Denver Stash Enhancement

Hi everybody!

It's been a while since I've posted and it's only because of lack of time.  In the past couple of weeks I've been spending my days learning my new job, coming home with a tired brain.  Then, I've been busy getting settled into my new home, which leaves my physically tired.  I'm almost settled into the house now and I feel like I can take some time to knit and blog.

Hmmm.....where to start?  Let's start with my trip to Denver a couple of weeks ago.  It was absolutely wonderful, especially seeing good friends again. I'm going to go back as often as I can to see them again.

I have two favorite yarn stores in the Denver area:  A Knitted Peace in Littleton and Colorful Yarns in Centennial.  I found things in both shops that I couldn't resist:

Click on picture to enlarge it.

From left to right:  a skein of Tosh Merino Light in the rich royal blue color "fathom".  I have no idea what I'm going to make with it yet.  I couldn't resist the color.  I really like the yarns from Cakewalk.  The dying looks a little different than many hand-dyed yarns I've seen.  This colorway is called "Cakewalk".  Gee, I wonder how they came up with that name?!  I'm going to double the yarn (or triple it if need be) and use it for the Denver square of my Travel Afghan.  I'll also use a bit in my Sock Yarn Blanket.  If there is enough left over, I'll make socks.  Perhaps I'll have to add a contrast color for the toes and heels to make it work.

Next, above, is some pink baby yarn that will become a sweater or little dress for my granddaughter, due late in October.  It's Berroco Comfort DK in a pale pink with tiny blue and yellow dots of colors throughout, called "Kittens" #2843.  Next to it is a ball of Opal sock yarn.  It's color #2143 and I think it might be part of the Rainforest collection.  On the label is written "Die zierliche Emily" which translates as Graceful Emily. 

Under the ball of Opal yarn is more Cakewalk Yarn, which I wound into a ball while I was in the store.  I was really surprised to see Cakewalk in Colorful Yarns as I was only aware of it on Etsy.  I've been eyeing this color for a while and was tempted many times to send for it by email.  Well, when I saw it on the shelf in the shop, in person, resistance was futile and it came home with me.  This funky color, which I love, is called ""Podcast Junkie". 

You can also see 6 little balls of Habu that are now part of my ever-growing collection of Habu yarns.  All are silk mohair hand-dyed kasrui, 3 of color #204 camel and 3 of color#57 green.

To complete the haul I bought a couple of packets of gift cards, a roll of highlighter tape and pair of straight knitting needles from ChiaoGoo in US size 6/4.0 mm.  I thought that they were just so darn pretty.  This picture is from the ChiaoGoo website:

They are limited edition Blue Flower needles and, surprisingly, they are made of bamboo.  They are highly lacquered and colored so I didn't realize that they were bamboo until I checked out the website.

All in all, I was very good to myself.  However, aside from all the beautiful yarns (and I could easily have chosen more, but I used a little restraint), the best part of the trip was seeing friends.