Oregon Coast Yarn Shops - part 1

I thought with all of the yarn shops that I visited on the coast that I would do a small review of each. I had a lot of fun and would highly recommend visiting yarn shops at the Oregon Coast.

First off I have a couple of rules when I shop on vacation. 1. I won't buy yarn that I can get from my own yarn shop unless it deeply on sale. 2. I try to buy things that are unique to the area or difficult for me to get otherwise.


Cannon Beach - Coastal Yarns
By far this was my favorite yarn shop to visit. It had a good variety of yarns. Their claim to fame is that they carry Blue Moon Yarns. The yarns that I purchased are Noro Silk Garden and Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn. I can get Noro Silk Garden at home, but I wanted it specifically for a hat I am working on. Their prices were a tiny bit higher than I am used to, but it wasn't too bad for the selection and their location.
Seaside - Creative Beginnings
This shop was alright. They had a little bit of everything. They had beads, scrapbooking supplies, and yarn. They also had a sweater knitting service that seemed very reasonably priced. My only thought was that they had so many different things that they didn't focus that well on any one thing. They carried a pretty standard set of yarn, but nothing really stuck out as special beyond what my LYS already carries.

Astoria - Custom Threads
This shop also is more than just a yarn shop. It is part yarn shop, part fabric shop, part gift shop. They also rent tuxedos. They had a varied set of yarn for sale. It really was a treasure hunt to go in there. They had acrylic and then next to that would be Dale of Norway. A lot of their yarn would be right at retail and then some would be much cheaper. I found such gems as Alice Starmore books, but I already own copies of both of the ones that they had or I would have snatched them up. It was obvious that this shop had been there for a long time and had a little bit of everything. I didn't end up buying anything there. Mainly because of spending my money at another shop that I will talk about next time. However, I think that I would definitely go back there.

At the Beach!

We are here at the Oregon Coast for the week!


This is the view from our hotel room! We didn't know when we booked the room that we would actually have an ocean view, but we do! I guess that is the joy of going to the beach in the off season.

We did a bit of sight seeing today. We hit nearly 3 yarn shops, which made me really happy. We went to Coastal Yarns in Cannon Beach, which was really awesome! I got a skein of Noro Silk Garden and a skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock from them. We then went to Creative Beginnings in Seaside. They were alright. They had a lot of different things, like yarn, beads, and scrapbooking supplies all in one shop. We were also going to visit a yarn store in Astoria, but they are closed on Mondays. I guess we'll just have to try them again later! It looked like they carry yarn and fabric, so that should be interesting.


Up and down the coastal highway are these signs for Tsunami Hazard Zones. I thought they were interesting, so I thought I would share! They are kinda funny and kinda scary all at the same time.

Lastly I will leave you with this video of the stormy weather and waves from our window. It was just fun to try to take a little video and see how to post it to my blog. Enjoy!

Oregon Flock & Fiber - Pretty Purchases

I was very good this year! I only bought a couple of things that I couldn't resist, but overall kept my shopping to a minimum.

First up I had to buy some roving from Dicentra Designs. Her giant balls of roving always draw me in. Somtime I think I might have to try dyeing in mass quantity like that, if only to have a giant ball of roving to myself! I also found out at the show that she now has an Etsy shop, so I can be tempted by her things year round now!


After that I ventured near the Blue Moon booth. I was very very good. I was very tempted to buy many of their colors, but I told myself firmly that I have lots of their yarn in the stash and that I must knit some of it up before I buy anything else. So I only bought the Yarn Harlot's two new patterns for baby sweaters. They are just too cute!

Ok, this may look like I fell off the wagon and bought Blue Moon yarn anyway, but that isn't entirely the case. Actually my husband needed to use the bathroom so I told him where it was. Then I hinted that Blue Moon was in the very same building and that they happen to take credit cards. So this yarn is actually Blair's! hehe. He said that I could have some of it if I like. I think the middle skein will definitely go into his sock stash and I will make him some socks out of it. It is the least I can do for all the wonderful help he gave me over the weekend.

Lastly a friend of ours that works with Blair just got back from the UK. He tried very hard to find yarn from the UK to bring back for me, but all he could find was this yarn that was imported from New Zealand. It is Black Hills NZ Yarn. I think it is really awesome! I am thinking kilt socks to keep with the whole UK theme. I am thinking either this pattern or this pattern.

In other news: Blair and I are heading to the beach this next week. So all orders will be shipped after I get back. Patterns will be shipped as normal. I should be able to blog from the beach. It is supposed to be rainy (ie typical Oregon Coast weather), so I am expecting lots of knitting time!

Oregon Flock & Fiber

Oregon Flock & Fiber was so awesome!


Here is Blair setting up the tent. I think he is putting stakes in the ground. It is just amazing to me that the lawn can go from bare grass to all these fabulous tents full of fibery goodness.


Here is most of my booth at the end of the first day. I just love all of the colors and how everything looked inside the booth. It was like having my own tiny yarn shop for the weekend. Also, an amazing thing to note is that we managed to pack every thing up in our little 2006 Toyota Corolla and I didn't even feel all that crowded!

Next to me was the wonderful Gardiner Yarn Works. Believe me her designs are even more wonderful in person. The shawl there in front is the Amethyst Wrap, which sold out on Saturday and still had people wanting more! I think I might have to knit it myself in the near future, maybe out of silky sock....mmm, ideas!


One of my good friends, Erika, had classes both days so she stopped by with her wheel and showed off her purchases both days. She is the one in the exquisite while lace shawl. I should have some news involving her and a new wonderful product for the shop in the next few days. She is here comparing notes on the same wonderful shawl with another woman across from her. They both have the same shawl, only Erika's is knit out of merino/angora and the other lady's is from her handspun.

Overall, it was a pretty successful weekend. I think I will definitely have to do it again next year! I just have to do some inventory and then everything will be posted back up on the website.

Hurricane Socks!

Remember these Socks:


I know I just posted them a couple of days ago! However, Chrissy Gardiner has come up with a really cool idea. Since they are called Hurricane Socks, she is going to donate all of the proceeds from the sale of the socks to the Red Cross for Hurricane relief. She has asked us humble retailers of her patterns to join her in this noble cause. I am happy to announce that I totally agree with her! So from here until October 15th all sales of the Hurricane Sock Pattern will go to Chrissy for Red Cross Hurricane Relief. After October 15th $2 from every sale will go to the Red Cross. For more details check out this post on Chrissy's Blog.

Knit & Crochet Show follow-up

Ok, so a few other people have now posted wonderful pictures and have talked about The Knit & Crochet Show. So if you want to see some of them make sure to visit Knittin' Mom (of course!), NWKnitter, and Tiggywinkle Knits.


I promised to show you guys my purchases from the show and this is it! I was either very good or very tired. Altogether I spent 11 hours at the show setting up, with the last hour shopping. It was also about an hour to drive in and an hour back out. This was a big accomplishment because I usually don't drive in the "big city." Anyway, my two purchases are awesome! The one on the left is a tweed yarn by Handpainted Knitting Yarns. Have I ever mentioned that I have a weakness for tweed yarns? Well, I do! I just love them! I had a hard time picking which color I wanted and finally settled on this one. I'm not sure which one it is since it doesn't say on the label. The roving on the right was a mere fluke. I was walking past Abstract Fibers looking at their pretty stuff when they innocently asked me if I spin. I answered "Yes, I do." So they told me that I had to come into their booth where I was bombarded by pretty roving. I was really trying to hold out for OFFF, but no such luck. This really pretty BFL sucked me in and I had to buy it. They assured me that it would probably be all sold out by OFFF and that I had better buy it right then. With such salesmen they just might have sold everything right there at the show!

New Gardiner Yarn Works Patterns!

That's right! I have a whole bunch of new patterns fresh from Gardiner Yarn Works!


There are 6 new sock patterns including the Hurricane Socks, pictured above. There are 3 other awesome new sock patterns too! They are: the Flamethrower Socks, the Cabled Lace Socks, and the Trident Lace Socks! I actually got to see all of these fabulous socks in person at The Knit & Crochet Show and they are really awesome. I actually was hoping that I would have them available soon. As soon as I got home I saw the email saying that the patterns were available! So I just had to get them up as quickly as possible to share with you guys!


This pattern is the absolute cream of the crop! I just drooled when I saw it at the show. It is so delicate and gorgeous. They knit it out of a silk lace that is easily substituted by my own silk lace yarn. Unfortunately all of my silk lace yarn is at the show right now, but I am definitely going to have to dye more this fall to pair up with this beauty! You can also custom order it and take advantage of the 10% discount through September. This pattern is the Kiwassa Shawl. It is joined by the Amethyst Wrap as the two new gorgeous shawl patterns!

So take your time and look through the new patterns! They are definitely worth it. Also, all of them should be available in paper format at our booth at Oregon Flock & Fiber!

Thoughts...

So, I have been bad and haven't taken photos of just about anything. My two latest projects are currently in Portland at The Knit & Crochet Show. I also forgot to bring my camera yesterday to the show. I really wanted to get some photos of the setup because it was really cool. Instead I will give you a small list of my impressions of the show and set up.

-Yarn looks a lot smaller in a giant showroom than here in my living room. In my living room I felt like I was being overwhelmed by the huge amount of yarn. When I got all of it to the show it all fit snuggly into the display and looked like nothing at all. Don't get me wrong there is plenty of yarn to be had, but it just amazed me how much smaller it looked there.

-It is a small world. One of the girls that took my dye class last year is now a dyer. This was her first show to sell yarn too. I thought it was pretty cool that I had influenced another person into the dyeing world.

-Chrissy and Donna know a lot of people. It seemed every time we turned around they ran into another person that they knew. I knew a few people as well, but not nearly as many as they did.

-At one point I noticed that on one side of me was Janet Szabo and on the other was Judy Becker. It was a little surreal and completely awesome to see such famous knitters all in one place. Also, see point above.

Ok, those are all of my observations for now.

Coming Soon:
-Pretty purchases from The Knit & Crochet Show!
-New patterns from Gardiner Yarn Works!
-Soap!
-and more!

Hubby Interview!

I have seen this on quite a few blogs and thought that I would try it out too! I personally think it is funny. Though as one little note before the interview: I have taught my hubby to knit, so he is technically a knitter too.

Me: What is your favorite thing about my knitting?

Blair: Socks for me! but I've only got one pair. It also puts you at ease.

Me: What is your least favorite thing about my knitting?

B: Not supposed to say. The stash...but I'm not supposed to say it.

Me: What is something I have knitted, that you recall as good?

B: My Socks!

Me: Do you think knitters have an expensive hobby?

B: Sometimes I wonder...It's not video games. Not too terrible.

Me: Do you have any hobbies?

B: Messing on my computer.

Me: Do you have a stash of any kind?

B: Yeah! Stash of yarn, of computer parts, and pens.

Me: Have I ever embarrassed you, knitting in public?

B: No. I think it is cool. I think I would embarrass myself before you would embarrass me.

Me: Do you know my favorite kind of yarn?

B: I think it is an alpaca wool blend, um, sock yarn. (Actually the magic word is cashmere, but that's ok, I'll accept alpaca and sock yarn too)

Me: Can you name another knitting blog?

B: Wendy Knits, Yarn Harlot, Red Shirt Knitting, and I'm sure there are more...

Me: Do you mind my wanting to stop at knit shops wherever we go?

B: Sometimes.

Me: Do you understand the importance of a swatch?

B: Yes. It prevents lunacy later. Those who do not swatch are bound to failure.

Me: Do you read my blog?

B: I do from time to time.

Me: Have you ever left a comment?

B: Of Course!

Me: Do you think the house would be cleaner if I didn’t knit?

B: No Comment (As he looks around the living room that is filled with my yarn business, um, yeah...)

Me: Anything you’d like to add?

B: I want more socks!

So this interview reminded me of a funny/cute story. So, since I taught Blair to knit he does indeed have his own yarn stash. As soon as he finishes the socks he has been knitting for me for the past year and a half then he can knit more from his stash. On top of that stash he has a stash of sock yarn for me to knit him socks. This came about when a yarn store in Portland went out of business and they had a big yarn sale. I couldn't make it to the sale because I had to work that weekend. So I asked Blair to go instead with a careful list of acceptable yarns. He did pretty good getting me lots of Noro and pretty sock yarn. However as repayment for doing this he bought a small stash of manly sock yarns with the hope that I would knit him more socks. Since then whenever I go on a yarn shopping spree I try to buy at least one skein of yarn to add to his sock yarn stash.

Happy September!

September means a lot of things to me. First off there is the back to school and the back to wool knitting. I also start all of my Christmas knitting in September. However this September brings something new and fantastic and a little scary, my first show where my yarn is for sale. Not only one show but two shows! First off is The Knit & Crochet Show at the Convention Center in Portland September 12, 13, 14 then two weeks later there is Oregon Flock and Fiber in Canby, OR September 27 & 28. Understandably I have been dyeing yarn like crazy in preparation for both big events. With all of this going on I had a really hard time deciding what I should put on sale for September and here it is:


If you print off this coupon you can bring it to my OFFF booth and I will give you 10% off. I also think this is an awesome way for me to get a chance to meet all of you in real life. However, I know that not all of you are here or are able to make it to OFFF, so I am giving 10% off on all custom orders. That means pretty much all yarns are 10% off! The only little catch is that I am going to spend most of my time for the month of September dyeing stuff for the shows, so custom orders will be finished in October. Also most of the yarn will be taken out of the shop in about another week, so if you want something make sure to buy it before it is all taken to the shows! All patterns will remain in the shop and will be shipped as normal!