Yarn Crawl

Our Knitters With Altitude made our way up to Denver for our long-awaited yarn crawl on the 12th.  What I was most looking for was sock yarn that I can't find at our local stores... KOIGU, Lorna's Laces, Socks that Rock, Mountain Colors (everywhere seems to carry Mountain Colors, but almost none of it is sock yarn... too much is novelty-type yarns).

We were able to make it to 5 stores, here's a run down: 

String

Hard to find.   When I googled, I couldn't find the store's website, and the only place I was able to find an address for them had it wrong.  It took us a couple of tries with Information to get the right address, too (apparently, there's also a restaurant called String... go figure).

Most of the yarn is arranged by color.  While that might be pretty, it's not at all convenient in trying to find something for a particular project.  They had a brand new box of Lorna's Laces that they were unpacking, but none of it on top or that I could see by moving things around on top was sock yarn, and I didn't think dumping the whole thing out to see what was on the bottom would be much appreciated.

They had a bunch of large boxes of yarn on big discounts, but it was almost exculsively crap novelty yarn, so whoop-de-do.  The only thing I bought there (actually we, as most of us chipped in) was some Felicia yarn for our Felicia, who was sick and couldn't make it (really... how could we not get Felicia yarn for Felicia?).

A Colorful Yarn

We went there because a Denver knitblogger said they have good customer service and they're a nice store... and because their website said they had Cherry Tree Hill on sale (heh... sock yarn).

I pawed through all of their Cherry Tree Hill, and they only had one colorway I liked, so I took my skein up to the register only to find out that it was a different type of Cherry Tree Hill yarn they had on sale.  All is good... my knitblogger friend was right... great customer service!  The lady gave me a discount on it (not quite as much as I'd expected, but closer to that than to full price), because she knew we'd come far, and she understood how disappointing it is to think you're getting a good deal on something and then not be able to.

Aurora Yarn Supply

This one is a gem!  They're pretty easy to find (especially if you realize that they don't have the NAME of the store on their storefront, just a big sign that says YARN), and they had really good sale prices on a lot of nice yarns.  Plus, for any yarn you bought, if you got 10 skeins, you got a 20% discount.  They have lots and lots of good basic yarns, too.  If you're doing a cable or colorwork project, this is definitely the place to stop.  The only reason I didn't buy anything there was that I didn't have any projects in mind that I could match up to yarn.

The Recycled Lamb

Nice little store.  They carried No No Kitty yarns, which I hadn't seen in person and are rather nice.  They also had some decent discount yarn... lookie what I got:

I may make the Liesel scarf out of this.  I'd wanted to do that in Blue Sky Alpaca's Alpaca & Silk in Brick, though, so we'll see.  Maybe I'll make it in this as a gift (but boy I like the color, so I want it for me.

Showers of Flowers

The biggest disappointment of the day.

We went there because we were basically told it would be a shame not to, because they have everything, so you can touch stuff that isn't sold around here, so you can only see online.  Sounded like good reasoning.

Well, they do have an awful lot, but of the stuff I can't see locally, so, so much was crap novelty yarn that I wouldn't use, and most of the rest was expensive stuff I can't afford (Colinette, Rowan, etc.).  They did have Mountain Colors Bearfoot, but the selection was pathetic and I didn't like any of the colorways.  I did pick up some Karaoke in Mermaid mix for my International Secret Scarf Exchange scarf:

and also some laceweight Madil Super Due Merino  in a deep burgundy red:

It must be a discontinued yarn, because I can't find it anywhere online, including on the Cascade Yarns (Madil's parent company) website.  It's 1531 yards, which sounded like a lot there, but as I've been trying to decide what to make of it, a lot of the options ask for more yardage.  They had one more hank... I may have to call them and see if they'll sell it over the phone and mail it to me.

I also got some more Araucania Nature Wool:

The hanks I had bought previously (online) were not at all (read way too much yellow in the mix) the color that I thought I was buying.  This isn't that color, either, but that's because, well... I love sagey green (please note in the URL of this blog... sagebrush is the nickname I've used online since I first needed a nickname... although I admit I dabbled in other nicks, sagebrush is the classic), and I rationalized realized that the darker green I thought I was getting before might just be too dark to show the stitch definition off the way I wanted to.  Yeah, that's it.

I don't know what to do with the original skeins now, though... whether or not  I should try to make something with it and give them as a gift.  I could very well be convinced to part with them if offered something more me in exchange.

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Update:  I found out from reading the blog of one of the Denver knitbloggers that 2 days after we were there, String got their initial (ie. $2500 wholesale... which is why none of the stores around here will carry it, as most are too small) Koigu order. 

I've been trying not to cry.

And hoping they still have a decent selection by the time I get back up there, which likely won't be until mid to late January... at least.

Comments

[Maus]

Wow that's some nice stash enhancement! Thanks for the extensive rundown on the stores and the trip. I saw some Mountain Colors Bearfoot at the Llama store this week. Gorgeous colors. I just don't think I can wear yarn with that mohair in it, it itches the heck outta me. Have fun with cables today :)

[Michelle]

Glad to hear you made it up here. Next time give me a heads up. I'd love to meet you guys. And a yarn crawl never hurt anyone but my pocketbook. :D

Glad it went relatively well. Hope it's better next time. There are so many stores you didn't stop at.

[Wanda]

Too bad we didn't know you were coming. The next time you guys head on to Denver, definitely let us know so we can hang out. I like the Karaoke yarn you picked up. String is interesting, but the setup by color is a bit irritating to me as well. SoF is a big disappointment to me as well. There's a new yarn store in Parker called Yarn Arts as well as the Red Wheel in Castle Rock that are closer to you than Denver. Red Wheel has a nice selection of stuff and it's not all Rowan, Colinette, etc.