I’m currently in Santa Cruz, CA for a conference. Although I live less than an hour away from Santa Cruz, I’ve only been here once, and I really only visited the beach on that occasion. I had some time before the conference started to visit the downtown area, so obviously I had to stop in at the local yarn store: The Yarn Shop Santa Cruz. It was such a great yarn shop! The women working there were nice and helpful, but not overbearing.

I like to buy yarn I can use for socks when I visit yarn stores (to minimize having random skeins of yarn that I have no idea what to do with). I also like to buy yarn from local farms/dyers, so I was very excited to be able to get some really exciting, locally dyed sock yarn! The Dye Project is a hand-dyer based in Santa Cruz, and you can get their yarns at The Yarn Shop, Starlight Knitting Society in Portland, and online.

I got a skein of the Montara Corriedale Sock (80% / 20% corriedale / nylon) in the Blue Tartan Colorway.

I was also very taken by the colorful yarn of Knitted Wit, which is a Portland based hand-dyed yarn company. I haven’t heard of them before, but I was really excited to learn about their HerStory color series, which draws inspiration from women who have changed the world.

I got a skein of Radioactive Rainbow (on the 80% / 20% merino / nylon Victory Sock base), which is inspired by Marie Curie. You can get Knitted Wit yarn on Etsy. I also got a few solid mini skeins (“smarties”) for heels and toes. They’re also 80% / 20% merino / nylon, and the colorways (left to right) are Mighty Oak, Wild Orchid, Ex’s Sweater, and Key Lime.

I fell prey to the many adorable notions near check out, so I also came away with 2 enamel pins and a pack of silvery swallow stitch markers. I probably shouldn’t have bought so many things, because I’m going to Stitches West literally NEXT WEEK but, hey, what can you do.