Hitting the Skies

I was supposed to fly to San Francisco today to visit my best friend from childhood. A couple days ago, I got a text from United advising me that Chicago was supposed to have a major snow storm today and urging me to change my ticket to Friday. I did so. It turns out that Chicago is having a little snow today. Grrr!

Still, I am going to California so I can't complain too much.

Of course, the important question is: What crafts to bring? I'm definitely bringing this one:

It's a design from a book on Kantha stitching. I've wanted to improve my free-style stitching, so I'm looking forward to working on it. 

I started a sock this morning because you can't travel without a sock project.

And, of course, I have my sketchbook. Which reminds me: here is the sketch from my January trip to Chicago. The temps were around 0, so I drew this from photos I took.

And here's a photo:

Now I just have to hope that no passenger attacks a flight attendant over mask regulations!

 

Yarn and Knitting First!

My travels to Riga and Vilnius were amazing, and I will do a very short travel post (I hate long travelogues) about a few highlights, but let's get to the important thing first: yarn! These are cities where knitting is happening -- and with knitting history.

Wouldn't you know? There was a yarn store around the corner from my Air Bnb in Riga, Tines:

Mostly it has finished knitted sweaters, hats and mittens for sale, but I couldn't resist this colorful skein of Latvian yarn:

There was another store a block away, but I didn't even set foot in it!

If you follow knitting books at all, you've probably seen this very popular recent book about Lavian mitts and mittens:

Well, there is a store in Riga's Old Town that has dedicated a large section of the store to it, Hobbywool. This makes sense because owner is the author of the book! Hobbywool has the cutest facade ever, complete with yarn bombing!

The store is incredibly gorgeous.

 You can't stop looking at all the yarn and knitted items:

I was most taken with the small skeins made out of the very yarn used in the Knit Like a Latvian book. These 25-gram skeins cost about $2.30 each, and you only need three or four to make a pair of mitts or mittens. I came home with a few (arranged by intended project):

Don't worry, you don't need to travel to Riga. You can get these skeins from Hobbywool's Etsy store!  The owner assured me that shipping is very modest. I want to point out that you can buy mitts and mittens completed at Hobbywool -- for $35 and up! See, knitting is budget-friendly!

I had set up a sock project to travel with, but I made the same mistake I have for the last two summers: it was too complicated for travel knitting. Luckily, I only had to walk a few blocks to Midara in Vilnius, where I practically drowned in gorgeous yarn.

It's another gorgeous store in a charming old building:

I usually only buy souvenir yarn that isn't readily available to me in Madison, but I needed to be practical. She had an amazing selection of Opal sock yarn, which isn't sold here in Madison, and she had a line that I hadn't seen before: Impressionist. I picked up a skein from the Monet line and went home to relax and start some easy socks on my charming Air BnB balcony:

Before I went to Midara, I'd read online about a great book about knitting Lithuania, Lithuanian Knitting: Continuing Traditions by Donna Druchunas. Unfortunately, it isn't available in the States -- not even through Amazon. Imagine how happy I was to walk into Midara and find this:

Even though it is a large hardcover book, I had to haul it back home with me. I mean, how could I resist it when she covers Jews and knitting in Lithuania? This is not commonly addressed.

I am looking forward to catching up with you. I can't say that I'll read a lot of back posts, but I am going to jump back in today. I have missed my blog pals!