East Bay LYS tour (and stash enhancement) with Nancy Ricci

My dear friend, the talented knitwear designer, Nancy Ricci recently moved to San Francisco from Portland and I offered to take her on a tour of East Bay Local Yarn Shops – LYS to the uninitiated. Nancy worked at Close Knit in Portland so she appreciates a good LYS. At each shop I also picked up some new sock yarn to add to my stash.

Our first stop was K2Tog on Solano Avenue in Albany. While there I picked up more Malabrigo sock in a color (Abril) I had been coveting. Destined for Spring Forward socks me thinks.

Not far from K2Tog is Stash, which recently moved to a new location on 884 Colusa, just off Solano Avenue in Berkeley.

At Stash I picked up Noro Kuryeon sock which I am eager to try in alternating stripes. My friend Linda was using NKS at a recent knitting group and she inspired me.

Last but not least, we visited Article Pract in Oakland, a shop with a fabulous selection of yarn and fibers. Honestly, I don’t know why I don’t go there more often.

It was at Article Pract that I found this little gem: Malabrigo sock in “Ravelry Red”. I’d been looking for a good red  – for some reason this color seems to be missing from my sock wardrobe – so I thought this was a real find.

I had wanted to take Nancy to Bakesale Betty just a few doors down from Article Pract but that place was a zoo! Instead we had lunch at the Cheeseboard, one of my favorite places for pizza and live jazz.

See that fabulous scarf that Nancy is wearing? I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow.