Yarn Crawl

I didn't think much about it at the time, but Dick spent most of last night on the computer. He's a night-time TV guy, so it was pretty unusual for him to adjourn to the den with his laptop. Turns out he was searching for high end or unusual yarn shops between here and Long Beach for us to visit today. My very own, customized yarn crawl. Am I lucky or what?

First up was Jennifer Knits in Brentwood. This was the smallest store and, until Dick told me the 'back story', I thought it was the most run-of-the-mill (by that I mean most like other higher-end yarn stores I've visited.) Turns out the owner is a published author and will design custom patterns for customers. You send her a picture or describe what you want and she'll make the pattern. For free. You just have to buy the yarn there. Very cool.

Next up - wildFiber in Santa Monica. O.M.G. The store is huge - go look at the picture on their website, I'll wait. - and has an amazing selection of luxury and unusual fibers. I found a must-have crochet coat pattern from Oat Couture (the Monet Jacket) and the softest, most gorgeous Chinese cashmere and silk yarn I've ever seen. The previous owner was Mel Clark who wrote 'Knit 2 Together' with Tracey Ullman. We're talking serious knitting store here.

Then there was Alamitos Bay Yarn. A good sized store located right on the water in Long Beach. I spent the most time here. They have a good selection of crochet books and some amazing yarn. I ended up buying a sweater book by Melissa Leapman and a skein of Mountain Colors merino and silk yarn. (Hey, it's not my fault. I had to do my part to support our independent yarn stores.) They had Lily Chin's book Knit and Crochet with Beads. This was the first chance I've had to look through it. The Leapman book beat it into my shopping bag by a thread, (ewww - sorry!) but Beads is definitely next up on my most coveted books list.

Why was Long Beach Dick's final destination? So we could end the day at Acres of Books. "California's largest second-hand bookstore with over one million books in stock." And not a single knitting book on the premises. I found the shelf where the knitting and crochet books should have been; 2 very sad crochet books were all they had. I was hoping to pick up a used Alice Starmore or Elizabeth Zimmerman tome. No luck, but I'll keep looking. Searching is half the fun, right?

Driving home, we almost literally ran into the Pt. Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro. Built on a bluff overlooking San Pedro Harbor, the lighthouse went into operation on December 15 (!), 1874 and remained active until December 9, 1941. The ornate Victorian beauty underwent an extensive renovation in 2004. The building was closed by the time we got there, but we were able to walk around the outside and admire the ocean view and the gorgeous flowers blooming all around the fence. A very nice end to a very nice day. (Well, almost the end. We hit the 405 just before 7 pm and it was still a parking lot. It took over an hour to get from LAX to the 101 interchange. I am so thankful we don't commute to LA everyday.)