Peace of Mind Organizing

Home away from home

18 August 2007

One of the wonderful things about being a knitter is that when you’re away from home you can almost always find a comfortable place to hang out. Many cities—even some towns—have yarn stores. And when a knitter walks into a store and gazes at shelves full of yarn, he or she is instantly at home.

I started a ten-day trip yesterday. I flew to San Francisco to attend a workshop on estate organizing (more on that in a later entry). After settling into my room at a hotel near the airport, I took BART into the city to see my friend Gina. I had an hour or so to spare, so thanks to the miracle that is Google, I preplanned a visit to a lovely yarn store, Urban Knitting Studio. When I walked in, I immediately felt calm, welcome, and a little bit excited. I had hoped, unrealistically, not to spend money on yarn, since I’m trying to work from my stash. What was I thinking?

I saw some yarn I’d never seen before, Fleur by Anny Blatt, which the yarn store had wisely knitted up into a scarf. It was irresistible—it looks like little flowers are on the scarf. So I bought some. And some more.

Urban Knitting Studio’s owner, Helen Kim, gave me a tour of the sock yarn and even let me fondle the sock she’s currenting working on. So of course I bought some of that yarn. It’s bamboo/wool/nylon sock yarn (Panda yarn, from Crystal Palace). I selected a wonderful solid mandarin orange.

(Speaking of socks, I finished my first sock this past week! Many thanks to my knitting pal Sue Ames for her help. I’m starting the second sock on this trip. Well, technically Sue started it for me since I can’t seem to master the long-tail cast on. Thanks, Sue.)

The point of this post is that I highly recommend a visit to any local yarn store while travelling. I’ll be visiting at least one more on this trip, Knitochet in my home town of Walla Walla, Washington. It’s organized by color, is spacious, and always a treat.

Tagged with: socks, travel, yarn, yarn stores

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