amimono no monogatari: Maryland/DC Yarn Crawl

I was recently sent for some work training in Fredrick, MD. It was a two-week L-O-N-G training session - which meant that I had a free weekend there. I decided I would take advantage of that and have my very own mini yarn crawl.

My first stop was the famed Knot House located in downtown Fredrick. It's a beautiful shop, full of yarny goodness. If I wasn't with my co-workers that day (it was a Tuesday), I could've stayed in the shop for hours drooling over all of their yarn. However, I was with a pair of non-knitters so, I had to hustle and picked these lovelies up:

Sock yarns (from left to right):

Knot House in Romeo

Lichen and Lace in Shroom

Western Sky Knits in Grove

Swift Yarns Bliss in Log Cabin & Melodrama

Western Sky Knits in Sandstone

Then, I got lucky and my class let out early on Friday. One of my classmates was heading out to Rockville, MD and was kind enough to drop me off at my next stop: Woolwinders (yes, I actually ditched my co-workers so I could have a full evening of yarny goodness for as long as I wanted! ;)). It was a lovely little shop and there I was able to pick up some of the infamous Hedgehog sock yarn:

It's called Goblin.

While at Woolwinders, I met another woman, Patty, who was also on her own local yarn crawl. She had overheard me talking to the owner about my mini adventure and insisted that I come with her to my next (unintended) stop: Knit Locally (yes, I actually hitchhiked my way to another yarn shop! ;P). It was a great shop full of local yarns. Here's what I picked up there:

I got suckered into this sock yarn - it's called sourdough yarn!

The colourway is called The Heart Remains a Child

There was actually way more yarns with such cute, catchy yarn names that I had to check myself (I still had a few more stops to go after all (and I spent a good deal of my "budget" at Knot House)!).

After we were done, Patty was kind enough to drop be off at the Rockville Metro station where I headed out to my next stop: Bethesda for Second Story Knits. This shop was not very far from the Metro station and it was literally on a second story (yes, I literally walked past it (nearly twice!) before I realized I needed to look up to find the shop)! It was also a nice shop with lots of open space. There, I had hoped to find the famed Dragonfly yarns. Unfortunately, she had just run out of it and was waiting for her next shipment to come in. It seemed that I was out of luck ... :( ... However ... she had just made a pair of socks out of some of her own Dragonfly stash and showed me what the yarn looked like. As I was admiring her socks, she took pity on me and gave me her leftover stash ... It was just enough for me to make a pair of short socks for myself! I had offered to pay her for it but she said that she never did anything with her leftover stash and simply gifted it to me. She was sooooooo sweet! :) And, while I was there, I picked this up:

Urth Uneek Fingering in colour 3001

My last stop that Friday was in DC itself in one of my favorite neighborhoods: Dupont Circle. I went back to the Metro station and headed into the city. Once at Dupont Circle, I headed off to Looped Yarn Works. It was in a beautiful old building on the second floor. Like Second Story Knits, I walked past it - the first time (I learned! :P). Once I realized that I missed the store (somehow), I looked up and found it. Up the stairs I went into a beautiful shop with amazing light! They carried an assortment of great sock yarns, including La Bien Aimee yarn (I was so tempted to buy some but I had already spent a-lot!! on yarn!). They did have Dragonfly yarns though .... So, here's what I picked up:

It's Zombie Apocalypse and Watermelon Head!

My last, last stop before I came home was at the local Michael's store. I'm making a little something for a little someone in which I needed to pick up another skein of yarn and while I was there, I also found this:

It's called Cascade Colors

I couldn't help it. I had already made a pair of socks and it's proven to be a very durable sock. Hubby has been wearing through some of his other socks so, I needed to be sure that I had some durable (and tough) sock yarns in my stash - just in case. ;)

Throughout this adventure, while Hubby wasn't physically with me, he was with me (via telephone and text) in which he "helped" me pick out most of my yarn. He actually told me on Friday: "You're not on a yarn crawl! You're on a yarn dash!" (which was true - I spent a whopping four (4) hours dashing through the DC area and hit four (4) yarn shops that Friday!). I did enjoy my mini adventure and on top of it, I got to view East Coast cherry blossoms as well as catch some of the "sights":