Yarn Therapy

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(If I ever open my own yarn shop, that's what I'm going to call it.)

This morning I woke up to a new sensation -- no wheezing! It's been over a week since I've woken wheeze-free, and that was cause to celebrate.

Several weeks ago, Charlottesville knitter-blogger Krista and I had agreed to meet today in Carytown at the Yarn Lounge, and after this week's illness, up until this very morning, I wasn't sure I'd be well enough to make it.

But merciful God, who created all things sheepy and woolly, saw fit to move me far enough along in my convalescence that I felt I could safely leave my house and my inhaler for a few hours without fear of suffocation. God is good! ;-)

After all, there's nothing like a little Yarn Therapy to ease one's suffering.

When I got to the Yarn Lounge, guess who I ran into? None other than a couple of our Colonial Heights knitting friends, Becky and Pam. What a nice surprise to see them! I hadn't seen Becky since our Knitting at the Lake retreat, and hadn't seen Pam since our Knitting at the Beach weekend. It's sure fun to run into other knitters we know!

Becky & Pam pay for their purchases with Melanie
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Krista was already there at the shop with her fellow Charlottesville knitter-blogger friend Margaret, (who works at The Needle Lady), and they'd wasted no time in gettin' down to shopping:

Margaret and Krista
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We all shopped more, and then sat and knit for awhile with Yarn Lounge employees Melanie and Cate, which was quite pleasant.

Another treat -- the Yarn Lounge was having a Knitting Nature trunk show, so I got to see and feel some of those beautiful items up close and personal:

Some really lovely designs here, knit up with fabulous yarns.

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Y'all know Cate is collecting donations for Afghans for Afghans, right? I think this weekend is probably the last chance to add to this pile:

before she ships everything off to Afghanistan. Thanks for your efforts, Cate!

If you take a close look at the item at the very top of that pile (above), you might recognize it as the hat I knit for my younger brother's St. Patrick's Day birthday. What is it doing in the donation box, you ask? Well, after emailing my older brother a picture of the hat, to ask his opinion, his response was, "I'd question his manhood if he wore it". So, that meant, back to the drawing board for me, and the Afghans get another hat. It's all good, because it meant I get to buy more yarn.

Something else I was eager to see while at the Yarn Lounge was their selection of Malabrigo yarns:


It's beautiful stuff, and 100% merino, so it's incredibly soft.

This particular shelf caught my eye, as it contained potential yarns for younger brother's replacement hat:


I couldn't decided which one to get. The yarn on the left is dark green and navy, and much more conservative, meaning, a hat knit from it would have a much greater chance of being worn by my conservative brother. The yarn on the right, however, is much closer to the St. Patrick's Day colors that I was striving for, but I worry that the variegation will be too much for little bro'. What to do... what to do...? You know what I did, don't you? I bought one of each.

Here they are, all wound up:

Malabrigo kettle-dyed pure merino, in Vaa (#51) and Verdes (#203)
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The colors in the above picture are fairly true-to-life, so be warned that the dye lots are markedly different (in my opinion) from how they are depicted on Malabrigo's website, (in case you're thinking of buying some, sight unseen, over the internet). Such is the nature of hand-painted yarns.

I still haven't decided which of the two will become little bro's hat. I am open to suggestion, so if you have an opinion I'd love to hear it.

After shopping and knitting for awhile, we were joined by another Colonial Heights knitter - Liz, who I had not seen since we drove to SoXperience together last June. Liz brought her LMKG chevron scarf to show:

(Liz -- I forget which Socks That Rock colorways you're using in your chevron scarf. Please leave a comment and let us know!)

Once Liz arrived we all decided we were hungry, and walked down to Can-Can for lunch. I had soup (shrimp bisque) and a sandwich (roasted lamb). Yum!

But we weren't done shopping! We came back to the Yarn Lounge, where I picked up a few more things, before we all parted ways and headed home.

Here's the knitter-blogger gang:

Krista, Liz, Margaret
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And here's more of what I bought, (if this stuff isn't therapeutic, I don't know what is!):

HandMaiden 4-ply cashmere in "Periwinkle" and "Glacier".
(No, I don't know what they will be, yet, except pets to fondle, for awhile).
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And because I hadn't spent nearly enough money, (therapy is expensive, dontcha know), I couldn't resist grabbing a couple balls of this:

Windy Valley Muskox Qiviut in "Endless Twilight" (#1800)
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I've been wanting to try Qiviut for quite some time, so am glad I was able to find some locally. (Gotta support your local merchants, dontcha know!). I don't yet know what these will become, either, but most likely some kind of lacey scarf. I do have a recently-purchased copy of Arctic Lace, from which to draw potential pattern inspiration.

Once I was home, it was still such a pretty day, I couldn't help but walk around my neighborhood and take a few pictures of the Saturday Sky:



All in all, a lovely day, and I really enjoyed myself. I got to knit, yarn shop, hang out with other knitters, and make a new knitter-blogger friend, (Margaret, who has a great blog, by the way -- when you're through here, hop over and read about her weekend house in Mathews). It felt good to act like a normal human being again (almost), instead of a sick invalid. And I think I'm well on my way to recovery, (I just might survive this plague -- imagine that!), for which I'm most grateful.

But after all that intensive Yarn Therapy, who wouldn't feel better? ;-)

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