I Am A Yarn Ho...

Yesterday I drove far away from my home to a yarn store. Not a craft store...an actual yarn store. I've been in two previously and found them mildly stimulating.

Then I walked into Wool & Co. First, I was awash in the most amazing pleasant memories of my favorite job ever. I used to be in the same neighborhood for meetings and was saying thankful prayers that I hadn't known about the yarn store at that time. It would have been too tempting. Way too tempting.

Wool & Co. is located in an old-fashioned main street type shopping area in Geneva, Illinois, near the Fox River. The stores are eclectic and all look loads of fun.

I parked the turbo mini van around the corner from Wool & Co. and quickly walked toward the store. The day was cloudy and threatening rain...but nothing mattered when I spotted the warm lights of the shop.

I had needles put aside. That's all I wanted was a set of Addi Turbos so I could make a pair of socks. My goal was to go in, pick up the needles and leave. Because I do not need any more yarn.

The shop smelled great. That nice, potpourri smell that small shops have. I've decided it is not one single scent, but a comingling of all the scents. They meld together to make the most heavenly scent that cannot be duplicated at home.

I sniffed. Then I opened my eyes and started petting. I pet the sparkling confetti type yarns. I fingered the sock yarns. I caressed the hand-dyed wools. I drooled over the sock yarn that knits up into an intarsia-type project without changing colors. I entertained a few fellow knitters with my tale of woe involving an electric mixer, a toilet paper tube, and an attempt to roll a hank into a ball. [Bottom line--don't try this at home despite what you might read on the internet.]

I fell onto a cube filled with Classic Elite Yarns Flash and pawed through to the bottom for the Lotus Blossum hanks. Fuscia, lime green, orange...these are socks just begging to be worn on my feet! As I write, I have to keep touching...

Then I wandered into the samples. I've been wanting to felt something. I found the perfect project with the Mood Purse. The handles are held on by buttons so you can change them on a whim.

Actually, I am not sure if I fell in love with the purse pattern or the hanks of hand-dyed wool that were lying near the sample. I had to grab a hank of the Emerald Blue Malabrigo Marino from Uruguay. It smells like dyeing--with the vinegar scent mixed with the dye chemicals. I caressed and fondled and decided that I needed to make something with this 100% wool and knew the Mood Purse was it.

At this point I knew it was time to go. My arms were full. I was on sensory overload in a wonderful way. I continued fondling notions scattered about the countertop as I was rung up. I ogled a needle felted wall hanging and am thinking somewhere in the depths of my ever-creating brain that this is next...this is the next thing I must try. I mean Sharon Malec's needle felted quilts were inspiring...and this just carried the urge a little further.

I nearly skipped back to the family truckster with my Wool & Co. tote swinging from my arm. [Think Dorothy ala Wizard of Oz...except it's no Toto peeking out of my basket but yarn and needles peeking from my tote...]