In I go...and was immediately a little thrown. For one, there was a LOT of people, and not the kind of yarn I was expecting.
At the store, it's a lot of high-end, natural fiber yarns, much of it hand dyed. As I did a walk-through to get the lay of the land, I noticed a lot of this stuff was product lines I have never seen at the store. Synthetic fibers, weird blends and *gasp* ruffle yarns! Where did this stuff come from??
I couldn't believe it. I didn't drive an hour for this, did I? Sigh.
The I found this...
It is Hachito Hand-painted Superwash Merino, 192 yds per ball, regilar $11.95, here for $3.50. Yoink! Then I discovered a box of mostly one offs of Cascade 220 worsted. It required some digging, as I found was going to be key, but I finally found 3 skeins of this lovely oatmeal color.
I wandered through the section of full bags and didn't see anything I was interested in, but on another pass through the main area I found a 350 yd skein of Pear Tree 100% Australian Merino in this delicious color called Nut -
Pear Tree is normally $24.50 and I got it for $7. Close to that find I scrounged around in another box and found 2 skeins of Colinette Art, a wool-bamboo blend that usually sells for $23, another one I grabbed for $7.
On another pass by the corner of full bags, I noticed a lady sorting her purchases out on the floor, something a lot of people were doing, and beside her was a bag of this beautiful, rosy coral-colored yarn. I asked if it was hers, and she said, "No, it's yours!" I popped the bag open and found it to be a wonderfully soft fingering weight superfine merino, normally $12.65 per ball, selling for $35 for the bag of 10!
It's definitely more pink than the orangey color it looks in the picture. I also found a few other bits and pieces, including a pretty skein of sock weight yarn in blues, turquoises and lime green, several skeins of Rowan Kid Silk Trio in pretty colors and a yak-merino blend of dark teal and grey. I was finding that the longer I lingered, the more I was finding stuff. I would go by a spot and new items would be there. I'm not sure if it was people putting stuff back, staff continuing to put new product out, or both. Regardless, I found a skein of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in black and, as I was heading to the counting table, I noticed this gorgeous bag that wasn't there before...
It is a discontinued Jordana Paige knitting purse, so I'm not sure what it sold for originally, but most of her products range between $55-$135. I didn't take a proper look at it until I got home, but I figured for $30 I would nab it. However, it put me over my budget and sadly, I had to go sort through my bag and decide which choices I wanted for sure and which I would have to put back. I decided to keep the bag and was glad I did, because when I got home, it turned out to be better than I thought.
It came with a set of Clover 3.75mm bamboo straights and a sharpened pencil in the expandable section that has all sorts of sections for knitting tools. The little loop I have the needles through is actually a snap loop meant to thread your yarn through as you are working with it so it doesn't tangle. The other two loops at the bottom of the picture are to hold needles.
All in all, a great sale, and not counting the bag since I'm not sure how much it was originally, I spent $94 on almost $300 worth of yarn. Unfortunately, I was not able to find anything for the two projects I was specifically shopping for. I suppose that just gives me extra purpose for my trip at the end of July, besides introducing my sister to the loveliness that is The Needle Emporium. :)
