Hiatus Summary Part I: Yarn!

I am soooo behind. On everything. I’m going to attempt to catch up on blogging so that as I get back to knitting I can keep up. So here we go!

When last we spoke, dear reader, I was cleaning my apartment, locked in a death struggle with the purl stitch, and working on a mystery gift. I was also approaching my wedding day. To tie up these loose ends: The apartment was cleaned. The purl stitch was more or less bent to my will. The mystery gift part A has been completed and part B will be started soon.

Then I got married!

The wedding was everything I’d hoped, with no major disasters and plenty of fun had by all. Then it was off on our romantic honeymoon in Scotland.

Scotland is full of sheep. Therefore, logically, Scotland is also full of wool. As a budding knitter with an avid knitter for her new mother-in-law, this was rather thrilling to me.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get photos of the aran-weight natural Hebridean Black wool I bought for my new mother-in-law as a souvenir, or the awesome purple Rowan Scottish Tweed DK and green Jamieson’s Shetland Heather DK that became her birthday present. But I did get photos of my new goodies!

For myself I brought home two balls of lovely green Rowan Scottish Tweed DK, purchased on the Isle of Skye at a yarn and woolens shop called The Handspinner Having Fun:

This shop was large, and mostly full of finished knit sweaters of various sizes and types. As the name implies, there was also an abundance of handspun yarn made of everything from alpaca to silk to camel(!). The customer before me made off with the Hebridean Black wool I was eyeing for myself (not that I can blame her), and I really wanted something more or less local, so I settled on the Rowan. I was repeatedly amazed by the high level of just plain old friendliness among the shopkeepers in Scotland, and this was no exception. The shop also happens to be dangerously situated immediately adjacent to a used book shop, so be forewarned!

I also came home with eight (yes, eight) balls of Jamieson’s Shetland Heather, aran weight, which I hope to someday be skilled enough to turn into a lovely garment of snuggly cabley goodness, like perhaps Norah Gaughan’s Wandering Aran Fields or some kind of vest.

This yarn came from K1 Yarns in Edinburgh, a store that scored at least a 12 on my scale of 1 to 10 (and, if I’m not mistaken, is the workplace of designer Ysolda Teague, though she was not there when I was). While not huge, the shop had a large selection of yarn – brands, colors, weights, prices, etc – that was accessible to the customer, well-organized and easy to navigate. It also had customer service that was literally second to none. I was greeted by a friendly lady who asked if she could help me. When I told her that I was on vacation and wanted to purchase some local yarn for myself and my mother-in-law, she gave me a guided tour of all the Scottish and Welsh yarns, then let me browse in peace until I was ready with my selections. The shop also endeared itself to me as a total amateur by offering friendly little charts all around the store with tidbits like “How much of what type of yarn do I need to make an average sized (blank)?” It’s located just off the Royal Mile, too, making it easy to fit into your trip – and I *highly* recommend you do!

I’ll end here for now. Look for Part II of my catch-up posting before the end of the week, in which you’ll hear about the knitting I’ve done since I got home, and what’s next!