A purse full of beer, a bag full of yarn....and some penguins

"Finally, the blog name makes some sense." Too bad I do not have a picture of the copious amounts of beer I lugged around on Tuesday to prove it. Imagination time!

There are some really great yarn stores in London, and lately I have had some (hopefully) really great pattern ideas, so Tuesday afternoon Justine and I set out on an Official Yarn Crawl of London, sponsored by a day pass on the Tube, and my wailing wallet.

First? Liberty's of London, AKA Consumerist Heaven. For those of you who have never heard of Liberty's (I hadn't until I went there!), they stock about 99% Rowan. All Rowan. Back issues of magazines, piles of Kidsilk Haze, and other stock that reduces any knitter to a pile of lustful mush. The rest of the store is the same, just not with yarn.

I proudly report I bought nothing. This time anyways. I've really been trying to cut back on what I buy. I have too many things, too much yarn (even since I moved to London), and the feeling of guilt at having to lug all this stuff around. Since I've been moving pretty much every 3 months, I'd like to have less stuff, not more.

It's hard to stick to that resolution when yarn shopping, though. Stopping a few blocks away at All The Fun of the Fair, I saw they had some yarn on sale. 3 quid for 4 oz. of beautiful, variegated laceweight wool. I bought both balls. And you know what? No guilt here. I can't wait to knit this up, although I still have no idea what to make. I'm thinking a shawl of some sort, maybe something with trinity stitch? If you have any ideas, by all means, help a girl out!

Justine bought some lovely Noro, also on sale. It's hard to resist a sale wall of beautiful yarn. The store itself is adorable, although I rarely buy things from them. A lot of what they sell are little knit toys, arigurumi cacti and cupcakes, and little doodads. I don't buy, but I do drool quite a bit. It's a lovely little place, and if you happen to be around Oxford Circus, I definitely suggest stopping by.

Third stop, also right by Oxford Circus was John Lewis. I'd never been there, but I loved it. They have a huge craft section. (why don't we sell yarn at department stores in the US? I'd like to write letters to Macy's, demanding they follow the example of John Lewis and Liberty's.) We picked up some yarn for a project in the works. I was really pleased to find some mid-range yarn; I was able to pick up about 5 balls of a wool/acrylic blend for about 12 quid. Before John Lewis, I'd only seen Rowan Vs. Acrylic, something that gets quite old.

By the end of the day, Justine and I both had bags full of yarn. And, after another quick stop (at Lidl) I had a purse full of beer. Lidl is a discount supermarket, so I was able to get 8 pints for much cheaper than I've ever seen. They also charge you for bags though, and I didn't want to spend 3 p on a carrier bag that would just end up in the recycling. And that is how, at the end of a long day, I ended up with a purse full of Carlsberg beer, and a bag full of yarn.

Oh, and a penguin, who rode the tube with us. (more on him later!)