First, I will get you caught up on my European yarn adventures...My goal in our trip to London and Paris was to find a yarn shop in each place that stocked unique yarns, things that I could not buy here in the U.S. (or at least not very easily).
In London I visited Prick Your Finger. All of their yarns are produced in the UK by small farmer producers. Some of the yarn had very handmade looking labels and the shop itself had its own line of handspun. I spent a good deal of time there musing over the yarn, looking at the Selvedge magazines, and admiring the art in the shop. They had alot of knitted and crocheted sculpture on display (including the bathroom sink and toilet!) At the end of the day, I took home some Jamieson's Shetland for a shawl.
In Paris, La Droguerie provided my take home souvenir in the form of 50 g. of teal alpaca (my photo color is a bit off here.). In order to procure your yarn at La Droguerie, you select the yarn from a peg in the store. From there, a kind lady (who knew I didn't speak an ounce of French) asks how much yarn you would like, takes it to the back, measures it off and brings it back packaged to the lady at the register. It waits there for you until you are done shopping. Not only does La Droguerie have beautiful yarns and patterns (which I may have purchased if I could read a pattern in French), it also has gorgeous ribbons, fabrics, buttons, beads and trimmings. I was inspired by the beauty of the shop and think that I should take some time to replicate that beauty at home.
