Knitting Night at Rae's Yarn Boutique

I was ready to head on over to Rae's Yarn Boutique, but DD told me they'd moved. Thankfully, it's still very close to her house...and VERY easy to get to! There was plenty of parking too - both on the street as well as behind the shop. I asked why she moved and it turns out that she's bought the building her store is in - Congratulations Rae!

The new shop gave her more than twice the amount of space! You can enter either from the back or the back and become immediately surrounded by a treasure trove of wonderful fiber goodies - including spinning wheels and spinning fibers. Believe it or not, the store is even MORE welcoming than the old store! There's more room - classes can be held a a table near the back of the store, while others are busy shopping, and still others can sit up front in one of the many inviting chairs/couches and simply knit or peruse the numerous books and patterns. You're cozy without being crowded!

I managed to catch a picture of Rae with her doggies before she had to leave. You can see her store in the background - it's chock full of all kinds of knitting goodies. as far as the eye can see! I had to take two photos as the dogs were quite lively and it was impossible to get Rae and both of her companions facing forward at the same time! (All of us who have pets know how hard it is to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time!)

There are tons of sample garments on display to tempt your palette. I "had" to purchase a Louisa Harding pattern booklet so I could make one of the display sweaters - "Alvise". It's gorgeous! I also picked up some yarn for more bedsocks for mom - this time, I bought a turquoise-blue silk-alpaca blend. At 80% alpaca and 20% silk, they should keep her feet nice and toasty!










I found some wonderful Rowan Cashcotton to make a summer top as well. It's 35% cotton, 25% polyamide, 18% angora, 13% viscose, and 9% cashmere and so divine to touch! Of course, I had to buy a Rowan pattern book to go with it! I even managed to catch a great deal on two colors of Araucania Natural Wool.

I always find wonderful stuff here - this time, I found some very unique gadgets - one for spinning and one for knitting. Rae had just received some tubes that are great for slipping your spun singles onto after making them into a center pull ball with a ball winder. It keeps the ball neat for plying as the center does not collapse on itself - a definite bonus when trying to keep singles neat for plying!

The second gadget is a needle gauge that attaches to your keychain so you ALWAYS have it handy! Note that I managed to find one in a nice lavender color! It measures needle sizes from 0 through 15 - how cool is that! And its size is quite small - only 1 3/8" x 1 3/4"!

It was knitting night at the shop as well, so after I shopped, I settled into one of the seats and knitted for a few hours with a couple of other knitters. It was a lot of fun and everyone was so nice! I felt very welcomed and made some new friends. I also started my Galaxy socks while I was there, but I didn't get very far as I was too busy chatting to concentrate on knitting!


Oh...and that's not all! I found out that Lynn, who works at the shop, is also a yarn designer and has her own yarns that they also carry in the shop. I'd been oggling some of her yarns, and had no idea that she was the Lynn on the "Lynn H" label! Her colors are scrumptious! (Above her, along the top of the wall, you can see a sampling of the knitted "inspirations" that are on display throughout Rae's shop.)


Although I've missed getting together with my friends back in VA for knitting, the evening spent at Rae's made up for it! I had a wonderful time and hated that evening had to come to an end. Sigh.