Yarn Stores - Part 2.1

Okay - I finally took some - hopefully better - pictures. So now it's time for:

Yarn Stores Part 2.1!

The store my Mom likes best is called The Black Sheep. It's a few blocks from the beach in Encinidas California. It was really interesting to me because their selection of yarn was very different from what we have here in our LYS. First off - there was no wool yarn. Really nothing. And they didn't carry very much Rowan - just some Summer Tweed and a bit of Calmer. Instead they had a huge selection of what I call "funky yarns" (different from novelty yarns which usually - to me - means something really gross). The Black Sheep had bunches of the newest Gedifra yarns - at 25% off no less! I got some Fiocco Oro

to make this design from Gedifra 061. Couldn't find a better picture of the pattern - sorry!

Here's a closer look at the yarn:



It's shade 6602.

I also got the two other Gedifra pattern books, 062 (which didn't have anything in it I immediately wanted to make but I got it anyway, and the latest Moments which I have previously had a hard time finding. (Of course this local online store has it - now that I went to Cali to get it! Urgh!).

Gedifra makes quite a bit of "funky yarn". I generally tend to like most of their yarns and designs - although I think Gedifra patterns are very tied to their yarns to achieve their effects. Know what I mean? I think most of their creations would not look anywhere near as interesting if they were knit up in an alternate yarn. And that makes a problem if you can't find Gedifra yarns! There is just no substituting them and I have yet to find a yarn shop that carries an extensive selection of Gedifra. Quite a large number of their new yarns each year never make it to the USA at all. Totally frustrating - especially because with "funky yarns" you really need to see and touch before you buy. Some yarns that look pretty online look horrid in person - and something lackluster online can be quite beautiful in real life. It's not like wool where you can generally make a pretty accurate prediction of what you are going to get.

Also - I have tried to knit from their patterns in the past - when I was a super newbie knitter - and found the patterns rather difficult to follow. I'm hoping that I will discover that my trouble was all due to my inexperience and that I won't feel that way this time around!

What are your thoughts on Gedifra yarn? Know any good sources? How about their patterns - has anyone knit something successfully?

Come back next time for: Yarn Stores Part 2.2 - The Return to The Black Sheep.