This Elf Knits - Knitting, Handpainted Yarn, LYS reviews

Finally a finished one, at least half a pair of socks anyway. I finished up my first Perambulate Sock yesterday. This sock was a whole year in the making, as I first started knitting it in September 2007. I had no idea what I was doing and I definitely picked a much too difficult sock for my first go at it. I didn’t even knit a gauge swatch and the result was something that would not fit over my ankle.

So I put it away. For a long time. I picked it back up while on vacation this year. I ripped the whole thing out and knit a gauge swatch. I moved up two needle sizes and I was on my way again. So much easier now that I know so much more about sock knitting and knitting in general.

Here is the first one:

It is knit on Zenstring Lotus Toes fingering weight in the Jamie colorway. Looks pretty good I think

It has the look of cables without cables. I do not recommend this pattern for a beginner. Look for a pattern from Knitting Pure and Simple for that. Off to cast on the second sock!

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Morwenna of Mosiac Moon has some beautiful colorways. She hand dyes a wide range of yarns, including Gaia organic merino and Blue Faced Leicester. Tonight she is stocking on Necessitae, one of my favorite Congos on Hyena Cart. Here is one of my favs tonight:

Even if you don’t like yarn, check this stocking out. I am sure one of the vendors there will have something for you. They are stocking everything from cloth diapers to fresh roasted coffee beans. Very cool blend of items.

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Yarn Quest is located in a strip mall just a few miles from downtown Traverse City. It was the last local yarn store (LYS) that we visited during our trip. It was definitely a shame that it was our last LYS visit.

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This yarn store was a bit out of the way for us, but we decided to check it out because we were relatively close after having lunch in Glen Arbor. Inish Knits is located at 9031 S. Kasson St. in Cedar, MI. It is a very small town with a tiny IGA, ice cream store, a bar/restaurant, and a few other shops.

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Lost Art Yarn Shoppe is located in the heart of historic downtown Traverse City. There appears to be a mix of restaurants, cafés, and shops. We visited on a Thursday afternoon and it appeared to be quite the bustling area. The store is in the middle of the block. There is convenient meter parking behind the store, but I don’t believe that the store had a public door off the back. The meters were kind of neat as they gave you a free 30 minutes by pushing a button.

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This shop is in the back of a bakery. I must say the concept has intrigued me since I first heard rumors of it last year. I was really excited to see it as my perfect-in-my-head LYS has an espresso bar. Dutch Oven Yarn Shop is located in Alanson, Michigan at 7611 Burr Avenue.

In practice though, this shop was not quite what I was expecting. The bakery portion was very nice. It had fresh baked break, cookies, pastries, and deli sandwiches. It also had a very nice seating area. The employee behind the counter there greeted us as we came in. You must enter the bakery in order to get to the yarn store. That was as much of a greeting that we received.

The yarn store portion is to the right of the front door and up some stairs, past the seating area. The store area is not very big, but it is crammed full of all different kinds of yarn. My husband and I were really put off by the lack of any sort of acknowlegment though while we were shopping. Granted it seemed the store employees were at the register dealing with customers, but a simple hello always goes a long way.

We didn’t spend too much time in the store because we wanted to get to our final destination, we had an antsy 3-year-old, and well we were not that impressed. Perhaps my hopes were too high or I had just set a different idea in my head when I had heard about the store. I don’t think we will ever stop in there again.

We did get a couple of cookies before we left though. They were all right, nothing spectacular. Ah well, the pursuit for my “perfect” yarn store goes on.

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On our drive up to Mackinac Island last week we did pass through Mackinaw City but we were running a bit late and decided to head straight for the ferry. After returning from the island on Wednesday we made a stop at Cynthia’s Fine Yarn & Gifts. In fact Cynthia’s is only a few blocks down from the Arnold Ferry Dock.

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Just wanted to send a heads up that Western Sky Knits is stocking today on their Hyena Cart. They have some lovely handpainted BFL, organic Merino, Targhee, Cestari Merino, and Purewool today. Posy on Gaia Organic Merino is my personal favorite in this stocking. Beautiful job Leidy!

The stocking is at 6 p.m. EST today. If you don’t have an account to buy things on Hyena Cart yet, I did an register tutorial that should help you out.

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While we were gone on vacation the August 2008 shipment of the Woolgirl Sock Club arrived. It is just so appropriate and I kind of wish I would have gotten it before vacation. Click below to find out why.

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My family and I went on vacation last week and it was a great time to spend together, visit some “Up North” LYS, and get busy knitting.

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