My West Coast Booty

You may recall that I was planning a serious yarn crawl while Hubby and I were on the West Coast. Well...as you might expect, I didn't end up doing that much yarn shopping.

While in Portland, I visited Knit Purl. What an incredible store! It struck me as a very "zen" yarn shop - soothing sage green walls, calming music and minimalist design. They carry a lot of local yarns, which means the current fave Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Loom In Essence (colored with natural plant dyes) and Oregon's Own (can't seem to find web sites for those last two). They also carry Handmaiden kits - which I have admired from afar but never seen in person. Here's what I chose:



On the left is the Angel/Rumple Scarf Kit from Handmaiden - on which I've already made great progress! It comes with a silk boucle and a thin kid mohair, hand dyed to match. The fabric they make together is SOOOO soft! The colorway is a blue/periwinkle (although it looks sort of aqua on my screen).

The item on the right is very interesting. Knit Purl has a store brand of yarns called ShiBui. I think they are working on distributing the brand more widely, since I saw an ad highlighting ShiBui Knits in the last Interweave. (I also overheard an intense meeting in the store leading me to believe this) I bought the sock yarn in a moss green color, which has a twist and sheen like Koigu, but in saturated, nature-inspired, elegant mostly-solid shades. There are other ShiBui yarns available too, from DK to bulky weight.

And lest you think Knit Purl is not fully stocked - they have Noro, Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Koigu, Brown Sheep, lots of cashmere and tons of other things. They also have their own line of beautiful patterns, which have a modern, somewhat Asian feel.

So, although I can't speak for Portland's (many!) other knitting stores, I can say Knit Purl is REALLY worth a visit.

The weather in Chicago is beautiful today - so I'm going back outside! Hope everyone is having a great weekend.