Whew! I'm back at last from a crazy trip to new Orleans. It was really oppressively hot and muggy there... don't think I could ever live down on the Bayou, although I did enjoy my visit. My conference was good, but you all don't care about that part, I'm sure. I found my way to three yarn stores there. The first I went to was called Garden District Needleworks, and it was my favorite of the three I went to. The shop owner was there and was very chatty and helpful. She and her partner had opened the store some years ago primarily as a needlepoint store, and have branched out into knitting supplies in the past few years. They had a whole lot of novelty yarns, a good selection of basics wools and cottons, and were just beginning to stock some luxury fibers. I got to fondle the Alchemy yarns for the first time up close and personal. The silk purse was to die for, in really gorgeous colors. Alas, I did not buy any of it, but I was awfully tempted. I did make some other purchases though, but I'll have to post pictures of that later since I'm having it shipped.
The second store I visited was in the French Quarter, and was called Quarter Stitch. It was very heavily geared toward needlepoint, and it was almost like the knitting yarns were an afterthought. Yarns were not organized in a way that I found easy navigate. The saving grace was the wall of Koigu KPPPM. They had some lovely colors, but in the end I resisted because at $11 a skein I thought it was a little overpriced.
The last store was Bette Bornside Yarns. I walked there from the French Quarter and it was a major haul to get out there, but I did get to see the more residential parts of New Orleans on the way out there. Bette was a great lady, again very friendly and helpful. Her store itself was pretty understated and largely functional. She displayed only one ball of each yarn/color she had, so if there was something you wanted they had to check the supply in the back. She also did not display any needles or other notions. I'm sure they were there, but again it was something you'd have to ask about. She did have a nice sofa to lounge on and there were lots of pattern books, magazines, and fliers to leaf through and for sale. I did run accross some Classic Elite Lush there that I would have liked to come home with, but they were one skein short for my project, so I trudged back to the Frenc Quarter empty-handed.
The airplane and airports were great for getting more knitting done... I'm up to about 10" on the body of Blaze. And I finished football sock #1 with its afterthought heel. When I get home again I'll post some pictures of it and my thoughts on the afterthought heel. (Hint: it's not my favorite...)
I have now joined the Six Sox knitalong because I desperately wanted access to the Making Waves sock that I had seen in blogland. I'll be saving that one for later though, becasue they're done with that one now and have moved on to the fluted bannister, so what could I do but cast on and start it!
I'm doing this in some Koigu KPPPM that was in my stash on a single 40" circular US1 needle. I'm really liking the textured stitch pattern, and I'm ready to start the heel flap. It has been a fun and easy knit so far. I just hope I have enough yarn to finish both socks, since I only have 2 skeins of the koigu.
My other projects are not forgotten, but will be on hold for a bit between the socks and Blaze. One that I must get back to this week is the Hallowig. How did it get to be the end of October already? I want to wear that one to work on Friday. I don't think I have much left to do on it. I quit when I was having trouble joining everything to work circularly once I had cast on the bangs.
I think the quarter stitch is ridiculously overpriced too. I did buy some of their own label chenille, however, because it smelled so good!
Posted by: Lauren | October 25, 2004 at 02:48 PM
thank you so much for your reviews! i'm going to a conference in new orleans (leaving sunday), and i was doing a bit of yarn store research before i left work today.
now i know where to go if i can only get to one store!
Posted by: gwen | October 29, 2004 at 06:55 PM