Thirty Skeins in Ten Minutes....Challenge Accepted!
It feels great to be back home; I missed you all so much!
As we all know, when we go traveling, we simply MUST find the yarn stores. Yes, I own my own yarn store, but that doesn’t mean I want to miss out on anything. I call it research. ;-)
We recently took a cruise from Southampton, England, all the way to Belfast, Northern Ireland, and then went back to Dublin for an extra day. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and we had a wonderful trip. But, dear yarn lovers, you already know that some of my favorite memories involved yarn!
One day, we stopped in Cork, Ireland, where we had a private driver named Gerard. Somewhere along the way, Gerard discovered that I was a knitter. After we came out of a museum, he casually mentioned that he had found a yarn store nearby and that it would only take about fifteen minutes to get there.
Then he asked, “Have you ever heard of Hedgehog Fibres?”
Oh, my gosh! Have I?!
Gerard asked if I wanted to go see it since we had enough time.
Would I like to visit Hedgehog Fibres?
Is that even a question?
Then Gerard handed me his phone and told me he had already called them so I could speak with them. My heart, was beating a mile a minute! I was so excited. Somehow, I managed to tell them who I was and that I owned Yarn Store Boutique in Texas.
Just as Gerard promised, we arrived in no time. There was only one little catch…
I had ten minutes to shop.
Ten minutes. At Hedgehog Fibres.
No pressure!
There were two lovely people there, but I was so excited that I never even got their names. It was more of a showroom than a traditional yarn store, and I’m pretty sure we were at their dyeing and shipping location.
One of the women told me that she had looked up Yarn Store Boutique before we arrived. She suggested several yarns for me and said I could receive a small discount so I could take home a sampling of their different bases. Once I returned home, I could decide whether I wanted to place an order for the store.
It was all I could to not jump up and down!
In those ten very fast minutes, I managed to choose about thirty skeins in several different bases, write down the patterns they recommended, and even take a picture with them. I’m not sure that was shopping, I think it may have been an Olympic event!
They were incredibly kind and welcoming, and I left there on an absolute yarn high. Honestly, I’m still on it.
I also managed to visit a tiny yarn store in Bantry. It was very small, but the owner was such a nice lady. Naturally, I had to buy two kits from her. We already carry the yarn at YSB, but I loved her patterns. Besides, I truly believe that every yarn store owner should support other yarn stores. We’re all part of the same wonderful fiber community.
Then, while we were in Dublin, I had to poke my head into This Is Knit. I didn’t buy too much there, but I certainly did some serious drooling over their selection of Townhouse Yarns. We carried Townhouse Yarns at YSB a few years ago, and seeing all those beautiful colors again made me think we may need to bring them back.
So, I see some new hand-dyed yarns in our future. You know me—another yarn squirrel may already be running through my head!
Of course, before every vacation comes the most difficult travel decision of all:
What knitting projects should I bring?
As always, I struggled—but I finally narrowed it down to three. Yes, three! I brought Reflections by DanDoh, Bamboo by DanDoh, and a sneak-peek sweater for our next Sweater Club project coming in September.
We’re also hosting a KAL featuring DanDoh yarns and patterns, so be sure to check our calendar and join us!
This trip gave me beautiful scenery, wonderful memories, kind people, and plenty of yarn inspiration to bring home to all of you. Sometimes the best travel adventures aren’t planned. They simply appear around the next corner—with a driver named Gerard, a ten-minute countdown, and thirty skeins of yarn waiting for you.
Thank you, Gerard—you certainly knew exactly where this knitter with a yarn store needed to go!
