Purls was nice, with friendly staff, a decent selection, etc. Not as much sock yarn as I might like, but I can see Tucson not being a big wool sock knitting town. The really mind-bogglingly awesome thing, though, was that they had all 100+ colors of Malabrigo laceweight.
I think my knees actually went weak when I saw it.
Small surprise then, that I came home with a few of these (thanks Mom!).
One of these is destined to be the "Easy Flame Lace Scarf" (pdf link), from Knit and Tonic. Because if I bitched about knitting a worsted-weight scarf, surely lace-weight is the way to go.
I thought Kiwi had a slightly better selection overall. And they were super-nice, even volunteering to order a pattern for me that I’ve been trying – unsuccessfully – to find everywhere. So should you find yourself in Tucson, you should totally buy stuff from them.
And in the DIY fiber category, I found these, A Dyer's Garden and locally grown brazilwood chips for dyeing.
Courtesy of a very cool organization in Tucson called Native Seeds/SEARCH, which is dedicated to identifying and preserving local plants and seeds, both wild and cultivated. You can grow most anything in Tucson outside of the really brutal summer months, but these plants are exquisitely adapted to desert conditions and represent a rich, diverse botanical heritage. Far more diverse than you would expect from a desert.
Incidentally, if you enjoyed Barbara Kingsolver’s recent book, Native Seeds co-founder Gary Paul Nabhan’s book Coming Home to Eat provides another look at eating locally, in much less verdant terrain.
Finally, I acquired what is possibly the coolest thing I own.
Not pictured are the foot-long gold and white wings that stick out of the sides. Or the fact that it LIGHTS UP.
Marvel at its sheer awesomeness.
Next up: we see what a bad daughter I really am, especially considering how very generous and pro-knitting my dear mother has been.
6 comments:
Wow, that lamp is absolutely gorgeous - where did you find that?
Your mom rocks. Is she looking for another knitting daughter?
Your mom gets you malabrio laceweight, mine Lion Boucle in day-glo colors. Can we say I am jealous?
Wow, how big is that thing?!
Thank you so much for the wood chips, it is one of the coolest gifts I've ever gotten. I can't wait to play with them! :) I'm also glad you put the name of the organization here, because I couldn't remember. I think I'll go searching for alum this weekend so I can play.
Nice shopping! I'm very impressed!
I'm going to get a tattoo that looks just like that lamp. Maybe without the wings, though.
I want to warn you about the Easy Flame Lace Scarf, but it appears that you already have an inkling. It's very pretty, and if you want to be bored out of your gourd, that would be the way to go. Do you have two skeins of that stuff? How about a nice shawl instead?
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