Sheep Shots

I always skip over yarn shop reviews on the lists (as in "I'll be traveling to Upper Podunk next month. Are there any great yarn shops there?"). If you are like me in that regard, you may want to skip this post!

In preparation for our trip to Virginia Beach, I googled. Once we got there, I checked the yellow pages. There are three LYS within the city limits, and probably several more within a 10 mile radius. Virginia Beach, I now know, is the largest city in the Commonwealth! (Of course, most knitters also know that doesn't necessarily mean squat for yarn shopping!)

There are three yarn shops in Virginia Beach. I was pleased that we were able to ferret two of them out with relative ease. (We also found Dunkin' Donuts, so the Other Half was mellow.)

First stop:


The hook and i is a charming shop set in a charming upscale strip right on Virginia Beach Blvd. The front of the store is devoted to needlepoint (lots of 'spensive canvas and wool that would have had me drooling 30 years ago). Lovely stuff! I was greeted before I was well into the shop and asked, "needle or yarn?" Yarn had its own space and there was lots of it! Foof and classic, local, imported, cotton, wool, and everything in between, patterns galore, needles six ways to Sunday--lovely stuff (I think I said that already). There were several shop samples of patterns I already own, in yarns I'd love to knit. I could have maxed out my card without even trying.

All I bought was this localish (Churchville, VA) tweedy stuff, Chester Farms Cestari. I am hoping that I got enough for a casual shell (1160 yards, about a pound). The color is Sea Shell, a golden tan with flecks of sage, blue, and a hint of rust. The fiber is cotton, wool, and silk.

Stop 2:



Ewe Knit Kits is a block or so off the beaten path. It is also located in a shopping strip and is a completely different shopping experience. Bright lights, bright yarns, every bit of foof that is new on the market, a wall of Koigu, Prism "stuff," and lots of other great yarn. Their book section was not to be believed with multiple copies of lots of the newest in print and lots and lots of classics. I'm sure there must have been needles, but I wasn't in the market, and didn't notice them.

There was a table where several knitters were working through simple and complicated patterns in interesting yarns. There were samples and swatches everywhere.

At that point, I was on a mission, looking for a laceweight yarn (mohair, perhaps) in a purple shade to make a stole. It was staring me in the face as I walked in the door:

Straw into Gold Kid Merino in a pale lavender. 1920 yards of it.

Now, to find the pattern I know I have here somewhere. It's called (I think) "Traveling Shawl" as in, easy to pack in the pre-shawl phase and in the finished form (that's the description). Does anyone out there know where I might have seen that pattern? (Yeh, yeh, Psychic Knitter to the rescue.)