Notes from my Boston trip

Unfortunately, I don't have any new knitting progress to show you. It's not that I haven't done any knitting, but how exciting is it to watch a sock or a sweater grow a couple of inches every day? I spent today working on my Felted Tweed sweater that I'm sort of designing. I think I underestimated how difficult designing is. I've had some interesting ideas, but I realized that I really don't know what I'm doing and I need to keep it REALLY simple. I don't even know how to design a set-in sleeve. I had to steal one from a pattern in an old Interweave. SO, now I'm really not sure what I'm going to do with the front. I had a really cool idea, but I'm not sure if I can pull it off. We'll see. But anyway, I'm in the middle of the armhole shaping on the back and it's going well so far. I haven't totally screwed it up yet.

Since there isn't great knitting news, I thought I'd talk about some of the yarn shops I visited while in Boston, in case you ever find yourself in Boston looking for yarn. I don't know if I fully described WEBS when I talked about it earlier, but let me tell you, this place is awesome, in the sense of, I was in awe, not in the, like, gag me with a spoon sense. It's located off the beaten path in a space that is set off from all of the other retail stores, and it's nothing like any other yarn store that I've ever been to. It's HUGE and full of every kind of yarn imaginable. They have it neatly arranged, roughly by fiber and gauge, and they seem to have every color of every yarn. I was able to see and touch some yarns that I had never seen before. But then, the back room! That's where they keep all the closeouts. There's yarn back there, good, brand name yarn, at 50% off! Sweater quantities, too! Not to mention the 20-25% discount that you can get on your purchase if you spend enough.

After WEBS, we walked down the street to a cramped, disorganized and tiny yarn shop called Northampton Wools. I suppose after WEBS, everything would pale by comparison, but I think what bothered me most about this shop was the unfriendliness of the proprietor. Admittedly, we walked in about 25 minutes before closing and I'm sure she gets tons of giddy WEBS customers, but that's no excuse to totally dismiss us. I don't think I would have bought yarn there even if I had found something worthwhile.

Another great yarn shop that I visited was Wild and Wooly in Lexington. This place was amazing! At first, it seems deceptively small. Not tiny, but definitely about the size of the average urban yarn store. Regardless, the selection is impressive. But, they also have a cellar full of yarn, too. J and I walked around touching and admiring all their yarn for quite some time. I was also really impressed by the friendliness of the people there. Even though we mentioned that we were doing a yarn crawl, the owner of the shop (I think she was the owner, but we didn't clarify), was extremely helpful in giving us insight into the other yarn shops in the area, as well as providing great info about other knitting-related stuff. I was also impressed that she is a blog-reader, which keeps her up to date on all of the latest trends around the 'Net.

Well, that's about all I have for now. Sorry about the lack of photos, but anything I would take would be B-O-R-I-N-G. See all you San Diego knitters on Saturday at Rebecca's, say 1:00 or so?

By the way, we now have a blog button on the sidebar for you to steal if you wish. It was designed by my husband, Joe, who is planning on becoming a graphic artist after he gets out of the Marine Corps. Please save it to your own server. Thanks!