A little trip (and a big yarn haul).

My birthday is on Sunday (I'll be twenty-two! Goodness...am I getting old? :). A while back I started thinking about what I wanted to do to celebrate...last year we went to a museum and saw Mirror, Mirror in theaters. I had no idea what I wanted to do this year, but then it hit me...

 

I wanted to go shopping.

 

First of all, I have to say that I'm not one of those girls who loves to shop. I could care less about buying clothes and accessories and things like that. I do like hunting around thrift stores, and of course, I love to shop for books (and movies).

 

But for my birthday, I wanted to go crafty shopping. :) And the best place I could think of to go crafty shopping was the little town of Floyd. So we took a little day trip yesterday.

 

The mountains are so pretty in the spring. We go every fall, but I think the mountains are just as lovely in the spring. Everything is green and magical-looking. Sorry that these photos are crooked...they were taken from inside the truck and I'm too lazy to try and straighten them up. :)

 

Excuse the glare...but I loved this abandoned old house. It looked like something from a movie.

Before we headed to Floyd, we stopped in Rocky Mount. There's a yarn shop there called The Crooked Stitch. Last fall when we went to the folklife festival, we came home through Rocky Mount and I saw this yarn store. But unfortunately, I'd already spent my money at the festival so we didn't stop in.

So I was very excited about stopping by this time. It's a lovely store, and they sell yarn and fabric (two of my favorite things) and all sorts of other supplies. Our town doesn't have a yarn store...we only have Hobby Lobby. And of course, I love HL, but local yarn stores are so much better. I was overwhelmed with all of the beautiful yarn.

And I had my first encounter with Madelinetosh yarn. When I first started knitting and joined Ravelry, all I heard about was this yarn. And with good reason, too...the colors are absolutely gorgeous. The whole time I've been knitting, I've wanted some of this yarn. And, well. I went a bit crazy yesterday. :) Madelinetosh yarn is expensive, but actually it wasn't as expensive as I expected. {Two years ago, I never spent more than $5 on a ball of yarn. Over the past six months or so, I've finally started spending more on quality yarn.}

I bought one skein of Tosh DK, in this pretty red color (none of these photos even begin to do the colors justice). I'm planning on using this for a pair of fingerless gloves...I've had my eye on a certain Ravelry pattern for a while.

I also got one of Tosh Vintage, in a dark blueish teal color (Kelp, according to the label). I don't have plans for this one yet. :) It's so much darker and richer than the photo!

We stopped and ate lunch at Tuggle's Gap first. My dad had to go to a farm outside of Floyd and get some organic fertilizer, so after that we came back into Floyd.

Did I mention that I met Elvis there?

Floyd has a yarn shop, too: The Wooly Jumper. I had went in there when we went to Floyd a couple of years ago, but I had just started knitting and had no idea what I was looking for. :)

This shop was a bit smaller, but they had Madelinetosh yarn, too! *swoon* :) Meredith is making a pair of socks from the Tosh Merino Light, and that inspired me to do the same thing. I got this gorgeous turquoise yarn, though it'll probably be a while before I start on the socks. :)

So yeah...I haven't even used any of the Madelinetosh yet, but I think I'm already smitten. :)

{My dad buys feed from the mill in Rocky Mount, so I know I'll be going back to the first shop, The Crooked Stitch, soon. I already know the next color of Madelinetosh I want. :) }

And I got two skeins of this Cascade 220 Sport. It looks TARDIS blue, and that's why I bought it.

My collective yarn purchases. This was definitely a splurge- I had been saving money for about a month and a half for this trip. :)

Of course, we had to stop at Schoolhouse Fabrics in Floyd. Three floors of novelty cottons, fleece, knits, wedding fabrics, buttons, notions, etc. It's crazy.

I only bought a tiny bit of fabric here. A yard of this vintage fashion cotton print.

And a half yard of this coordinating print. I'm such a nerd- so many of my favorite novelty prints are sewing-related.

I also bought some long doll needles, some yarn to make more dishcloths for Mom, and something that I'm going to keep a surprise for now because it's going to be a giveaway here next month! :)

Until next time,