Friday, April 18, 2008

Denver!

I was in Denver, CO for the Frozen 4 WCHA Hockey Tournament last week. I had a really good time in spite of how poorly the Fighting Sioux played. No more comments on that!
While in Denver, in addition to watching hockey, touring things such as the Denver Mint, the Capital Building, the Molly Brown Museum, driving into the mountains & visiting Wynkoop Brewery (more than once), I managed to stop at 5 yarn shops—hooray!!

This was a very friendly shop, and the last one we visited. While I cannot remember the woman’s name (she works the 9-12 shift), she was super friendly and helpful! Even though I’d never been in the shop before, I was treated as a regular customer, and felt right at home. What a great shop! I was even invited to one of their sock knitting groups, but was unable to attend, as it was the day after I left for home. The other two people I brought with me were not shopping for yarn, but still had a good time, and the shop was one of the two that we visited that they really enjoyed—that is a very good thing that they could have a good time in a yarn shop when they were not there to shop! I was good, and only purchased a skein of sock yarn, a skein of Scoubie Du to make a baby dress that was super cute! The pattern is Buttercup Sundress and is in this book: Country Living Cozy knits for cuddly babies by Elanor Lynn. Now I am working on tracking down the book. My first attempt is inter-library loan, we’ll see how that goes, as I’ve never tried that before. I also brought home Mountain Colors Baby Hat & Socks pattern, suggested by (and located for me in the shop) by a really nice knitter in the shop.

Pagewood Farm Yukon Sock Yarn in greens (70% Merino, 20% Bamboo 10% Nylon)
Trendsetter Scoubidu in Yellow Stone Wash


Another very friendly shop, and the other shop the two with me that were not purchasing yarn really enjoyed. While in the shop, my friends even helped someone fix (or do something like that) their spinning wheel. It was a very nice shop, and while difficult to resist, I did not actually purchase any yarn here (but the other knitter in the group did!). This shop had spinning and weaving in addition to knitting/crocheting.
This was the first shop we stopped at. The shop owner, Sylvia, was very nice and very helpful. I had e-mailed her before going to Colorado looking for a specific sock yarn kit, and while she did not carry it, she let me know that another shop did, which was really helpful, and we made a special trip down to the other shop to get the yarn. She even invited us to their “Bobmas Eve” event, but we were unable to attend, due to it being when the hockey games were being played. While there, at Sylvia’s suggestion (a wonderful one I might add!), I purchased my souvineer yarn—Red Rocks Fiber Works in Dark Chocolate. It is 100% superwash merino, and was dyed in Morrison, CO. http://www.redrocksfiberworks.com/. It is a very pretty color, and I’m looking forward to knitting a pair of socks out of it—now to decide on a pattern.

Another very nice and friendly yarn shop! This time I picked some Aussi Sock yarn www.oasisyarn.com in Oak Moss and Spanish Fiesta. 990% Aussi Merino 10% Nylon. I also purchase a circular needle case, as I really need one to work on some organization. I am planning to knit “I Love Gansey Sock” by Janine Le Cras with the Oak Moss.
One more yarn shop………

Showers of Flowers Yarn Shop
http://www.showersofflowers.com/
Boy do they have a huge selection of yarn! I ended up with Pagewood Farm Yukon sock yarn in Golden and a skein of Cascade Yarns 220 superwash in a dark green to make a Koolhaas hat for my brother. His favorite color is green.
As you can tell, by the end of this post, I got tired of writing about the yarn shops, but I really did enjoy them all, and had a wonderful time actually being able to see & touch all the yarn in person instead of on the internet!

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