When the knitting slows, Shop.

Given the opportunity to run some errands in the more westerly portion of Knoxville, I thought I would also stop in at Knit ‘n Purl, the only yarn store (of which I am aware) in town.   The intention was to pick up a darning needle (perfectly possible at Hobby Lobby of course, but not nearly as interesting) and perhaps some sock yarn or some other small project for the flight home as I was afraid that Mermaid might be growing a little unwieldy for the plane.  This was, of course before I rippd out all of the Knoxville progress on said project, having failed to notice four very important little words.  You know the words of which I speak, the deadly "at the same time".

Imagine my shock when I arrived at Knit ‘n Purl and found the front windows covered in paper proclaiming "Going out of Business" and "50% off all yarn".  I entered the store in a state of stunned confusion, my purpose temporarily vanished from my mind, a new resolve forming,  a determination that I should help with inventory reduction (purely for altrruistic purposes of course).

I had not purchased any yarn of fabric in San Francisco remember. Perhaps I was just setting mself up for a fall.

And what, pray tell, made it into my bag?

This lovely blue and white cotton yarn caught my attention.  I know nothing about it, but the color and the softness caught my eye.

This beautiful red Softtwist by Berrocco was purchased simply because I fell in love with the color.  There is enough for a sleeveless shell of some sort:

The red is actually a litle more blue than it appears in this photo. I couldn’t get the color to come out quite right in the late afternoon light.

The red theme continues (remember the fall stash) with these lovely skeins of Tiur  by Dale of Norway:

Devoid of actuall creative inspiration, I am planning on making a variation on "Roros" from Dale book 121 which is shown in these same colors (not the cover sweater), also picked up on sale.

For the most part the other solid colored wools and cottons in the store were more picked over and I had trouble finding enough yarn for a sweater in any color that drew my attention.  However several other multi-colored or hand-dyed yarns fell into the basket.

The combination of colors in this cotton caught my eye:

I knew I wanted to come up with some sort of shell pattern and when I saw the new Knit1 I was intrigued by the cover sweater.  It just might work.  Different gauge, but then I like the idea of the sweater more than the way it was actually made.  I think I would knit the front with a little more shaping, to give a bit more of a snug fit while giving the illusion of a wrap.  Who knows what will develop?

I have been eyeing the colors of Schaeffer’s Laurel for some time at various stores but have managed to avoid actual purchase.  The temptation had not quite overcome the practicalities of designing a sweater using multi-colored yarn.  But when I saw these skeins my doubts were cast aside.  I am sure they will return when the time comes to actually knit something, but I am equally convinced the results will be worth whatever effort is involved.

And finally, I did not forget my original purpose.  Presenting some sock yarn: