Hill Country Yarn Crawl: Day 4
The fourth and final day! Sad face. Only two shops left!
My dear and darling husband agreed to drive me back to Austin since we had plans to check out the Just Between Friends sale in Georgetown that morning anyway, so off we went! He's been wanting me to make him a Fibonacci scarf for some time anyway, so I told him we could find him some nice yarn if he was willing to tag along.
After the JBF sale, where we got three books, four sleepers, three onesies with two pairs of matching pants, a polo onesie (all DH right there - he loves his polos!), a hat, and a bib for less than $20 (score!), we ventured on into Austin, where traffic was as aggravating as usual. I was rather glad I wasn't driving...
We found our first destination without undue stress, though: Gauge. They have the nicest little outdoor area to sit and stitch and everything within is, of course, arranged by gauge! From bulky to sock and lace weights, they have a very nice little selection of yarns. I chose a squishy light green merino for my afghan from amongst their featured yarns (although I REALLY wanted a skein of their Handmaiden Sea Silk yarn - I may have to go back for some because it was SO yummy!) and then I wandered into the back room where I found Aimee Kandl, YarnTrekker, who has some really gorgeous, nature inspired hand dyed yarns. I couldn't resist a mini skein for another baby hat! Plus, it's available exclusively at Gauge!
It is indeed a very modern little shop and I hope I'll find a time to go back and visit!
The VERY. LAST. STOP! Oh my gosh! I can't believe this adventure is over! Well, I suppose I do have the afghan to make still, so not quite finished. But wow!
Hill Country Weavers, the yarn store that one of my students just can't stop talking about, was last on my list. It is also the shop that my husband joined me in, hee hee. We scanned wall after wall and bin after bin looking for the right shade of green (Binghamton University - it's impossible) and finally settled on a baby yarn of all things. But it should make a nice scarf, so we'll see how it goes!
And look, all my pins on my bag!! *sniff, sniff* It was a sad but exciting moment.
After I collected all my yarn from this final (and largest!) purchase, we skipped off to the car... What? Okay, maybe I waddled a little. Hush! We dropped the yarn off and then trekked down S Congress Avenue to Perla's Seafood and Oyster Bar where I had a truly scrumptious lunch of Grilled Texas Gulf Drum Sandwich and fries. Yum, yum, yum. I wanted dessert but DH looked at me sideways and told me there was no way I had room (I DID make him pull over so I could throw up after having a single sip of water, which I apparently simply had no room for, on the drive to Georgetown that morning) and we could get dessert when we got home. So that's what we did. :)
Day 4 yarn crawl haul includes:
Gauge: Koigu KPM in 2331 - a pale mint green and a Detour mini from YarnTrekker
Hill Country Weavers: a half skein of Kaybee's Twist in Bexar and Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in Black and 340039 - a dark green
All told, I believe my little car took me about 1000 miles all across the Texas Hill Country and beyond. It was quite the adventure and I'm so glad I was able to do it. Another month and I might not have made it! It certainly would have been easier if I could have just stopped and stayed the night in between crawling days, but that would get expensive in a hurry! And even with my self-imposed restrictions, I still spent a lot of money on yarn... But it was fun! And picking out all those yarns and colors to go together for a single project was a delightful challenge - we'll see how it all comes together. Here they are!
What an assortment! There are SO many different fibers here, too. All manner of wools and cottons and nylon and even a linen in there! It's going to be interesting working with all these in one project... Wish me luck!
-C