which I’m not fond of), Cascade Fixation, and I think Sockotta, too, but I didn’t really look because I didn’t like the colors.

 
Tuscany Yarn
1916 Encinal Ave, Alameda, CA 94501

Some of their yarn is nice, but they really didn’t have much of a selection at all. Nothing but Sockotta in the way of sock yarn, for one thing. And ow, the markup!

They had very few books, and not a whole lot of interesting patterns, at least in the shawls binder. A fair amount of Clover needles, but not a whole lot else in that department. Well, they did have some Brittany Birch and Bryspun DPNs, but I’ve broken entirely too many of the Brittanys in the smaller sizes and the Bryspuns didn’t really appeal to me.

I ended up buying something at this store anyway – the tape measure, which was, not surprisingly, a little bit overpriced. Oh well, I don’t regret the purchase at all!

I admit that I mostly bought it because the employee working that day made such a positive impression on me. I normally like to be left alone while shopping, but the employee, whose name I didn’t catch, provided some surprisingly pleasant conversation. Especially after I mentioned that I’m particularly fond of socks and lace.

 
I’ll have to check out more Bay Area yarns shops next time I’m up there. Any suggestions?