knitting: January 2007 Archives

There's a new yarn store in Hyattsville! And thus far, the closest store to where I live. I learned about A Tangled Skein from reading another DC Metro blogger's post and I was so excited that the next day I drove over to check it out. That was last Thursday, I think and they had only been open for three days. I should say that they're off to a really good start. Here's another positive aspect - the store's near my sister's home, so in warm weather, I can just park my car there and walk over to the store. Perhaps if my nephew is a good boy and in the mood for a nice walk, we can go over there so he can pick out the color for nice sweater. Well, right now it's just a fantasy - it'll likely be a couple of years before he understands that Auntie wants to make something handsome for him . . .

The shop is located in a building which used to be an office building, or a bank, I'm not sure. For years, the Hyattsville downtown, which is run through by Rt. 1 (Baltimore Ave, in this section) had been on the decline, with shuttered storefronts and auto shops, new, used, and repair. But in the past couple years or so, there has been a revival of the area, and the car shops are for the most part gone. Construction of new residential buildings and renovations of existing building is occurring. One of the developers wants to turn this into an artist mecca, where artists would live and work in the same space. And of course, trying to bring in new businesses. Which is great.

I spoke with Cheryl Hoffman, one of the proprietors of the shop. She seems very enthusiastic about her business. I told her about how I used to go to The Yarn Shop (now closed) when I was going to University of Maryland College Park (which is just about 4 or 5 miles up from the new store's location). She said that Shirley Pugh, who was the owner of the store, helped her get this business up and running. I was really glad about that. And looking at the selection of yarn, it's obvious that she's done her research well. There is a nice blend of classic and novely yarn, with a good price range. She carries a wide range of Brown Sheep yarn (Lamb's Pride, Superwash, Naturspun worsted and sports), Debbie Bliss, Ella Rae. Even has a decent selection of Noro yarn. For the sock knitters, there's Wildefoote (I know some people think it's splitty, but it's very durable and wears like iron), Sockotta. Some of the more unusual yarn include Tofutsies, a sock yarn that includes chitin, which is fiber made from crab and shrimp shells and is supposedly antibacterial. I'm going to have to pick up a skein of this sometime.

Here's what I got from the shop: one skein each of Ella Rae Classic and Berroco Ultra Alpaca, a pom-pom maker and a free tube of Soak wool wash. I don't have any partuclar plans for the yarn, just to swatch with. I want to see how comparable is Ella Rae Classic to Brunswick Germantown, and the price for Ultra Alpaca is decent enough that it warrants a close look.

Tonite there's going to be a "Sit & Knit" meet starting 7pm until 8:30pm. Everyone is welcome and there's no charge. You're free to bring unstarted projects, or that UFO you've been meaning to finish but gotten stuck. If I'm not too tired, I'm going to come over.

Meanwhile, I came across a way to wind your yarn quickly using a mixer. Wow . . . a way to get an electric yarn winder using what you already have in your house! Results are very mixed, however. I have three mixers - a KitchenAid professional, an old SunMaid mixer that doesn't quite work properly anymore (Speed Level 1 is more like Level 4) and a hand-mixer.

First, I tried the KitchenAid mixer, using the dough hook. This didn't quite work out due to the angle. Next, I tried the SunMaid mixer. Speed level is too high at 1 (see above paragraph). Next up: hand-mixer. I still need to locate the attachments. Stay tuned.

Addendum: Here's the address and phone number for the store:

A Tangled Skein
5200 Baltimore Ave.
Suite 101
Hyattsville, MD 20781
301-779-3399

There's a website, but it's not up yet. And to get to the store, you need to make a right turn onto Gallatin St. from Baltimore Ave, if coming from the north; left turn if coming from the south. Right after the post office and its parking lot, there's a public parking lot where you can park; the price to park there is quite decent (for now).

Okay, so I didn't get back to my spinning wheel on this day since I was busy with church and our Sunday visit with the parents. But, hopefully I'll get back to spinning this week, and as usual, I've started work in a new project while not yet finishing the other UFOs. This time around, it's the Saddle-Shoulder Cardigan that I'm working on, using Briggs & Little Regal yarn. I needed a project that has Aran and Twisted stitches, and this one fits the bill.

More later . . .