You might recall I visited a yarn shop last week that I discovered in Gainesville.  The Yarn Works is a knitters paradise.  Yarns of every color and designer.  I met the owner, Barbara and her assistant, Marsha.  Two very talented and friendly women.  I was impressed that every Monday afternoon women gather at the shop to do charity knitting.  The various items are then donated to local groups and others.

The shop also has a knitters guild that meets one Wednesday afternoon a month.  They sit and knit while they socialize and help each other with knitting projects.  I'm planning to return this Wednesday because I need a bit of help with a project I had started.

I browsed around the shop and was captivated by all the different yarns and assessories.  Two or three different rooms hold skeins of rainbow colors in everything from alpaca to cashmere. 

And if you're also a knitter, then you know it's about impossible to leave a yarn shop empty-handed.  And of course, I didn't.  I purchased some needles and a skein of alpaca yarn in beige to make some socks.  This silky ribbon-like yarn below really caught my eye and as you can see, I've already started to make a fashion scarf with it. 

You might remember that funky bobble hat I made for my granddaughter a couple months ago.  Well, I had another skein of yarn to make a second one and have it completed.  The bobbles don't show up quite as well on this darker yarn, but trust me.....they're there and they're not my favorite thing to do.  Glad I learned how to make them, but.......

What has me bewildered is why I didn't pick up knitting needles again until about four years ago.  I let forty years go by without the least desire to touch them.  And now......not a day goes by that I don't knit for at least an hour.  I love the relaxation of it (except maybe when making bobbles) I love the colors of yarn and the feel of it in my hand.  I even resonate with the soft feel of birch needles.  I want to make every pattern I see and just glancing through a knitting magazine makes my hands itch to have the softness of an alpaca wrapped around my fingers.  I guess there's a time for everything and now is my time to enjoy a love for knitting. 

I did go with the docents on Friday for lunch and to tour Haile Homestead but my stamp class got canceled at the Arts Center for yesterday. 

Join me here next time and I'll share with you the Ivy House of Alachua and Haile Homestead along with some photos.