Never again will I leave home without my digital camera. I keep kicking myself over and over again for the countless missed photo opps, all because I forgot to grab the weighs-next-to-nothing little point 'n' shoot Fuji that I bought SPECIFICALLY for its portability and idiot-proof-ness. This past week was no exception, as I missed photographing what might have been the high point of yarn shopping for this decade, unless I manage to drag my ass back up to Massachusetts.
And boy, is that ever a distinct possibility.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. We arrived in Amherst on Thursday, unloaded the equipment and figured out the first few shots for the next day. By 4:00 we were checked in at the motel, and I knew I had to try to squeeze in a visit to Webs, which I'd heard was a yarny mecca, a can't-miss destination for fiber addicts passing through that part of MA. It took some finding, but find it we did:
(Photo courtesy of the much-more-prepared animator.)
Folks, for those of you who have never been to this place, all I have to say is...
Wow. Oh, wow.
The store itself is impressive enough, with shelves and shelves and SHELVES of every fiber imaginable, every texture and color represented; I think there were several spontaneous 'happy dances' performed, especially after I discovered a veritable nest of Koigu.
Here I am getting acquainted with some saucy Cotton Fleece:
But there's more. Behind the store area is the warehouse, and there the madness begins. Remember the storage room where the Ark of the Covenant lands at the end of 'Raiders?' Well it was like that. Except with yarn.
Cones upon cones upon cones, miles of cones of rayon and mohair and shetland and cotton and...
I was running up and down the aisles trying to touch everything at once. Completely lost track of time - when I finally emerged, one of the guys had left and another had fallen asleep. Did I care? Ho, no; I dove right back in for a second pass.
And here's the REALLY scary part - Webs is (gulp)EXPANDING. For someone used to the wee cubes on NYC LYS real estate, it's almost obscene. But in a good way.
So here's the haul. I meant to only bring out one of the cones, but these colors were just begging to stay together, so how could I say no?
Some Victorian Pink Cotton Fleece for a shrug:
And some yarn I've never seen before but grabbed immediately; Stirling Mohair from Valley Yarns, because I'm a sucker for anything that knits up to look like poodle:
And so I left, sated but happy. Until we hit the end of the block, and the sidewalk sale in front of Northampton Wools. It's a great little store, with a lovely selection of wools, novelty yarns...oh heck, I'm not even going to pretend that I put up any resistance whatsoever. Plus the owner was really nice.
That little yarn posse is Big Net, Sockotta, Fixation and a cute little number called Dragon (it almost does sound like those could be gang names, doesn't it?)
By then we were all feeling a bit giddy, so it was off to dinner and back to the motel. The next day's shooting was uneventful, though the drive back home took an unbelievable 6 hours longer than it should have. It wouldn't have been so bad if someone else had been driving - at least then I could've knit. Yeah, that's the last time I schedule a return trip on a Friday during the height of rush hour. The near-hurricane conditions didn't help much, either.
But a little surprise was awaiting me when I got home:
"Huh?", you may say, but once opened...
The wonderful Erica very kindly sent me some beautifully packaged scraps for my Scrap-along project. Thanks, chica!
I'm running out of steam. Last treat before I pass out into my Yuengling:
I finally made it to the Kinokuniya book/magazine store in Edgewater, which I suspected of stocking Japanese knitting books. Hee hee hee, I was right. I tried to shoot a couple of images from inside to give you an idea of how crazy cute their designs are, but the pages are too damn reflective - I'll have to scan them tomorrow.
Wow wow wow.
Drool.
Envy.
Posted by: Rachael | July 28, 2004 at 07:06 AM
I am so jealous. A girl I knit with who's originally from Mass. was just telling me about Webs last night, and I couldn't stop ogling the poncho that she'd knit with some gorgeous thick and thin yarn from Webs. Also, I didn't know there were Yuengling drinkers in NY!
Posted by: Jen | July 28, 2004 at 08:56 AM
Holy cow, woman! Of course, you realize that my mind is now occupied with coming up with yarn-related lyrics to West Side Story. (When you're Big Net, you're Big Net all the way...something something Koigu...)
That egg carton of scrap yarn is the cutest thing ever.
Posted by: Em | July 28, 2004 at 08:58 AM
OMG! That yarn looks amazing! What a great way to spend a business trip!
When are we getting together for lunch? I'm craving some Indian food something fierce! Call me and we will work it out. ;)
Posted by: Jenn | July 28, 2004 at 11:02 AM
What a haul! Now I definitely have to make the 2-hr trip out to Webs next time I visit my family in Massachusetts!
Posted by: Allison | July 28, 2004 at 04:20 PM
oh my, what a trip. that egg carton is just the cutest for scraps! leave it to erica to find a cool way to even send scraps. too cute. great yarn photos (DROOL!) and gotta love those mags and that pic of you and that massive wall of yarn, WOW!
Posted by: froggy | July 29, 2004 at 03:53 AM
Oh, my holy Jesus! What a shopping trip! A yarn freaking warehouse?! I'm drooling on myself here.
Posted by: alison | July 29, 2004 at 08:30 AM
Hey great looking trip! Webs is cool, huh? I love their discounts too. I got a whole extra cone of yarn when I was there thanks to the discount. I've never been to Northampton Wools though. I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the peek into your shopping bag! :)
Posted by: alison | July 31, 2004 at 09:48 AM