Trip to LYS and Swap

Okay, not the best blog post title, but I'm really really tired. As many of you read, my husband and I went on a whirlwind trip to Los Angeles to see the Eels in concert for the second time in a few months, this time at The Music Box on Hollywood Blvd. It was our first time there, and an amazing little venue. I love all of the old venues in LA.

We were only there for about 21 hours, but it was well worth it. We got in for a late lunch at one of my favorite Mexican take out restaurants, Mission Burrito. YUM! Not sure where we wanted to go next, my mom solved the problem (I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, a suburb of LA, where my parents still live) when she handed me a coupon to the LYS, The Close Knit Circle, I had yet to visit. Last time she also had a coupon, but we were unable to make it since we were busy Saturday and they're closed Sunday. They just opened this July, so they have been putting coupons in the local savers and newspapers to let people know they're there.

How awesome is this? They're giving them as a promotional item. It's a pen and a tape measure

First off, I must say, the place was well organized, yet felt homey. You could tell they were new, as everything was pristine. There was a group of knitters in the store working on projects and everyone was friendly. The ladies who worked there were crazy nice, almost too much so! Finally they joked that they were going to stop bothering me until I had a question. Since I'm new to LYSs (this was my second one, my first the store in Las Vegas), and fancy yarns, I love to walk around and feel all of the fiber. I have crazy sensitive skin, so I can't just buy the yarn that is the prettiest, but one that I can handle itch-wise.

When I would pick up a yarn, the ladies would help me out, telling me a little about it. Normally that would annoy me, but I actually enjoyed it. They had swatches of most yarn, and even had a few knit and crochet projects out of certain ones so that you could see how it knit/crochet up into a sweater/scarf/ etc.

When comparing it to the store in Las Vegas, they didn't have as big a selection of type/brands of yarn as the Vegas store did, but they had more colors of each it seems. A lot of the yarn seems to be specialty yarns that I'm not sure I would ever use, but I found some I loved. I had a hard time choosing what to buy. I didn't want to spend too much money, so I picked these two.



As I've mentioned, I'm fascinated by fine and fingering weight yarn right now, mostly for socks. They didn't have a huge selection of it, but I found one I love. The Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine was soft and came in great colors. I bought it in Blueberry Mix, a color that is amazing (as you can see above). It's a deep, rich blue with a tint of raspberry color running through it. Has anyone used this yarn yet? What did you make with it?



My second purchase was easy. Alea was nice enough to order me a skein of Berroco Comfort Worsted in Crypto Crystalline (as you can see next to the gray in the picture above. Won't they look great together!?). The yarn is SOOO soft, yet I wasn't sure what to do with it since I only had one skein. When I saw that they had the yarn, I wanted to get a nice color to compliment the one I had to make a scarf with. I decided on Smokestack. I thought a nice gray would look great with it! It's a very pretty gray.

Before I move onto my post regarding my swap, I have to ask a question. Why does it seem like crochet is the ugly stepchild to knitting? It seems like everywhere I go, people assume if you're buying yarn, especially nicer yarn, that you must knit. Why??? It drives me insane. I almost feel like I'll be looked down upon if I mention I crochet. I just nod my head and keep my mouth shut.



I mentioned a few posts ago, on FO Friday 3, that I was doing a swap with my writing critique partner. I sent her this hat, and she was going to make a necklace for me. I had a great time making the hat, and it turned out great. She seems to really like it, despite it being a little snug. The great thing about this swap, I don't make necklaces, and she doesn't knit/crochet. It's always great to get something that you can't make yourself in return! I wanted to share the necklace, even though it's not crochet. I hope you all don't mind! Look at how beautiful it is!!!!