Yarn Haul - again!

Yesterday, friend Janice & I took a trip to Richmond. We were inspired by our plurk-buddy LBinVA who, several weeks ago, posted lovely photos of Maymont Park - so Janice & I decided to combine a trip to see the Japanese Gardens in person and also, visit a couple of LYS's! Here's our trip in photos and words.

The first stop was a shop called The Yarn Lounge which was recommended to us by plurky LB. We were hoping to perhaps meet LB and treat her to lunch, but it's kind of weird meeting online people in person AND many people think LB is imaginary anyway, so we didn't hold out much hope for that to happen. (I did Rava-mail my cell # to LB's imaginary Ravelry page, just in case she felt like meeting some sister plurkers in the flesh.) SO - The Yarn Lounge is located in the Carytown section of Richmond. It's a very hip little shop with yummy yarns and very nice people. Here's what I scored while there:

It's Fleece Artist sock yarn. I was drawn to the vibrant colors, partly because it was a somewhat dreary day. I'm thinking these will be Jaywalker socks or maybe Monkey socks. I'll look at the pattern when I finish my Nanners!
I was also tempted into purchasing this yummy Sea Silk:

This came with a scarf pattern....can't wait to get it on needles! While we were paying for our goodies, my cellphone rang. The caller identified herself as an "imaginary person" so, we're thinking it was LB...or someone who pretends to be LB. In an case, it was very nice to talk to a plurky ravelous friend!

We had lunch at a nearby Thai Diner II and then made our way over to Maymont Park where we enjoyed the beauty of the Japanese gardens -

We thought about starting out for home right after our garden tour, but decided we had enough energy left for one more yarn adventure, so we headed over to The Knitting Basket on Grove Avenue for some more yarn fondling fun! Here's my score from that location:

The black is On Your Toes sock yarn and the hand dyed blue is by Pagewood Farm....yummmmmy! This will be used for faux fair isle socks one day...no time soon, unfortunately!

We ended our day at the Starbucks on Grove Avenue - I needed a nonfat latte to help me drive home. We had so much fun, we're thinking of doing another road trip next week - maybe to Williamsburg to visit The Knitting Sisters! I think this has somehow become the Summer of Yarn for me! With any luck, there'll be more on the way!