Stick and Stone is the closest spinning store to where I live in Hollywood. I bought my wheel there (Ashford Traveller) and have been hanging out on weekends to get better. The owner is also a chemist and does amazing things with naturally dyed fiber. She drum cards her fibers into these amazing batts. She also sells the dyes, dye assists and mordants online: http://www.stick-and-stone.com

The website doesn't show up near the top of any search for spinning shops in the Los Angeles area because they have been open for only a year, but it's on Sepulveda in Van Nuys.

Let me preface by saying that this is an opinion based on my experience learning to spin without a class/teacher.

I was just thinking how helpful it was to master the spindle before buying a spinning wheel. I've had a top whorl spindle for three months, read everything on-line I could regarding how to spin on a drop spindle. I checked out every book from the library. I practiced (a lot) predrafting and spindling until I could make the the finished product resemble the yarn in my head..

This weekend I finally bought a spinning wheel and after I got the hang of treadling and setting the tension appropriately, I was so excited that I was able to make the spinning wheel work and produce yarns that I would want to knit with right away. I still have a lot of work to do to get consistency but the first yarns off the spinning wheel are 98% better than the first yarns I spun off the spindle.

So, to get to the point, I was thinking how grateful I am that I learned the mechanics of spinning on the $15 spindle before dropping $480 on a wheel.   The End.

I saw this at coolhunting.com and had to point it out here for craftsters.

http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2005/12/ruth_marshall.php#more

Saturday I hung out at Vanessa's Needlepoint and Knitting shop in Downtown San Mateo, CA for a few hours and knit. There are a few tables in the middle of the store where knitters and needlepointers crafted and chatted. There were some people learning to crochet. A woman showed off a fabulous felted purse she had made.

I've been in there before, their selection is really, really good. The staff is really friendly and the owner greets customers herself. The staff doesn't "glom" onto customers but they answer every question.

The place looked so inviting that I whipped out my purse project (two socks on circulars) and sat down. The other guests were very friendly and interested in what I was doing. I'd definitely go back to hang out and feel comfortable asking for help on a current project.

www.vanessasneedlep oint.com

I finished the Hot Lava Cardigan pattern provided very generously by Blue Alvarez  (her Craftster post ) in the wee hours of Saturday morning, (I work graveyard shift and it was a slow night), ran to the bathroom to try it on and realized that there was too much material bunched up behind my neck and the shawl collar would never lay flat. I didn't have enough yarn for the larger size and had picked this pattern after much consideration. Feeling decidedly anti-frog, I took scissors to it and after a little work, wore it to a dinner party later that day:







Knit on size 10 1/2 dp and straight needles. Followed the pattern for size medium (very optimistic about my gym plans and the forgiving quality of really lofty wool) from a very soft cream recycled wool that I Rit-dyed brown. The bottom edge of the sweater (originally intended to be the bust increases) looks like it's really uneven only because it's not blocked and frills a little. I'm 5'9 and a size 14.

What I did: If you are familiar with the pattern, I cut the back of the bolero section down to the original shrug section, unraveled the bolero section about 3 inches on either side of the cut (totally defeating the purpose of knitting in the round), tied off and wove in approximately 86 loose ends, picked up stitches around the cut edges and exposed the shrug part and did six rows of the 2x2 seed stitch called for in the pattern. (Can you tell that I'm very proud of my largest FO to date?)

[Uncommon Threads]

I'm in Mountain View, CA. Just thought I'd share the places where I feed the fiber beast in me:

Uncommon Threads: http://www.uncommonthreadsyarn.com/
It's in downtown Los Altos, accessible by 101 or 280. There is a silk fabric store right across the street. I get my Addi Turbo circular needles here for $12.50 a set. The layout of the store is good. Everything is organized and accessible. Nice place to shop.

I have black listed this store. I've been studiously ignored before by the elderly ladies that man the shop but Friday was the last straw. I went into the store with a friend, the day before my birthday. Was not greeted, no big deal, I can help myself. My friend (an enthusiastic non-knitter) and I were chatting and I was building up quiet an armfull of yarn. I got in line to ask a question and was repeatedly ignored. People behind me were being greeted and helped. The store wasn't even busy, they had just opened. When the woman walked away from the counter to help someone else I put everything back and left the store angry. My friend was angry, too. I've gotten this treatment in this store before. I'm 29 and a serious knitter but I don't look like either. Never going back to this store. never ever.

Creative Hands:
On El Camino in San Carlos. Accessible by 101. The staff there are cool, just as excitable about a new yarn or pattern as the shoppers. They sometimes have great deals in the discount section. Some good sock yarns. Doesn't look like much from the outside but it's a definite must see.

Eddie's Quilting Bee: http://www.quiltingbee.com/
On Castro Street in Mountain View. They just started to carry knitting supplies. Very, very limited. I mention this place because Castro Street is a good place to have dinner and walk around and if you start jonesing for a fix it's possible to pop into Eddie's Quilting Bee and pick up something suitable for a neat scarf.

[Moisture in the air and sweat from hands makes the wood swell, shrink and eventually split, if not at the point of the needle then in little splinters in the grain along the shaft.]

Moisture in the air and sweat from hands makes the wood swell, shrink and eventually split, if not at the point of the needle then in little splinters in the grain along the shaft.

This is why people who seal their needles with varnish, lots of acrylic paint or copious amounts of rubbing with wax paper, candle wax or bees wax have no problem.

(I tried using a liquid wax called Butcher's Bowling Alley Wax but it was not enough to seal the wood and my beautiful double pointed needles are splitting at the points. I'm going to pick up some bees wax from the beading eisle of my local craft store and see if I can rescue them.)