swatching

This past Saturday, I had the entire house to myself, which is a very, very rare treat. Besides eating nothing but carbs  all day, I spent a considerable amount of time parked on the couch watching cheesy, made-for-TV movies and swatching my Tosh Vintage yarn. When I spotted these midnight-colored speckles on a shelf at Loop, I knew right away they wanted to come home with me.

How perfect would they be worked into a cowl to go with my winter coat?

This yarn is super hardy--I kept going back and forth on the stitch pattern that flanks the lace panel, and must have ripped out my knitting at least four times. The yarn held up extremely well and showed very little evidence of my woman-handling. Can we all agree that this Optic colorway is pretty amazing? I could stare at those tiny flecks of rust and aqua nestled into the fibers for hours on end. This yarn is just a delight to knit with, and, as Steven West would say, #specklesaresohotrightnow. 

loop yarn love

We spent the night in Philly on Saturday for the Barbra Streisand concert (which was amazing, by the way...), so before we got back on the road to Delaware, we made a quick stop at Loop Yarn! I've been wanting to visit this local yarn shop for quite some time now, so it was nice to finally have the opportunity to check it out. Since I follow the shop on Twitter, I knew that they had the new Brooklyn Tweed Marls in stock, as well as Jared's new book, Woolens. 

The shop was bright and modern and filled with all sorts of wooly goodness and friendly people. I think I spent a good 30 minutes just walking around petting all of the skeins, which were stacked neatly along the walls in their white cubes. There were a few samples perched around the shop--including the most gorgeous Halligarth Shawl knit in Loft (shown on mannequin above). 

I was impressed both with the amount of self-control I displayed, and with how patient my dear husband was with my indecisiveness. After much debate, I ended up adopting two skeins of Tosh Vintage in the Optic colorway--a creamy white base dusted with navy- and rust-colored speckles. I'm thinking about working up a cowl or shawl to go with my navy winter peacoat this winter. 

And of course, I couldn't leave the shop without at least few skeins of the Shelter Marls in Newsprint. While my gut tells me these should be whipped into a brioche scarf, I may want to work up a swatch or two to see how the black and white twist renders in different stitch patterns. 

If you haven't yet visited Loop, be sure to stop by their shop next time you're in town. You can also check their goods online--be sure to sign up for their Rewards program! Also, follow them on the 'Gram or Twitter for some #knitspiration. 

Have a great week, everyone!