I went to WEBS (a.k.a. hitting the crack pipe)

So last Saturday night I was sitting around and asked my husband, "Babe, do you want to go out to Northampton tomorrow?" And, after I said it was to go to a yarn store, he amazingly said yes! He is a fabulous prize indeed. Both him and I KNOW I don't need more yarn but he understands that I *want* more yarn.

Oh man, I can't beleive I have been knitting for 7 years and have only lived an hour from Webs and have never gone! The place is just HUGE. The main store is very nicely organized and I was really pleasantly suprised that the staff was friedly, helpful, and knowledgable. (Did you know that if you spend $60 you get a 20% discount and if you spend $120 you get a 25% discount???? But even without the discount their prices are reasonable.) And then there is the warehouse... it is prolly twice the size of the main store and contains all the specials and markdowns (most of which are not eligible for the above-mentioned discount but who cares they are already on sale). We are talking marked down Noro, Debbie Bliss, Rowan, patterned sock yarns, etc. Freaking amazing!

I could have done some major major damage at this place but, like I said, the man agreed to go too was there and forced me to put back many items. (NOTE TO SELF: Leave him at home next time.) Anyway here is the minor damage photographed with the help of my two canine assistants:

RYC Soft Tweed in Blanket for $3.99 a ball! To make Flicca. I already am about 8 inches into the back. This yarn is very nice and soft and I worried about it pilling but I tortured my gauge swatch and it didn't show wear at all. Yay! It is sooo pretty with all of its flecky awsome colors.

Sock yarn. Regia in a 50/50 wool silk blend combined with some ArtYarns merino for the cuff, heel, and toe. Did you know that the Artyarns feels exactly the same as Lorna's Laces? I am making Jaywalkers...






A bunch of Jawool to make more socks. I am thinking stripes a la Vesper and Yarntini. I would love to get my hands on some of this yarn but it is near impossible. Thanks alot Lime n Violet for always showing yarn I will NEVER get my hands on. :) The sad part is that I spent ALOT of time stalking this yarn online to no avail. What is a crafty girl to do? Improvise. I'm sure I'll love my own creation...







YOU MUST GO FEEL THIS YARN. It is Malbrigio laceweight. (It was next to some Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere laceweight. The store had a scarf made out of this manohmanohman - I picked up 4 skeins at like $34 a pop and thought it was a rocking idea. BUT it was one of the first yarns to leave the cart when the husband started to mentally total up my items.) Anyway, this Malabrigio laceweight - it feels as soft as cashmere but has the price tag of merino. Go buy this yarn now. I want to sleep with this yarn as my blanket and pillow.

After we left Webs we went downtown to walk around and, oh what is that???? Another yarn store. Northampton Wools. So I go in not expecting to find anything but of course they have some Colinette Jitterbug and Claudia Handpaints. I couldn't find any two skeins of CH that matched so I left with the Jitterbug. Jitterbug seems very similar to Cherry Tree Hill Supersock which I *love* so I think we'll get along fabulously.

It was strange though - I said to the woman at the small LYS, "Oh, I just came from Webs and I didn't think that I would find something in here but OMG you have this awesome sock yarn!" I meant it as a compliment but she got kinda snarky and said, "Well, we have different clientelle. We meet different needs." To which I wanted to say - nooooo, you have about 90% of the same stuff. And I went to Webs and here too. I don't know if she was making a reference to big business or if she is just sick of hearing about Webs. Webs did start out small though and has been in the same area for ages so I don't know. My husband was there for the exchange and when we got out said, "That woman was NOT happy when you brought up Webs." I would think that having a place like Webs would BRING her business. How many people are going to drive to Western Mass to go to a small LYS? (Okay, I might, but I am crazy.) I think many more people are drawn out that way by Webs but figure hey I'll check out this other store while I'm there. And, because knitters are hopelessly addicted to fiber, probably make another purchase at the small place.

Also, I have some knitter's crack from Laughing Rat Studio (on Etsy). I liked it because te color reminded me of hydrangeas. I think I am going jump on another bandwagon and make those rad Pomatomus socks from Knitty. But instead of reminding me of fish scales I hope they remind me of hydrangea flower petals.
I also got this cape for my superhero from Etsy. You are able to pick the fabric colors and the letter too.

Alrighy, enough for today. Stay tuned for an update on FOs from the past winter (all 3 of them or something equally as sad), WIPs (the Sarcelle shawl is too rad for words -I'll put a close-up below) and the fiber and yarn I bought for my Lime n Violet Yarn Pron Swap....

I love you Sarcelle.