Stitches From the Heart

I had to fly with my daughter down to LA Tuesday night and came back Wednesday night. We had the afternoon free, and a Toyota Rav4 rental car, so we drove out to Santa Monica through Culver City and Beverly Hills. We were going to drive up the coast to Malibu but DD was hungry. After visiting the great farmer's market and eating lunch at a creperie (where we tried to order in French but the waitress did not speak French), the waitress gave us a phone book to look up yarn store addresses. She said she knew where the yarn stores were in "the Valley" (San Fernando) but not in Santa Monica, because her mom was into yarn. !!!!! I wasn't able to find one of the stores, and didn't want to venture into Venice for the other one, but we did get to this store.

If I had to go to a yarn store and break my stash reduction resolution, this is the one I should have gone to. I already knew about this organization, and carry the tape measure they gave me at Stitches West in my accessory bag. I managed to spend a little over $100, but I got a great deal on some soy silk and wool yarn (Karaoke) that my DD liked. She slept in the car while I was in the store. I also got some variegated blue/purple/grey Kroy sock yarn and a royal blue with silver metallic Berroco ribbon yarn (one skein to add to something else). The salesperson also gave me two sets of bamboo needles in larger sizes that will go to the middle school knitting class. I plan to knit a hat or two to donate to the Stitches from the Heart effort. There is an article in the March 2007 issue of Creative Knitting about this non-profit store and charity knitting organization, along with a pattern for a preemie hat.

If we had gone back on an earlier flight, that would have cost $100 extra, so the yarn purchase can be justified, especially since all of the profits at this store go to charity. The bag of yarn had to be stuffed into the overhead bins on the airplane, since it wouldn't fit into the suitcase. Remember, this was just an overnight trip. I managed to knit a few rows on my sock project on the return flight, where I sat in the middle seat between two ordinary sized people. On the flight down I was squashed in the middle between two football players who kept their arms folded resolutely.