We had a great group at Knitsmiths today. Lots of people and lots of fabulous projects. There were three(!) Eros scarves being made at my end of the table. Novelty yarn isn't really my thing, but I've got to say that that red Eros is really yummy looking. Some newer members also brought in great stuff, like May who is working on a Starmore design, which is just amazing! Her daughter joined us and had one of those cute little knitting knobbies that I've always seen in the store and wondered 'what the hell is that for?' Well, it's the cutest little I-Cord maker. And Lisa brought in a new Knitsmiths mascot: knit-dog Axel!

Check out the Knitsmiths' page for all the new pictures!

So what was I working on at Knitsmiths yesterday? Glad you asked. I finished up the first tiger sock. I think it's pretty cute. I've got to get this pair done by Thursday, since they are a Hannukah present. Then I'll get to work on the pair for Christmas. Oh, and big thanks to Kim for the tip on how to prevent holes when doing a short-row heel - it worked! - and Emma for the sizing help - I think it's just about right!

(As promised, I took a few photos of joining the stitches to work in the round, for anyone out there who hasn't used double-pointed needles before and is unsure of how to get started. I'll post them later today.)

If you are a beginner and are thinking of starting your own pair of socks (tiger or otherwise), Terri has a great tutorial with pictures on her site called Socks 101. And if you're new to circular knitting, the only trick is to be sure that the stitches aren't twisted when you join them to form your circle.

First, cast on the required number of stitches. Then make sure they are all straight so that the cast-on edge is a perfect row below the needles (this is to prevent twisting the first round and making a mobius strip!). To test this, line up all the stitches - loop above, cast-on edge below - and if you see the cast-on edge trying to wrap around the needle flip it around, so it makes a straight line at the bottom. Now you can divide the stitches over how ever many needles you'll be using (I like to use four) by slipping a fraction (in my case, 1/4) of the stitches from one end purlwise on to one needle and then the next fraction to another needle, etc. Essentially, all you will be doing is instead of turning the last needle to work back and forth, just moving it over to the first needle, making a circle (square or triangle, depending on how many needles you are using), and knitting the very first stitch with the yarn, as if it were all the same row.

But first, check again to be sure that the cast-on edge is not twisted and make sure that your yarn is coming from the right side ready to join the two front needles. (I had the yarn on the left, so I just flipped my square over, so it's going in the right direction). Then pick up the needles. Just focus on those front two, the rest should come along with you. Insert the working needle, knit the first stitch and voila, they're joined! Terri's got pics of all these steps on the first page of her site using three needles. And here's a page with some pictures to help, just in case you find yourself knitting on the inside of the circle. It happens.

Of course, if you are a KnitNet reader, you may want to disregard all of my "amateur enthusiast" advice. Rant coming soon!

Get ready. Here's my rant about the KnitNet article, warning you all not to take knitting advice from amateur enthusiasts but rather only from those whose "financial well-being are linked to the quality of information." Okay, I'm not making any money from this site, so clearly everything I have to say about knitting (or otherwise) should be taken to be unreliable crap.

One might ask if this is perhaps the motivation behind KnitNet starting to charge for subscriptions - to gain credibility? Alright, that's unfair. I know that many people have used their video knitting primers to learn to knit and patterns to make wonderful items. Even when their articles and advice were - gasp! - both free and on the internet (beware, the alleged signs of untrustworthy advice)! Hmmmm.... How did all those people manage to discern good knitting advice, of the sort offered by KnitNet, from the other free advice lurking out on the net, of the sort KnitNet wants to protect us from? Well, Regis, I'm gonna have to go with B. We're not total idiots, thank you, and are inundated nowadays with so much information that we are already always judging each piece of advice (including yours).

So you're a contestant on Survivor and one person comes up to you and says, "Dude." (they talk like that, you know) "Dude, don't trust any of these other people, they're all lying all the time. Let me tell you what's going down. I'll give it to you straight." What do you do? Well, "whose livelihood depends on getting it right"? "Dude. I toootally need the money. It's not just a game for me." I can trust him now, right? What I really take issue with is this rule they give us for determining whom to trust. There are loads of people who despite (and indeed because of) financial considerations, lie to and manipulate us. And it's very hard to trust someone with motives ($1,000,000 or advertising revenue, perhaps) when they tell me not to trust anyone but them. And on a personal note, I really don't like it when I sense that someone is insulting me (either by calling me stupid or impugning my character).

It's not that I'm against this sort of an article in general. Of course people should be aware that search engines are coughing up every-damn-thing that uses the terms requested and any nut/genius could have written what they find. But we're talking about KNITTING here. (I'm gonna go out on a limb and just trust most of you guys and gals, 'cause I see no reason why you would be offering insane or dangerous KNITTING advice.) I wanna see this type of warning given to - no, forced onto - students, parents, voters, citizens. And regarding things that are truly important and truly difficult to judge well, like politics and life. Not 'the knit stitch'.

P.S - Thanks to Jamie for pointing out the article in her blog and giving me a reason to rant and then go calm myself down with a little knitting.
P.P.S. - Knitty rules!

Since I appear at the top of the list when you do a Google search for blue's clues joe sweater pattern, I'm feeling like I should come up with one. Okay, it's more than that. I admit it. I just like Joe's shirts! They're cool looking. I like the neckline with double collar, the raglan sleeves, the stripe across the front and, of course, all those colors. So I've been sort of toying with the idea of making little Joe sweaters for my boys. It's not like the shirts would have Blue on them or any advertising. Plus, I thought it would be fun to try to design the sweaters myself. And after reading Ivete's Knitting in Harry Potter site, I'm beginning to think why not.

[Why not, indeed. Because I've already got the Dale sweaters that I'm making for them this winter, cotton sweaters planned for them for Spring, summer short-sleeved sweaters to make them after that and jackets for next winter. I have most all of the yarn for these already as well! But I am just possessed by this idea that I could design these super-cute little Joe sweaters in a bulky-weight yarn (something not too heavy though and with an awesome color range) and it would be a real quick project. I've been so envious of clever people like Emma who have been doing baby knits on bigger needles than my usual 3's. I am so tempted! How bad does that make me?]

Anyway, for those of you searching the net and being directed to me, until I do decide to design the joe sweater, I'll leave you with these links:

• knitting chart for Blue from Flor
  
• another knitting graph for a Blue motif
  
• the Joe shirt/pants set from the NickJr. Shop
  
• Blue's Clues swimwear, apparently just "what kidz want"
  
• where to buy Steve's shirt

The tiger socks are done and will be delivered today to my neighbor along with the flowery hat and mittens set for her kids for Hannukah. Just under the wire. Whew! Now I've got to pick up the rest of that Opal skein and see if I can squeeze a pair each of baby mittens and baby socks out of it for my little nephew for Christmas. These will have to be sent to Germany no later than next week, so I've got to get cracking if I'm gonna make it.

Oh, and I can tell you right now that I will be breaking down later and going to the yarn store. I can feel it coming.

now!

I really like the cover pattern and those funny nosewarmers! Great looking articles too. I think the Tools for the DIY Knitter is my favorite feature so far.

Laura and Melissa asked about my plan to go to the yarn store yesterday. Of course I went. I was pretty much under control though. I bought a few skeins of Cascade 220 (I can't believe that I've never used this yarn!) for a quick hat/scarf project for the boys. I think it's gonna be pretty cute. The pattern is from Phildar's new Layette catalog, which Becky hooked me up with (I like Becky!). It calls for a fingering weight yarn, but after countless baby gifts and with the Dale sweater waiting, my fingers are calling for worsted. So, for their sake I'll be using the Cascade and mathing up the pattern a bit.

I'm also excited to be trying out the Cascade because I'm thinking that it might be a good choice for the joe sweaters. This way, I can feel like I'm working on that project already. And the boys can have a little handmade Christmas giftie from mom. 'Cause those Dale sweaters have birthday written all over them!

Stop, stop! No more unbelievably cute dogs in fabulous sweaters. I can't take it!

• Shobanista
  
• Kathy
  
• Knitting Knerd
  
• Teresa
  

As for me, I am continuting to slog my way through the dog days of holiday knit gifties. More tiger yarn, more wee stuff. Cute as can be, but I want to get back to my wips (aka, the dale sweater, native, elizabeth III) and start the boys' new mutssjaal (that's dutch for hat/scarf and the term amuses me, so I'm sticking with it)!

I am so bored with these Christmas gifts, but they have got to be done this week, so on I go. I've finished another pair of baby tiger socks and have begun some matching mittens. Man, will I be ready for something new (or old) in January! In an attempt to console myself, I bought some more yarn for yet another project. I picked up a bag of Rowan wool/cotton in a beautiful brown for a vest for my husband. I'm so excited to try out this yarn, as I have seen so many other knitbloggers make beautiful garments with it.

And unrelated to knitting, but too funny not to include, the boys got some cute little baby backpacks from Oma for Nikolaus (December 6th, when German kids get little stocking stuffer gifties) and they just love them! They demand to wear the backpacks ALL DAY LONG. Sillies!

I finished the tiger set for my little nephew. Now, I've got some adult mittens to make (can't reveal the recipient in case s/he is reading!). So far I'm enjoying the mittens more than the socks. They're very uncomplicated, sort of like straight heel-less socks. I have yet to make a thumb though, since I've only ever made thumbless baby mittens. But I'm hoping that it's not too tricky.

If I can make it through real mittens, I'd like to make myself some gloves (someday!). I have some Rowan dk cotton that I bought for Native, but I ended up thinking that the color (grey) was too dark with the other colors in the sweater, so I saved the yarn for gloves. I can always use another pair of gloves. My hands get cold very easily and it seems like I'm wearing gloves outside and in the car from September through April. I usually just buy a new (cheap) pair every year. But this year I've got the yarn and plenty of patterns for basic gloves, so I just have to collect the patience, I think, to do all those fingers. I hope it's more like making ten i-cords than knitting ten baby socks!

Well, I made a thumb gusset at least! I went ahead and finished the first mitten (except for the thumb, of course) and cast on for the second. I want to have them looking almost all done so I can't back out and leave them unfinished. I'm using Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns again. I really like this book! Although the patterns are basic, they are really nice looking. And the charts are so easy to follow. What a great resource. Put it on your wishlist today! I think I'll go add some thumbs to mine....

Hey, much ado about knitting is working on the same mittens as me (but kiddie size). Neato! Elsewhere in the Knitblog Ring, through the back loop is like my doppelgänger or something. She just completed the bear hat from Double Knits, which I made back in October, and her other fo's are all on my baby wish list. Beautiful stuff. And lookie, I got a button!

And now the teaser... mittens, b.t. (before thumbs).

Here's one thumb done. I'm not sure about how the colors came out, but the thumb itself is a-ok. As you can tell from the last picture, I couldn't get the colors on the two mittens to match up perfectly. The new skein that I bought for the second mitten didn't start at the same point as the old leftover skein I used for the first mitten and then it just didn't have as much of the purple stripe as the other one. I managed to adjust everything so that the tops of the mittens were similar. I figured that's what people see most, so if I could match that up, it might look nicer. I tried to get a unique color for the thumb, but I think I didn't get as much of it in as I wanted, so I'm considering redoing it, just to get more of the lighter color on the thumb. Too much??

And further proof that through the back loop is my alter ego: Daria mentions that she's been contemplating the aran sweaters from Double Knits and I just happen to have taken some pics of my boys yesterday while they were wearing their aran sweaters to show you all today. Here's the only picture I could get of them together in one place!

All done with the hat and mittens set. Looks pretty cute, if I do say so myself. Kinda sad to part with them, but working with that yarn again made me want to wear my new year's sweater from last year a lot more. And I have concluded that it is even better than I remember. It was only the second sweater I made and I'm ebarrassed to say that it was much more successful than some of the later ones.

Alrighty, bring on the next project! I did a bit of swatching for the vest for my husband. That Rowan wool cotton is absolutely amazing, so soft and smooth - it's like buttah! But before I can get to the brown buttah, I've got the baby mutssjaals to make. So this weekend, I'll be swatching the Cascade 220 and mathing up the pattern. Fun.

Back from Knitsmiths and learned about a great charity knitting association here in the Boston area: The Knitting Connection. They collect yarn and supplies and provide them to volunteer knitters/crocheters/quilters to be made into hats, mittens, blankets, whatever a child might need. They also collect finished items and distribute them with those made by the volunteers to local hospitals and shelters. We Knitsmiths had some yarn left over from our yarn swap back in November and decided to donate it to them. So the director joined our group today to pick it up and let us all know about the organization. If anyone in the area is interested in donating items or volunteering, their email is: theknittingconnection[at]hotmail.com.

I feel slightly better about my not having made a hat (as planned) for charity this Christmas now that I know that they accept donations all year round and would also happily accept just the yarn, in case I can't pull myself away from my growing mound of projects.

I spent my knitting time this weekend thinking through the mutssjaal project and figuring out just how I want it to look. Recap: Here's the catalog picture again. Following the pattern exactly would have meant fingering weight yarn (again!), so I wanted to find a bulky yarn to make the project quick. I ended up settling on worsted weight after falling in love with the beautiful colors of the Cascade 220. Man those skeins make some wicked huge balls of yarn. Small project. Big project bag! Update: I wanted to work at a gauge of 5 st/in, but while swatching, my fingers and my eyes just could not deal with going that "big", so I settled in at 6.5 st/in. I'm insane, I know. They'll be warm at least! Oh, and to make things more complicated, I decided to change the stripes. Since I'll never have the chance to make this sweater (also in fingering weight!) from another Phildar layette book, I'm going to try to bring those great stripes into this project.

And the best thing about my new project? I'll be knitting it in tandem, so to speak, with Becky! She's been my connection for Phildar fabulousness and always makes such wonderful things that I am just thrilled to be working on the same project with her. What fun!

Please forgive me my tacky title, but I need a little something to make me smile today. I was so excited about starting the mutssjaals and then yesterday the whole family got hit with an incredibly awful stomach flu. I am now vertical enough for this quick blog entry, but still too weak to do any knitting. I have decided, however, that it will go away completely by tomorrow. Or else.

Just as quickly as the evil bug hit, it has started to go away. We are all on the mend, the boys are actually sleeping and I'm going to do some recouperative knitting.

I was able to start the first mutssjaal! The pattern is written so that the hat section is knitted flat from the top down and then seamed up the back. I began with only about 28 stitches (increasing every few rows), so I was able to make an encouraging amount of progress in one sitting. But now I've got 128 stitches, so it's much slower going!

I love the way it's coming out. I picked out the colors all by myself in hopes of making the boys' on-sale black winter coats look like they match their on-sale blue winter mittens. My only complaint so far is that the thing is done completely in 1x1 ribbing, and boy are my arms tired (ba-dum-bum)!

We're suffering some aftershocks of the stomach flu. But the relapses aren't as strong as the original attack, so we're still on the mend. And in the good hours, I have gotten some knitting done. I finished the muts part of the first mutssjaal. Finally, it looks like a hat and not like a tiny little cape or something. As you can tell from the photo, the front stitches were cast off and the sides are on scrap yarn to continue knitting into scarf ends. It's a cool little pattern actually.

I can't wait to get these finished and put them on the boys. The knitting is going fairly quickly, but there are of course all those ends from the stripes and since the scarf part needs to be reversible, I'll have to darn in the ends carefully. Ugh.

Q: "What about those Dale sweaters?"

You didn't miss anything, I haven't worked on the bugs in a while. Shameful, I know. I put the first one down to focus on Christmas gifts. The mutssjaals are the last of the gifts, so I hope to be able to continue with the bugs in January. I'm now planning to have them (I have to make two, of course) done for the boys' birthday in July.

Q: "Are you continuing to knit continental?"

I haven't done too much continental knitting recently because I was knitting tiny stuff on double-pointed needles under deadline (holiday gifts). I did knit the Kureyon hat continental though, since I didn't want it to be one of those tight hair-mussing sort of hats. When I get to greensleeves, I plan to knit that continental (I did the swatch that way). Ditto for the brown buttah for my husband.

Q: "Can we see more pictures of the boys?"

OK, no one asked, but I'll throw some in anyway. Here they are with their blankies (the first things I knitted for them!) when they were feeling a little under the weather recently. And here's my favorite blankie picture of them all.

Q: "What no update on the mutssjaals, or whatever it is you're calling them?"

You've seen through me. I pretty much took a non-knitting day yesterday, so no news to report on the baby hat/scarf. But I'm gonna go check out Becky's site now to see if she's started hers. So join me!

The first mutssjaal is coming along nicely. The left side of the scarf is done, but look at all those yarn ends to weave in. Aaack! I think I'll have to take a little break from the knitting and just weave in those ends on that part right away. Otherwise, I'll never be able to muster up the strength to knit the right side of the scarf and then a-whole-nother mutssjaal!

I love stripes, but man are they a lot of work. How do you all deal with so many ends? Do you do them as you go or wait until each piece is done? Know any secrets for weaving the ends in so they won't be seen on a reversible scarf, like I'm making? Know anyone who's willing to do it for me? Ha, ha!

Weaving in ends....

Thanks for the tips folks! I'm just gonna do my best and see how invisible I can make them. I think trimming the ends real close will be the key.

Still working fast and furious on the mutssjaals. Check them out! I managed to finish the knitting on the first one at Knitsmiths yesterday and immediately started the second. As you can see, I decided not to make the second mutssjaal exactly the same as the first. I'm using all the same yarns and even the same stripe sequence, but have begun it in a different place. So they should be matching but not identical. That's usually how I like to dress the boys too.

At this point, I'll save the darning in of ends until after Christmas. I'd just like the boys to have something to open on Christmas morning. My mother went out and bought everything on the boys' Christmas wishlist, leaving very little for "Santa"! So it's more shopping and speed knitting for me today! Best of luck to all of you out there who are also still knitting Christmas gifts!

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy holiday!

I'll be here blogging as usual and knitting the mutssjaals every chance I get. I'm knitting through what I'm calling 1x1 ribbing finger but I'm determined to get the mutsjaals done for New Year's. Muts #2 is done, so all I want for Christmas is the last sjaal and some elves to weave in the ends!

[PS- Be sure to visit first thing next week when the fantastic fiber voyage bus arrives in Boston!]

I got some awesome crafty gifts for Christmas, including Jil Eaton's Big Fish, Little Fish, Kaffe Fassett's Family Album, and (drumroll, please...) this Bernina sewing machine! Hubby also signed me up for a beginning sewing class so I can learn how to sew cute little things for the boys. How exciting!

And although Santa brought the boys all kinds of exciting toys and books, their favorite thing under the tree by far was this box. Here's hoping that Santa brought you everything you wished for and a cool box too!

After a few days break from knitting, my 1x1ribbing-finger injury was pretty much gone, so I picked up the second mutssjaal and went to work on the scarf part. My husband got the Lord of the Rings DVD for Christmas, which he just HAD to watch last night, so I got a LOT of knitting done on it then. Before I knew it, I had finished the knitting on mutssjaal #2! Now I've got four days to weave in those ends to get this project completed before the new year.

But I hate just weaving in ends. My fingers get restless for actual knitting. I don't want to pick up one of my older big projects just yet or start something else big, lest I get distracted and forget to finish the mutssjaals. What to do?? In answer to my question, some beautiful Phildar yarn arrived today from Becky, which I had my eye on for a quick little hat for myself. After the hat for my mom (yes, the Kureyon hat was for my mom) and these hats for the boys, I've been thinking, hey where's MY new hat? One new year's hat, coming up!

And don't forget: new year's fantastic fiber voyage right here in Boston next week! (Go check out Kerrie's tour today.)

We're on a fantastic fiber voyage cooked up by Kristi of the domestic sphere and what fun it's been so far! I'm glad you all have managed to find your way here, despite our group of travellers having broken up for a few weeks there. The bus has completed its Atlantic crossing (from Kerrie's tour in London) and is ready to make a few knitty stops in the Boston area. This should be a two-day tour, so I hope you packed enough!

Setting the scene
Today the bus will be stopping in downtown Boston and Cambridge. I've found some lovely photos out in the web just in case you want to look out the bus window. Most of the links here (like the one above) will take you to photographs taken by Cris Pedregal Martin. You can check out all of his Boston pics directly here if you like.

We'll start our voyage right downtown on the Boston Common, one of the oldest public parks in the country. The Common is beautiful this time of year. We can see Boston's official Christmas tree (donated every year to the city by the lovely folks in Nova Scotia as thanks for Boston's relief effort following the Halifax Explosion in 1917). And a bit further we can see the artists preparing the ice sculptures for Boston's First Night celebration.

We make our way towards the theater district to our first knitty stop of the day: Windsor Button. This place is legendary (and I'm ashamed to admit that I've never actually been inside!). Certainly, if you ever need a button, this is the place to go, but I hear that they also have a good selection of supplies for all kinds of needlework, including knitting. Let's run inside, get warm and take a peek!

Cambridge bound
We should be able to pop into the subway right around the corner. The "T" as we like to call it was the first subway system in North America, dating back to 1897. We're on our way across the Charles River to Cambridge, home to M.I.T., Harvard and some great knit-spots. Let's ride out to Harvard Square first. If you like, you can take a quick tour of Harvard University or visit some shops and then we'll get right down to the the knitty gritty.

Here in the middle of Harvard Square we can visit Woolcott & Co., an absolute must for knitters north of the city. It's quite a small shop but it's chock full o' great stuff. As we go through the door we can look at all the photos of customers and their projects along the wall on our right. On our left is a great collection of books, from Alice Starmore to Elizabeth Zimmerman and anything else you've ever heard of. They have rows and rows of luxury yarns all around to whet your appetite. And as long as you don't have to have any contact with any of the staff, you could really enjoy yourself here. I'll wait out by the bus though!

It's getting late, so we should move along to our last stop for the day. Just a couple miles away in Porter Square, we can visit Mind's Eye Yarns, a wonderful little shop for knitters and spinners. In addition to selling yarn, spinning fibers, spinning wheels and supplies, Lucy also hosts weekly knitting and spinning groups in her homey store. Check out the pictures that Amy (of knitting with bitter-girl) took of the place!

Wow, what a great day! Be sure to come back to catch the bus tomorrow for the second part of our tour: my neck of the woods & beyond.

Welcome back to the fantastic fiber voyage in Boston! If you missed the bus yesterday, just jump back in time down the page and then meet us up here again.

Today we'll be out and about in my neck of woods: the Boston 'burbs. We'll start in the town that I call home, beautiful Brookline, Mass. Again, I've found some photos on the web for those of you who like to look out the window during the trip. Many of the links will take you to pictures from the town of Brookline's photo pages, which you can check out here.

Brookline is a great old community just southwest of Boston proper. It's the birthplace of John F. Kennedy and Conan O'Brien among others. Brookline is also home to my local yarn store a good yarn. It's just a few blocks away from my place, so let's stroll on over, okay?

A Good Yarn is right in the heart of Brookline Village and is simply the loveliest yarn store I ever been in. It's large enough to hold loads of wonderful yarns, display countless beautiful sample garments and stock lots of patterns and books, but it's cozy, as a knitting shop should be. The large front and side windows let us peer in to all the knitty goodness from the street. As we enter, we are greeted by Vicky, the shop owner's little doggie, who is a sweetheart and divides her time between schmoozing with the customers and nibbling on a yarn label here and there. There are floor to ceiling cubbyholes filled with wool on the right and an entire corner of the store with cotton on the left. In the center, beautiful wooden chests are overflowing with chunky and baby wools. In the back there's an awesome selection of novelty yarns for those of you who like your knits fancy. And by the register is my favorite, a whole wall of needles and notions. I just can't leave this store without buying something, so let me gather up my purchases and let's hop back on the bus.

Since this is a virtual tour bus, we can magically pop in at my Sunday knitting group, the Knitsmiths, today. It's just a 5 minute drive from Brookline Village to Coolidge Corner, another little town center in Brookline. Coolidge Corner is home to the old Coolidge moviehouse and the greatest independent bookstore ever, the Brookline Booksmith. The Booksmith hosts our little group of knitters every Sunday in their events room. Let's grab something to drink from Starbucks or Peet's next door and make our way down the stairs to knit a few rows with them. Hello, ladies!

If we jump back on the bus, we can make one last stop on our tour. I've saved the best for last, folks, so get excited. We'll be driving out about 20 miles to Lexington and my absolute favorite knitting store, Wild & Wooly. Located right across from the Lexington Battle Green where the American Revolutionary War began in 1775, Wild & Wooly is a wonderful shop with wonderful yarns and a wonderful staff (their "knitting doctor" is Survivor Africa winner Ethan Zohn's mother!).

At Wild & Wooly you are greeted by the friendly staff and (I'm always a sucker for this) a large board with photos of customers and their projects. If you look closely, you might see a picture of my boys! Baby wool and patterns are in the long room to the right. You've never seen so many magazines and catalogs with baby patterns! There's a large display of Dale baby books and finished sweaters, which always makes me wish I started learning fair-isle earlier. To our left is another long room with an entire bookcase of Jamieson & Smith shetland wool in every fabulous color imaginable. And across from that a wall of Manos, Manos, Manos, exquisite Noro yarns and other luxury fibers too amazing to believe. After the HUGE book section (I buy all my books here. They have everything!) there's another floor to ceiling bookcase. This one is stocked with Rowan, Jaeger, Debbie Bliss and Jo Sharp wools. Oh and there's more downstairs! Can I offer you something in cotton, maybe? Among other yarns from Regia, GGH, Marks & Kattens, etc., etc., there's a veritable rainbow of boxes filled with Tahki Cotton Classic. If you come during the one of the semi-annual clearance sales, you'll also find bags and bags and bags of discounted yarn down here and the most helpful knitting store employee ever, who'll calculate for you what you can make with the quantity of yarn in any given bag. I love this store!

Well, this is where our tour ends (because I'm staying here!!). If you're interested in more fiber sites in the Boston area, the bus driver recommends an outing to Lowell, where you can visit the American Textile Museum and the Classic Elite factory store. Or perhaps you might enjoy a trip down to the Providence area, where you can visit two more excellent stores: A Stitch Above and Sakonnet Purls.

What fun it's been riding around with you all and showing you my knitting haunts. I hope you've enjoyed it. Be sure to catch the bus as the fantastic fiber voyage continues with Jayme's Tangible Geometry in Santa Barbara.