Let the record show...

All the knitterly goodness that arrived on Monday in the anonymous box was from my Felted Bag pal. I don't even have my bag yet, but already, I'm nominating her as a super swapper. My apologies to my HSKS pal (hello? are you out there?), and to Kirstin, who is, after all, "just" a Ravenclaw prefect, not even my prefect, I think.

So, I'm feeling special. I've got Tibbers Sox spoiling me rotten in Sockapalooza, Michelle, the mistress of niceness sending packages just because, and now, my still anonymous bag spoiler too.

I have to tell you... I went as far as analyzing handwriting, trying to figure this out.

So, with that straightened out, I'll share some yarn crawling results. For more details, you can see Anne's blog and/or Amy's blog. (They both brought cameras. I didn't. I was more concerned with finishing my dishcloth for my pal...)

First stop - Sunday. Ben Franklin craft store in Waynesboro, VA. Not generally something to make you go ooooh, but they do have a great selection of Cascade 220, which Anne adores. I found some squooshy organic cotton to make another cloth for my hubby, and some Caron felting wool, probably to make another Squatty Sidekick. (Amy wasn't along on that adventure.)

The cotton is Pakucho, 100% Certified Organic Cotton, made in Peru. It's a Trendsetter's yarn. It has a lot of information on its label, and I'm all about reading up on details, so that will be a treat when I get around to knitting with it. (No time soon; I'm in love with the Sidekick, and the Summer of Socks begins in just 8 days... wanna bet the first pair will be done on two circs!?)

The Caron Felt-It was a bargain and I loved the color - Wildflowers, the named it - so I couldn't resist. It's not as soft as the SWS by any means, but I really wouldn't expect 100% wool to be so soft. It will be fun to see how yet another yarn felts up too. So, those are the sole purchases from the first stop on the Virginia Yarn crawl, but both were too good to leave behind.

Stop #2 - Tuesday, Old Town Alexandria - Knit Happens. I've surfed their website several times, and I think Amy probably gave it a rather thorough review. I enjoyed petting several yarns, but there was nothing in the right color in the right yarn for me, so believe it or not, I left empty-handed.

Stop #3 - Also Tuesday, The Capitol Hill store of Stitch DC. Very friendly, helpful staff. The employee went so far as to call another LYS in the area to see if they had the KA dpns I desired. (They did not, but the yarn crawl continues...) Not another Stitch location, but the competition! How sweet is that?! They had several brands of yarn I'd never seen before in person, and the first must-have was the Scarlet Fleece, hand painted not too far from me! I couldn't resist the Wrangler colorway. I predict I'll be hunting down more of that in the future.

I also couldn't leave behind the Poems, even if the colorway is a bit too pastellish for my liking. That's color #553, if you check out their color chart. However, there really wasn't a colorway that was just to my tastes, so I just picked up something that will allow me to experiment with yet another self-striping yarn, because you know I'm on a campaign to find something that I like better than the loved-by-many-but-not-me Noro Kureyon!

Tomorrow, Anne, Ingrid and I will head to Jamestown, and do some yarn crawling in that area, and maybe hit a shop or two on our way home, if it's not too late to visit Richmond...