Mmm, Krystal burgers....

Yesterday I visited two yarn shops I'd not been to before. (On the handy-dandy map, #3 and #5.)

First up was Merribee's, way up by 249. Surprisingly tricky to find, perhaps as a foreboding sign. Everything did have prices, but it took a bit of scavenging to find it. The place was large and open with a rather conflicted selection. Are they marketing to one specific (strange) group, or trying to cover just a few bases? Far too much novelty yarn with only a few of the staples; I suppose someday I should finally accept that this is standard for all yarn shops.

Yarns did not live in any one cubbyhole but rather were scattered among the nearest three or four from their home base. In many parts they had partial bags of yarn with only three or four hanks or balls still swimming in the bag. The book and magazine racks had no visible order to them. Am I being too demanding for expecting logic and order in a craft shop? Perhaps she has cruel customers who drive disorder into every corner of the store by putting hanks back in the wrong places? But it was too untidy to be the actions of just one day. I keep trying to think of something...
(Edit the next week: It's come to my attention that I was flat-out wrong. Well, y'all can at least *pretend* to be surprised. Turns out that the owner was out of the country for much of December and she's still working on cleaning up after the part-time employees who ran the store for that time. This changes my likelihood of returning from "probably not" to "hopefully in a few months when I have money again".)

Best of all, there's a KRYSTAL up there! A Krystal!!! Oh, how I love Krystal. And they're in Houston now. Mmmm, Krystal. Not that I ate something like 15 Krystal burgers yesterday....


Then we went by Yarns 2 Ewe; this place is called the best in Houston for very good reason. They seem to have everything. Or perhaps they actually do have everything? Either way, it's a great place. Very friendly, though the owner and the other employee just leaving as I arrived both have time management issues. They'd leave three people at the counter waiting to purchase their yarn while showing another person around. They proclaim to have the swift & winder as "a courtesy" , then take remarkably long to wind the yarn. I asked if they'd let me do it; yes, but every few minutes it would have to be paused to let a person pass by since the swift was in so awkward a place. Amazingly enough, I pine for Luff's. I know, amazing that I'd want to be in Oklahoma again, but to be at Luff's again would almost be worth it. Good place, that.

I did spring for some Plymouth Encore DK in colour... green.

I'm a sucker for sale yarns. It's intended to turn into a birthday present for a friend in YankeeLand; what all, I don't know. Hat? Mittens? Both? Let's see how much time and motivation I have. With 600 yards I should have enough. (If not, I didn't intend to give her that much, anyway.)


The observant may have noticed new links to the right. These are more for my use than yours, so nyah. And yes, I've started on the much-famed incredibly long pattern title.
Okay, guess what colours I like.

And I've got three more different yarns in very similar shades! Eeep. But intarsia in the round is actually very fun and braining to do. Tangle-prone, but fun, and the colours are coming out better than plannned. (Not that my plan was too swooft to begin with.) Picture coming next entry, I believe.