I finally got to give Bethie her birthday present, so I can show you:
What started out as the "Classy Cabled Clutch" from 101 One Skein Wonders turned into...not a clutch. This is what happens when you don't swatch, folks. Luckily I am flexible and it turned out so long.
I've decided that one of my New Year's Resolutions is to shop locally. I always kinda sorta try to, but now I'm really going to make an effort to do so. The money you spend on a local business stays in the community and makes it more the type of place I want to live, and the financial and environmental price of gas is making me think carefully about what I buy and where it comes from. I already apply it to food and specialty purchases, but I realized I kind of ignore that when it comes to yarn. So:
- I'm going to do my best to buy yarn locally (I'm defining "local" as New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, and upstate New York--New England is small, area-wise). Not just locally, but from small farms and businesses. This shouldn't be too hard or stressful, since we have so many great places in the area--like Green Mountain Spinnery, Halcyon Yarns, Webs, and Harrisville Designs. There are also my local favorites: The Elegant Ewe, Pearl's Yarn Shop, The Yarn and Fiber Company, and The Fiber Studio; and the Wool Tour (in October) and the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival (in May).
- I'm starting with my Christmas list over at KPixie (they are located in Massachusetts)
- I'm allowing myself one KnitPicks order at some point in the year (I am a poor graduate student, after all)
- I'm going to make a renewed effort to do the most local shopping of all--in the stash, which is getting cumbersome and a little embarrassing
So who's with me?
2 comments:
I didn't realize KPixie was in Mass... Learn something new everyday. I noticed you mentioned Pearl's Yarn Shop.. I haven't been there yet because it always seems to be closed when I go downtown.. Worth checking out?
Pearl's is pretty good, although I agree her hours are very strange. I know she's not open Monday or Tuesday (although she let me buy some needles there once when she was closed). She has a good stock of Inox and Addi needles, Lamb's Pride Worsted and Bulky (as long as you don't need too many skeins of any one color), some Manos, Wildfoote sock yarn by Brown Sheep (which I love and the only other place I've seen it at is the Fiber Studio in Henniker), and a lot of Berrocco. So I guess this is my long-winded way of saying, it doesn't have everything my heart desires in a yarn shop, but she does have some nice stuff. Also I'm just happy Manch finally has a yarn store so I don't always have to run to Windham or Concord (or even further away).
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