A Yarnaholic's Quest

                                                                           

I have been away for a few days, sometimes Life just gets in the way of the things we enjoy doing, but today I will try to catch up a little.
 Before I begin ,  I feel compelled to say,  that this day, 9-11, must be a date and day imprinted in our personal memory bank forever. Sometimes these events, if we are not personally affected, eventually lose their power.  This terrible day in our history, will never be be in that category!  Everyone should  take a few moments, in their own way, to silently remember those who were lost that day. So many friend's and family's lives were changed forever, they deserve our respect.

Monday, of this week,  Mr. Dude and I went to visit our dearest friends, from our Jersey days. Our Friendship is a very long one, rare today. Friendships are living things and must be nurtured.. We have been nurtured and we have nurtured.   They live a distance from us and by the time we had made our way "up the road", hunger had reached a crescendo! There is a great Chinese Buffet restaurant, close by,  that has always been a favorite of ours. Off we went to sit, and eat our fill of all good things. There are the usual things you would expect to find, but there are many fish and shell fish offerings along with a small, but nice Sushi bar as well.

My friend and I are both knitters and our conversation turned to yarn shops. Since moving to Florida I have not found too many shops with quality yarns. There are the large commercial stores such as Jo-Ann's and Michael's. Yes, I have found some very good yarn in both places, and sometimes there are very good sales as well.  What I miss are the independent stores with wonderful collections and salespeople with knowledge about techniques and the new yarns on the market today.  I sensed a lack of enthusiasm on the part of the men at the table when my friend said, " I know a great shop, lets take a ride". If we had said let's take a ride to Harbor Freight or Bass Pro Sports Shops, guess we would have garnered more enthusiasm.Hmmm? They were not driving that day, she was,  so off we went. I must say, there was a little teasing, all in good fun, but not any complaints.

We drove to Odessa, Florida.  The shop, Fiber Art, was one I had already heard about, and I was very pleased to be able to see this in person.  It is located at 8727 Gun Hwy, Odessa, Florida.In a small shopping center. When you see the Tower, you know you have arrived.

We pulled into the parking lot of a very cute little center, but we suddenly had a bad feeling--where was everyone?

Of course, by now I was salivating, ready for chasing the yarn bunny down the rabbit hole and getting my :yarn Fix".! Money to spend as well. Alas, That nasty little white sign said, "Closed Monday, Summer hours" had been extended through September. They are open Tues. thru Saturday.   Drat! Not to be thwarted I took a picture through the window.

Can you just imagine what these colors look like in person!  This is just one section and I am surprised this pic came out at all.  It is a beautiful shop. I am pretty sure they sell Noro yarns. There appeared to be another room in the back, perhaps for lessons. I will definitely be making a return trip to this shop.  I have two others on my list as well, but will write on those at a later time.

I am presently working on a sweater to take on our trip North--do you  think I will finish this in time--who knows?

I wouldn't dare tell you how long ago I purchased this yarn.  It is Nomotta, Melodie, imported from Germany. Works up beautifully and is a combination of wool, nylon and acrylic.I am working on a pair of socks  at the same time. I pick these up when the green, becomes a sea of green and the eyes are looking for another color.

I have finished a number of projects this summer. It is so warm in this part of the country that I prefer to work on small projects during the "dog days".  Hard to think in terms of wool yarn, when it is over 90 degrees every day.

If you are a knitter, remember winter will come, and with it will be holiday gift giving, socks and helmet liners for our troops, mittens and scarfs  for the homeless. Preemie hats and chemo caps. If you are in the mood to sell your work, or want to purchase some beautiful hand knitted work of others, visit etsy.com. a wonderful selling site for handmade and vintage Keep watching, I will be back with more news on the yarn front and new stores to visit.

 By the way, the dark maroon yarn ball at the top of the page is Serenity Sock weight from Deborah Norville's collection by Premier yarns. Patons Kroy Socks in rag shades mix is the other yarn. I have worked with both and they are both excellent yarns.