Austin, TX

When I travel, I make it a habit to check out a local yarn store.  In my humble opinion, you can tell a lot about the knitters in a region by looking at the kinds of stores they have at their disposal and what fibers/brands are readily available.  The proprietors of these stores probably think I'm crazy because the first two questions out of my mouth are, "What do you have that's locally raised/spun/dyed?" and "What's the weirdest fiber here?".  Once I explain what I do on ye olde blog the crazy seems to make sense.  The latest in a long line of those subjected to my own personal brand of knitting crazy was Stacy at The Knitting Nest in Austin, TX.

The Knitting Nest is my kind of yarnery; lots of natural light, plenty of space in between shelves for browsing, enough stock that the space looks full, but not so much that you feel like your head might explode with choices, several comfy seating options for those who want to hang out and most importantly, fantastically knowledgeable and ridiculously friendly staff.  I want to clone the Nest and bring it to MN.  If you ever have the opportunity to visit Austin, a trip to The Knitting Nest is a must!

I may have lost all control and self-restraint while I was there (What, me, never...).  I left with the following:

• 2 skeins of Kollage Riveting in dusk denim (a semi-weird fiber)
• 3 skeins of Elsebeth Lavold's Baby Llama in juice, flaming red and pine (a fiber I haven't worked with yet)
• 2 skeins of Instant Gratification Superwash Sock Yarn in a colorway that can only be described as Valentine's Day (Texas made)
• 1 skein of Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn in deep blue (for a commissioned piece)
• 2 skeins of Queensland Collection Rustic Wool in charcoal (because it was on super sale)
• 1 skein of Spinning Colors Worsted in amethyst (also Texas made)
• 1 pack of notecards and 1 pack of tags from Knitterella (because who could resist...)

Seriously.  That's a full load of goodies.

With all that awesomeness abounding, it's no wonder that local knitters love The Knitting Nest.  It's won some awards and generally has some pretty cool people hanging about.

And... there's giant knitting needles.  GIANT.  As in, probably made for.  See:

I can't possible top those bad boys, so I'll leave it at that.  The Knitting Nest . 5 Yarngasms.  Word.