I’m back from San Francisco! I went to Imagiknit and Artfibers in San Francisco and Stash in Berkeley, and I’m in love with all of the stores…although a little bit more in love with Imagiknit. You were right Cristina. Hands down the best yarn store I’ve ever been in.
The staff was very friendly. They seemed like family to each other. I was very impressed with the amount and kinds of yarn. They had everything I wanted at the time. I went in looking for Shibui sock yarn, Noro Silk Garden Lite, and Koigu. I ended up not buying the Noro or Koigu, but a bunch of other stuff. I was wishing there were more colors of Shibui, but they said it had been selling quickly.
I will put up some pics or all my yarn soon. I’ve just been lazy and in pain since I got back. I will explain that in a second. Ok, Artfibers. I loved the shop too. They had little samples of everything so you could swatch, which I think is very awesome. I was looking for more colors for Endpaper Mitts and found an awesome aquamarine color, but no other color of the same type to go with it. I found some in a much fuzzier yarn, but thought I wouldn’t be able to stand the texture difference. I wished for more color variety in the different types of yarn.
Stash was really cool too. The woman working there was friendly, but let me have my space, which I like. I bought a bunch of sock yarn for Endpaper Mitts and more Shibui for socks. They had much more Shibui than Imagiknit. They also had a ton of Manos in solid colors. I bought some for a hat.
All in all I was very pleased with my yarn purchases. I got yarn for two sweaters, the Deep V Argyle Vest, four pairs of socks, and two pairs of Endpaper Mitts or some interpretation of that. I also broke down and ordered a ball winder and swift. The nostepinne is quaint and lovely, but I need to get this stuff moving faster. I’m impatient and taking three hours to wind a 291 yard ball of sock yarn (granted, I’m probably extra slow) is more than I can stand.
Oh yeah, the pain. I had to get a root canal the day after I got back. Yuck. They could only do half because they think I have this hidden freak tiny canal, so they put some meds up there and closed it up. It’s throbbing like crazy and I can only sleep five hours at night because the hydrocodone and ibuprofen wear off after that and I wake up in hella pain. Grrr. I will get it finished on Sept. 2nd. I pray that it mellows out soon.
