Loops!

Loops is fantastic! Beautiful yarns, a friendly staff, and even a computer you can use to make sure you're getting enough yardage for your project. I loved my one-stop hometown book tour!

If you live within driving range (and, of course, everyone has their own definition of that) of Tulsa, you simply have to stop there. It's really quite wonderful.

On the Road Again!

Last weekend, I got to teach a wonderful group of knitters at Darn. Knit. {Anyway} in Stillwater, MN!

It's one of many near-LYS places in Minnesota that have stolen my heart. It's great to find so many homes away from home!

My teaching gear:

- notes

- coffee

- regular knitting bag

- "class" knitting bag

- box-o-socks

- model foot (to keep me from taking my shoe off while talking about the structure of the foot)

- (under my notes) a few skeins of yarn from the shop, so that I can wave them around and talk about what makes a great sock yarn vs. what makes a good one. Some of these end up jumping into my knitting bag...

Twisted Loop Yarn Shop

I had a great time last night at Twisted Loop Yarn Shop!

I placed my pile of socks next to a cute tray of sock cookies that Jenni brought. YUM!

There were many nice knitters and LOTS of great yarn.

One skein (for socks for me!) jumped into one of my boxes. Don't worry, I paid for it. It's Regia 6-ply. I knit some socks from a skein of this last winter and I just love them. 

Northfield Yarn

I had a great time teaching my 3 Sock Heels class at Northfield Yarn last weekend. Here's a tiny corner of this adorable shop:

...and the best part - my book on the shelf with other books. Squeeeee!!!!!

Yankton, SD - Ewe Knit It and The Rocky Horror Show

Great weather!

Black socks!

Shop full of darling knitters, who I forgot to photograph.

AWESOME show! That's his granny and mom, so no jokes, please.

An Awesome Hidden Perk of Writing a Knitting Book

I have a legitimate excuse, nay, a responsibility, to visit EVERY single yarn store.

Friday, Dee and I hit the road for scenic Stillwater, MN, to check out Darn. Knit. (Anyway).

Yarn-bombed tree in front of Darn. Knit. (Anyway)

It is such a cute shop! I spoke with one of the owners, Jennifer, and got to browse a bit while she looked at my book. She seemed excited about carrying Sock Architecture in her shop and we talked about scheduling a class or two in a few months. Stay tuned.

The big event was Saturday. We packed up the socks (very light box) and a few cartons of books (VERY heavy box), and headed out to my first official book event, a book signing and trunk show at the extremely charming Northfield Yarn.

I kind of got camnesia inside the shop, but I shot the sign they made out front for me.

They spelled my name right!

But, seriously, someone is really good at drawing books.

A bit of a family thing has come up on the original weekend that I was supposed to teach at Northfield Yarn, but they were nice enough to reschedule. The new date is Sunday, November 9 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. The full details are here. 

The signing was a blast. We laid out all of the socks on the table and chatted. There is something always so nice about being with people who "get" you. One knitter even let me use her hand as a sock model when I was explaining why I love the Balbriggan heel. (I used it in the Boostrap socks.)

There are so many really fun little towns less than an hour's drive from the Twin Cities. If you live in the area and haven't gone exploring - do it! They each have their own characters and great shopping and food to offer. All of those NLYS (Nearly Local Yarn Stores) would love to have you visit. A quarter tank of gas seems like a tiny investment, to me.

Spinzilla - I AM spinning this year. I'll give you some updates starting tomorrow...