Puget Sound LYS Tour 2016

I've been looking forward to visiting my brother-in-law, V and his girlfriend, A in Seattle this year.  And, to top it off, I was lucky: The Puget Sound LYS Tour was happening the same time we were visiting! ♡  V & A were gracious enough to take me (aka become part of my entourage and drive me) on a 1 1/2 day tour; we visited seven (7) stores during this time.  Of the twenty-eight (28) stores on the tour, I was lucky to visit eight (8) of them (although there was a woman who visited all 28 stores in three (3) days - amazing!).  Here's my lucky eight (8) (actually nine (9) since one (1) of the yarn shops I visited wasn't on the tour. :'():

Stitches in Capitol Hill: This store was not on the LYS tour but I wanted to mention it, particularly since it was very close to where V & A currently live and it was the first shop I actually stopped by. ;)  It's more of a material store than a yarn store although they did have quite a healthy corner dedicated to Cascades Yarn in their store.  The material they carried was soooooooo cute! ♡  I was sorely tempted to buy some! ;P  But, I managed to resist and didn't pick anything up here. :( :P

Maker's Mercantile in Renton:  A huge store with a bakery in it!  They carried an array of yarn and had a large selection of Hikoo Yarns.  Their only sock yarn was Trekk.  I wanted to purchase yarn that was either locally made or dyed and I ended up picking up this:

It's Schmutzerella Excellent Lace weight Yarn in Devil's Share that's been hand dyed in Everett, WA.  It was so beautiful, I couldn't resist.  I think it's going to be a shawl for myself.

The Knittery in Renton:  A smaller shop that mostly carried Hikoo Yarn and a relatively good selection of sock yarn.  With that said, this is what I ended picking up:

Hubby saw it and wanted it: Lang Jawoll Color Yarn.  It looks like it'll be a really cool sock. :)

The Tea Cozy Yarn Shop in Ballard:  Nice little shop (I can see it being a great LYS if we lived in the area).  They actually carried Denise needles that I was able to try out (loved them and will be picking up a set as soon as I can afford them, especially after this trip! ;)).  They also carried a variety of yarn and a good selection of sock yarn too.  I ended up picking up this:

I was left unsupervised here (everyone else had hiked it over to a brewery close by) and a nice lady (who was also on the yarn tour) helped me pick out this Berroco Sox yarn.

Joanne's Fabric and Craft Store in Ballard:  Although this doesn't really count as part of the LYS tour, I did want to mention that I had (finally) stopped by a Joanne's.  It's basically like our local Ben Franklin store but with way more material.  This particular store that I visited had a small yarn section and mainly carried the Caron, Bernat brands with a few bins of Red Heart and Vanna's Choice yarns.  There were no sock yarns to be found at this particular store.  Hence, nothing was purchased here. ;)

Acorn Street Shop near the U District:  This was an amazing LYS.  I would love to have this shop as my LYS.  There was a huge array of yarn and a sweet corner full of sock yarn!   Here's what I picked up:

This time my entire entourage was with me; Hubby helped me select the Cascade Heritage Paint Yarns and A simply fell in love with the Malabrigo Rios yarn.  So for Christmas this year (or at least sometime this winter hopefully! :P), A should be expecting to get a brand spanking new knitted cowl that she picked out. :)

Churchmouse Yarns & Tea: An amazing yarn shop with a lot of higher end (& really warm) yarn.  This would be a dream LYS (although I'm not sure if I could afford this hobby any longer with a LYS like this! :P).  I spent nearly an hour (or longer!) simply drooling over all the yarn here (and also checking out a fairly extensive tea selection too).  And here's what I finally picked up:

Locally dyed yarn, a Guernsey scarf pattern and a really cool horn scarf pin.  Not only did I spend the most time here but also the most money too! :P

Bad Woman Yarn in Wallingford: A huge store with lots of yarn ranging from inexpensive to quite expensive; this would also be a great LYS.  There was quite a selection of sock yarn and the staff was very helpful.  Here's what I picked up:

Lane Cervinia Forever sock yarn for a pair of ankle high socks for my new Sperry Ducky boots! :)

Fiber Gallery near Fremont: Of all the yarn stores I went to, this was the most unfriendliest yarn shop.  The staff barely greeted you and only helped you when you asked them specific questions.  I was only in there for fifteen (15) minutes and I didn't even find any yarn to buy.  I ended up picking up locally made soap:

Weaving Works near the U District:  This yarn shop is really for spinners but had quite an extensive collection of yarn with a very healthy (and large) sale bin!  The staff was really friendly and helpful as well. :)  This would also be a great local LYS shop (and perhaps I wouldn't break the bank much here, especially with their sale bins! ;)) . Here's what I picked up:

Debbie Bliss Donegal yarn, a darning egg (finally), and Susan Bates stitch saver.  I couldn't believe I found two (2) whole balls of Debbie Bliss Donegal in the sale bin and I simply couldn't resist!

Lastly, I went to So Much Yarn in Pike's Market Place on 1st Ave.:  This yarn shop was on last year's LYS tour but wasn't participating this year. :(  So I simply added them onto my tour. ;)  It's an amazing shop - its huge, has an amazing selection of yarn and best of all, right in the middle of downtown!! :)  And the staff is so friendly and helpful!! ♡ Now that I know about this shop, I can totally see myself stopping by every time I'm in Seattle.  Here's what I ended up getting:

Another skein of Painted Desert sock yarn to match the one I bought at Aloha Yarn.  I intend to make a sweater with both yarns.  I hope it turns out like how I envision it in my mind! :P

Finally, what was really cool about this LYS tour was that there was a bag you could purchase and for every shop you visited, you'd get a pin!  I finally found my bag at Acorn Street Shop (I bought the last one! ♧) Check it out:

(Yes, the bag is full of my spoils!)

While technically So Much Yarn wasn't on the tour, one of the ladies gave me a pin they were giving out in prior years so, that's why they're my "black sheep". ;)

And, of course, we were in Seattle, we had to stop by REI flagship store and I found this:

Isn't it so cute?! ♡ Its waterproof too!  And a perfect size for a pair of socks! :D  Score!! ♡

That's it for my spoils on my 2016 Seattle Yarn Crawl! :)  I found that overall, the LYS Tour was a great way to see all that Seattle has to offer: that it has an amazing selection of LYS in the immediate area and folks there are very lucky to have the array of LYS to choose from.  I'm glad that I had an opportunity to visit as many of them as I was able to as well as be able to support their local LYS.  Hopefully, I'll have another opportunity to visit V & A in Seattle and visit some of these LYS again! ;)

Thank you, V & A (again) for taking me around and being a part of my entourage on the 2016 Puget Sound LYS Tour!! :)