During the 2.5 weeks that I’ve been in Colorado, I’ve spent a bit of time driving around, getting to know my new home.
I’ve wandered around Denver, its north metro area (Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, Superior), and Boulder. In summary, the good food can be found in lower downtown Denver and in Boulder. We have good shopping right here, down the street, in Broomfield and Superior. From now on I plan to avoid Westminster if possible. A side note here that I was mistaken in thinking that Colorado is a state full of rich, white people.
So what do you want to know about the place? Would you like to know where to peruse a full selection of French magazines in a warm, cozy bookshop? If so, I recommend Tattered Cover Book Store. Would you like to watch a movie at a theater full of teenagers, lacking in sufficient parking, and with an absent valet? If so, then I recommend AMC Westminster Promenade 24. Would you like to have a delicious and authentic Ethiopian supper? Then I recommend Ras Kassa’s Ethiopia Restaurant in Boulder. Would you like to shop for fabric and yarn in a locally owned shop that specializes in eco-friendly and socially conscious yarns? Then I recommend Fancy Tiger Crafts.
Fancy Tiger Crafts, in Denver on the border of Speer and Baker neighborhoods, is a fairly small shop with lots to explore. I especially enjoyed their sewing sections, including lots of books and patterns. They have those really cute Amy Butler patterns which I cannot afford. I loved all their unique and modern oilcloth, so come springtime, I plan to make an outdoor table cloth and chair covers on my balcony café table. For now I purchased some Cascade Yarns Eco Alpaca and a cute, cute, cute yard of pincord corduroy (22 wale per inch), printed with matroiska dolls and ponies. What should I make with my new treasures?
We’re finally getting settled in to our new home in Colorado. It’s great here, lots of sunshine and beautiful views. From our home we have a great view of the Mile High City, plus a spectacular view of the Flatirons. There are several nearby fabric shops, plus some lovely yarn stores downtown. So far, I’ve visited two: Lamb Shoppe and Fancy Tiger.
The Lamb Shoppe was busy, busy, busy on a Sunday afternoon. They have a coffee bar, serving Illy coffee, YUM! This shop is chalk full of yarn, from floor to ceiling. There were tables and lots of chairs for people to sit and knit, drink coffee, read, and hang out. While I was there, a beginner’s knitting class was in session. I overheard the teacher giving instructions for a long-tail cast-on. All in all, I grade this shop as one of my favorite stores in the USA. I purchased some gift yarn there, a new wool-winder, and some Noro Kochoran. I know, I know, Noro’s really not my favorite yarn, but it was exactly what I was looking for because I am making a Mesi hat to match my blue and grey ski jacket.
As you can see, it only has one pom-pom added, but I wore it on the slopes on Sunday anyway. The pom-pom is enormously attractive to snow and becomes quite heavy after I wipe out on the slopes. So I definitely need a second one.
This hat definitely has some maker’s marks in it, but I am happy with the result so far. The Noro is bulky weight yarn and the pattern calls for DK, so it is very dense and warm.
Next time, I’ll tell you a bit about Fancy Tiger and the yarn and fabric I found there.
December 22nd, 2009 in
Hats,
Knitting |
5 Comments
I’m the proud owner of a spiffy, new, magnetic katamari. My lovely friend Sarah made it for me at my request! I don’t know many people who would agree to crochet a bunch of acrylic out of the kindness of the heart, but Sarah is one of those rare few. In fact, our deal was that I would provide the supplies and she would do the work. However, it turned out I didn’t keep my end of the deal; I only ended up providing one small portion of the supplies and Sarah procured the rest. This is only a small example of her generous nature. I love the katamari. It’s heavier than I had imagined and I love tossing it around. For now I’m using it to hold straight pins, but I think it will be more of a toy than a pincushion in real life.
Tonight I had planned to attend Wear-a-Skanky-Hat night, but things don’t always go as planned when you’re in the process of moving across the country. I’m writing to you tonight while sitting in the midst of many, many boxes in my soon-to-be-former apartment in Alabama. This morning we went to Penske to pick up the 22′ truck we reserved for moving week. However, the truck wasn’t ready. The last driver reported some problems, but the mechanic hadn’t had time to look at it. We took the truck anyway, drove it a couple of miles, then turned around to return it. It had major vibrations, the sort which dislodge your internal organs, so driving it to Colorado was not an option. Penske didn’t have any other trucks for us, so we left and decided to work on a different, impromptu plan.
Early in our moving plans we had gotten quotes from many moving companies. They were all very expensive, so we nixed that plan… until this morning. With no Penske truck and full of movers’ fatigue, we decided that hiring movers would be a better plan today. The first company we called offered us a good deal, only $100 more than renting a truck ourselves, so we decided to go with it.
The movers were scheduled to depart Atlanta at 1:30, therefore should arrive about 5:30 or 6.
We were pretty tired by 5:30 or 6 and expecting their visit at any moment, when Guillaume accidentally sliced his finger on a rough metal edge. There was lots of blood and screaming, plus panic-stricken cats. I’d already packed the first aid box, but managed to find it before he bled to death. After I got everyone settled down, he decided he didn’t want to go to the ER. The fingerprint on his index finger may be very different when the wound heals. In fact he may yet end up going to the doctor to get stitches, but for tonight some bandages and electrical tape seem to be sufficient.
The movers actually arrived at 8pm and told us they had come from Miami that morning. That’s quite a drive. They took a look around at our furniture and boxes, then told us that the quote was too low and they didn’t have enough space in the truck for our stuff. We negotiated for a while and I think we came to an agreement. The head mover told us he needed to get some sleep, would get up in the morning to drop off his current load in order to make room for our load, and be back to pick up our stuff in the morning. He told us that a different crew would be unloading our stuff in Colorado, so I assume this means that it will go by train.
I’ll be glad to get all this stuff on a truck and see it away. I have lots of unfinished work on my checklist, but most of it is dependent on getting this stuff westward bound.
It’s back to gift knitting this week. I have several projects in the works, but only 2 that I’ll discuss here and now.
First I’m working on a shawl for Cecelia. When I saw her last month, she talked to me about some hand-knit shawls she’s been seeing. She told me that they were very expensive and they were knit with very big needles because they had “big holes.” I interpreted this as the shawls were lacy because the needle size was quite large in comparison to the yarn weight.
I think she wants a hand knit shawl.
A few weeks ago I searched around for a shawl pattern- something she’d like that I’d also like to work on. I decided on a triangle shawl with large, knitted holes in it. It is knit with worsted weight yarn on “appropriately” sized needles, but the holes are knit into it by casting off and on throughout the pattern.
I want to keep a distinctive hand-knit look to this item, so I searched for a thick-thin yarn: soft, calm with a handspun quality. Etsy was definitely the place. I found a lovely batch of yarn from a woman in Missouri who owns and manages her own farm, Dream Catcher Sheep and Fiber Farm . She sheers the sheep, cleans the wool, and spins it. I bought about 300 grams of yarn, hand spun in a worsted-ish weight. One of the things I loved about this Etsy shop is that she will tell you from which of her lambs the wool was spun. My yarn came from Stormy Wether, a very handsome fellow with soft wool. The yarn isn’t dyed or bleached, nor chemically cleaned, and it is a lovely yarn to work with. I’ll definitely buy yarn from her again.
The other gift knitting project is a cardigan for my mom that I started knitting last winter, then put into hibernation over the summer. Technically it has not come out from hibernation yet, but I know it needs some attention since her birthday is in January. The pattern is from the first Debbie Bliss magazine, the Cable Vent Jacket. I’m using Jaeger Extra Fine Merino DK in cream. I got it last year on sale because it was the end of the lot or of the colorway. It’s a soft, consistent yarn to work with, but I hate that about 25% of the balls have knots.
I’m going to keep plugging away at all this gift knitting, even though I really want to knit my peplum seed-stitch cardigan.
In keeping with the Vogue big silhouettes, I finished the #10 Ribbed Cowl pattern by Cathy Carron from the current Vogue Knitting Holiday issue. I used my favorite roving wool, Italia Fingerpaints, but since I only had one skein, I had to procure more of this discontinued yarn to complete the project. Although the yarn has been discontinued for quite a while, I found a kind Raveler in Massachusetts who offered to send me her 1.5 skeins for free! WoW! Her skeins were not the same colorway as my original, but that’s OK since I’m not picky when it comes to Italia Fingerpaints.
When finished, it does look like the pattern photo in VK. The pattern itself is super simple, can be accomplished in a day. As with all my Fingerpaints projects, the yarn seems to stretch width-wise a lot, and I have to fuss with it to entice it back to shape. In any case it’s warm, easy and fun to wear. This project now has me in the mood for more chunky yarn trespassing.
