Getting Cozy

This snowy weather really gets my knitting fires burning.  All I want to do these days is knit, knit, knit, eat a little dark chocolate, knit, play in the snow, drink some hot tea, and knit some more.   Of course, real life doesn't cooperate with my knitting plans!

Mostly I've been knitting my beige heather wool cardigan and my grey mohair cardi shrug.  Both have had their ups and downs and will likely be some time before completion, but I'm happy overall with the progress made this week.   

In order to to make progress on the cardigan, I ripped out and restarted it from the beginning - twice.  

It was OK, but not a love thing.  So I went back to the stitch pattern and played around with it, adding some stitches and changing the proportions slightly.  Then I mixed in more tweaks to the top-down shaping, and I like it much better.  

The mohair shrug is a third version of the two I made last year, this time in a different stitch pattern and yarn.  

I still have several more versions I want to make, at least one in sock or fingering weight yarn.

While on my Michigan trip I found another button option for my grey cardigan.  I've loved the suggestions left on Ravelry and the comments to previous posts so far, thank you especially Doreen and Diana!  This bone one is really too small, but it works temporarily at least.

What with the trip last week, the crazy weather and power outage, and various commitments and appointments, I've not been able to correspond much, but to all my blogging friends and Ravelry pals I owe messages to, that is on my schedule for this week.

I hope to have more photos of my current WIPs soon and planned for the next post is a rundown of my trip north to Michigan.

One exciting thing at my post office box when I returned last week was a surprise package from the lovely Anne-Sara, proprietor of the equally lovely Wisp yarn shop in Granville (that I reviewed in a December 22nd post).  

Wisp is a wonderfully inspiring shop full of beautiful yarns, British home items, and books among other treasures.  

The books are cool, vintage-style cloth-bound editions like this one, with adorable little ribbon bookmarks.  Anne-Sara was so sweet to send me this copy by one of my favorite authors, Jane Austen - thank you so much Anne-Sara!!  

Wisp is offering a special discount of 20% off the price of all red and pink yarn until Valentine's Day.  Maybe a little hint to your sweetie, that a yarn trip to Wisp might be just the thing to put a sparkle in your eye, is in order? 

 

Tonight I leave you with a favorite poem of mine. 

Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening  

by Robert Frost

 Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Just a Wisp of a Thing

My friend Cheryl left town today to visit her family in another state, so last weekend we spent a fun afternoon together having tea, exchanging Christmas gifts and checking out a new yarn shop, Wisp.  

We drove to Granville, a quaint town nestled in gentle hills about a 45 minute drive east of Columbus.  Granville is the the home of Denison University, The Buxton Inn and the Granville Inn, all establishments of some age and esteem.

Wisp is located on the north side of East Broadway, next door to a tea shop and two doors down from Goumas Confections chocolate shop.  This yarn shop is so new (just 8 weeks old) that owner Anne-Sara Odor has not had time to put up a website. 

New or not, there was a lot of traffic in and out during the short time we were there and I can certainly see why.   This little shop was a delightful, bright space filled with a colorful stock of yarn from Rowan (first photo above shows a clever display of luscious Kidsilk Haze), Blue Sky Alpacas, Spud and Chloe, Fibre Company (Road to China shown below), Malabrigo and naturally-dyed yarns by Shilasdair, imported from the Isle of Skye.
 

I love this Shilasdair aran weight, cochineal and logwood-dyed British merino lambswool in colorway Briar rose.

Yarn is displayed hanging from wires, or in cubbyholes, baskets, and glass jars.

 

Although the selection of books, needles and other notions is small, there are many nice options available.  

Originally from England, proprietor Anne-Sara (too shy to be photographed) worked for a popular clothing manufacturer in Columbus for several years before taking the entrepreneurial leap.  She insists she is a newer hand knitter, but these adorable baby hats and jacket show a nice touch with the needles.

The shop also offers a lovely selection of home items imported from Britain, and books by a favorite author of mine, Jane Austen.

I also loved that the shop had a swatch of every yarn available, an important way to let customers sample the knitted texture, drape and hand of the yarn.   

 
It might be tiny, but if you are in Central Ohio, this little gem is definitely worth the trip.