OODLES OF YARN IN CHARMING BERKELEY SPRINGS,WV

George Washington slept in  Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, more than once. So did Lord Fairfax.They were not the only ones to seek the reportedly curative powers of the area's mineral springs. Adventurers, gamblers, and card sharps and  found their way to the little town's eateries and saloons. That is all in the past. Today, Berkeley Springs is a grande dame with few enticements  for high rollers in search of a party town.  The good thing. What this grande dame of West Virginian towns  lost in rakishness throughout the years, it gained in sedate charm. Folks from all over the country still come to stay at its spa. Some give in to  town's  Victorian charm and end up staying for good.  

Ellen Kardell's Pocket Meadow Farm yarn shop, on 19 N. Washington Street, contributes to Berkeley Spring's charm. Kardell is a transplanted Washingtonian who traded the city life for the quieter pace of a tiny farm in Morgan County,  West Virginia where she balances the roles of entrepreneur with that of a farmer whose chickens and sheep are oblivious to the fluctuations of the fiber market.

Her  Washington Street shop--she has a shop at her farm-- is a knitter's paradise. Its inventory includes  luxury, classic and natural  European, South American and Asian fiber as well as farmspun yarns, fibers and rovings produced in  West Virginia. Check out her  site, www.pockemeadowfarm.net for a detailed list of  her products.  If you travel to charming Berkeley Springs, be sure to drop in. I challenge you not to fall in love with the $750 hand-woven red coat pictured above. If your budget does not stretch all that far, you can score a bar of homemade soap, Kardell's hand dyed yarn or a skein of rainbow-colored Mini Mochi yarn with enough yardage for a scarf. The latter  is a steal a $8.50. Sign up for a knitting class, join the Pocket Farm knitting group and tell your friends that there's much more to Berkeley Springs than mineral water.

FRUGAL KNITTING

This morning, the mail brought me four skeins of Handpainted Yarn. My favorite is Peridoto, pictured above between Lace Wing Elfette and Laines du Nord Kiddy Print 582 mohair. As mentioned previously in this space, Handpainted Yarns, from http://www.handpaintedyarns.com/ is a more reasonably priced Uruguayan merino product that stacks up nicely against the pricier Malabrigo and Manos del Uruguay. Two-ply machine washable fingering Lace Wing seems like a splurge for the frugal knitter, but its colors are exquisite and http://www.littleknits.com/ sells 546 yards for U$ 18. I plan to mix the merino with mohair to make knucks, shawl and scarves which I will pass on to good friends.

STREETWALKING FOR CHARITY

The princess and her friends are street walkers. Ye of evil mind may disabuse yourself of the notion that they are doing anything naughty. They are fitness walkers who choose the streets of our village over the treadmill, the Tow Path and local parks. Me, I have a "the world is too much with us" attitude that keeps me off the streets. I prefer quieter places where evidence of human presence is kept to a minimum. The princess is gregarious, ebullient and full of fun. She loves the hurly-burly of main street and its denizens--the latte sipping, Italian lingerie buying Dual Income No Kids, the well-heeled empty nesters, the local shakers and movers. She has a great imagination and she can spin a story from the most tenuous details. For example, she sees a hibachi, unopened bags of Easter grass, clean, brand new skeins of yarn and she constructs domestic drama--a girlfriend tossed out of the house, a jilted boyfriend too wounded to face the remains of shared happiness long gone. I get the yarn from the streets because the princess knows I can use it to knit and crochet caps for oncology patients and preemies. I also get a lesson on the many advantages of streetwalking--close yourself in and you gain in quiet; join the streewalkers and all manner of goods and stories fall at your feet.

KAUNI NEWS FLASH

After searching high and low for a source for the Estonian Kauni Eferktgarn EQ yarn I have finally located it at http://www.knitpurl.com/ in Oregon. They have a superb selection of Colinette, Malabrigo, Manos del Uruguay and Habu Textiles silk and stainless steel in several colors. I intend to use the Kauni for a shawl and the Habu for a scarf.