Thursday, March 24, 2016

Bit of a rush this morning, due to not having written anything last night. I’ll leave you to find the links, and to let me know of egregious mistakes.

Comments

Pascoagirl, it’s good to meet another Sous Sous knitter. As the anniversary of my happy week in Athens looms, it’s interesting to remember that the idea had at least flickered across my mind, to knit it to take along as a useful between-season garment. Still, here we are, and it hadn’t occurred to me to sew the long side seams before knitting the sleeves (I being EZ’s quintessential Blind Follower). It makes good sense, and I’ll do it.

I didn’t accomplish much yesterday, but something. If I keep at it, it’ll get done.

Jennifer (day before), thank you very much indeed for your question about wool shops to visit in Edinburgh. My brief on-line enquiries have turned up one I’ve never heard of, Ginger Twist on the London Road. It’s reachable from Drummond Place by an only mildly energetic walk which I will schedule for next week, when all this Easter business is out of the way. If photographs on the website indeed show the owner, as the colour of her hair suggests, she would have been in primary school when we moved to Edinburgh so the shop may be fairly new.

I would recommend Kathy’s Knits, on Broughton Street, specialising in British yarns, and Be Inspired, over in Marchmont, for international delights. McAree Bros on Howe Street is larger than either, a very well-stocked main-stream LYS – the big name brands are there. John Lewis in the moribund St James Centre has a good yarn dep’t. Say hello to Lindsay, the Rowan girl, for me.

In the old days Jenner’s, the big department store on Princes Street, had an excellent yarn dep’t on the ground floor and I often used to pop in (and spend money) when I happened to be passing. Then they moved it up to the fourth floor and I’ve scarcely been there since, so can’t report on it.

Knitlass, is there anything else that ought to be mentioned?


Jennifer, can we meet when you’re here? I’d like to meet your daughter and get an insider’s slant on third-millennium Oberlin. Email me (address in sidebar) if this is possible.

4 comments:

  1. I like to look at the map when you mention things like Ginger Twist, and I see it is very close to the place I stayed last year on Royal Terrace. I am sorry I missed it!

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  2. Jean - I think you have all the 'proper' yarny places covered in your list, and summarised them pretty well.

    Ginger Twist had a booth at EYF last week and I squidged a few skeins but didn't buy anything (there were some tempting patterns). I have never been to the real shop - but it looks lovely from the photos.

    Jenners and John Lewis both offer Rowan yarns, but I think they also differ a bit in some of the other yarns they stock - but I haven't been to either for ages! Anyway McAree bros probably covers most if not all of that territory pretty well...

    Do just check opening days/times as not all of the smaller shops are open every day of the week (and having been caught out like that myself, I know how annoying it is!)

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  3. Anonymous6:51 PM

    You will love Ginger Twist. It is tiny but so interesting. I bought one precious skein of her hand dyed yarn and made a hitchhiker scarf which showed the yarn off well. We discovered last week a new, good Mediterranean restaurant on Broughton Place, just up the street on the same side as Kathy's Knits. Called Eden's kitchen, it has an oven, and offers maze, pasta, pizza, salads. The staff were really friendly. We were in Edinburgh just for the day to see the Scottish women artists exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art, and the Dutch paintings exhibition at the Queen's Gallery at Holyrood House. Next year I will be going to EWF for sure.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:32 PM

      That should be meze and EYF. Also, I am not really anonymous. My ravelry user name is CarolGilham

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