After living here for almost 2 years, I think I finally found my kind of LYS (local yarn store) in Orange County— huzzah!  Purl Soho has a totally awesome open-to-the-public warehouse in Tustin, CA (they also run really lovely blog called the Purl Bee). The warehouse is AMAZING! The hours are slim but worth getting over there. Shelves upon shelves of lovely soft things in a gorgeous array of color and pattern. Yarn, fabric, notions & two nice employees filling shipping orders. I loved that she asked me if I had ever been there before and then quickly explained the layout of the warehouse and left me to it! I was so nice to just sort of wander around in all the color for awhile. LOTS of colors, plenty of volume and my yarn snobbery was assuaged with their well-curated selection of fibers.

Here are my spoils of war (aka my budget):

Madeline Tosh Light

You* are for gifts. Sending the blue to my grandma who is just learning how to knit along with a cowl pattern drafted by me. I’ll figure out the cowl pattern by knitting with the silver to gift to a friend.

Manos Wool Classica

& you, my dear, are for me!

*Yes, I sometimes talk to my yarn. Whatevs.