A Roadtrip to Alexandria and DC

Stella and I had planned to work on my garden on Sunday. But we were both feeling a little restless.

So we traded a day in the garden for a day on the road!

We started out our day at Knit Happens. It's in a great location on a busy street in Old Town Alexandria. It's situated in 2 rooms -- the main room where most of the yarn is, and a smaller room toward the back where the needles and patterns and some more hanked yarn is artfully hanging on the walls. Toward the front are 4 cushy seats for you to kick back and relax in, and there's also a good-sized table for groups to gather and classes to be held.

Most of you know in blogland know Knit Happens already. They carry many of the popular brands and I'm sure it has been a great addition to the area's LYS.

Next up was Springwater Fiber Workshop. While they have a great selection of yarns, what makes this store so special is the fiber they spin and dye themselves. The colors are vibrant and clear, with color changes that are sharp and unmuddied. I was tempted to bring home a few hanks of their silk merino in greens and blues but I thought I'd hold out for MDSW.

They also have a full supply of dyes, rovings, and coned yarns. We spent a lot of time at the wall of hand-dyed yarn, fondling and imagining what we could make with all the pretty choices.

After Springwater we made our way across the river to the Capitol Hill location of Stitch DC. This was by far my favorite store of the day! The ambiance was great -- light hardwood floors, white cubbies for the yarn, and windows EVERYWHERE. No need to bring yarn up to the front of the store to see their true colors. It was split into a front half and a back half, each of which had seating for 4-6 people. They had some yarns I hadn't seen in person before -- for example, a bamboo in a variety of rich, saturated solids (maybe it was by Plymouth? not sure). They had plenty of the requisite Rowan, Debbie Bliss and Jaeger. Some of the notable yarns that I recall -- a great selection of Artyarns Supermerino, a full cabinet of Araucania Nature Wool at 20% off, some fingering weight cashmere from Jaeger, and a laceweight mohair from Karabella.

The owner was pleasant and knowlegeable and let us know she runs special sales and announces them via email. And I'm talking a serious sale. The last one she held was a "one hour sale" the day of Daylight Savings Time where the first hour she was open your entire purchase was 25% off!

One of the best features of the store wasn't even available yesterday -- a table in their courtyard where you can sit and knit outside!

I left the store wishing it was my own LYS. I could see myself stopping by on a Saturday morning knitting by the big windows in one of their comfy chairs. DC residents really struck gold when this owner opened a second location in Georgetown. We spent so much time in the Capitol Hill store that there wasn't enough time to go over to Georgetown.

*sigh* guess we'll just have to go back!