Sort of shopping

[callmemadam]

Yesterday, en route to visiting relatives, we stopped in the charming Hampshire town of Alton for lunch and book hunting. It was very quiet: cybersofa opined that everyone had gone Christmas shopping in Guildford.
The Alton bookshop yielded a few of the better Chalet paperbacks but nothing else of interest, disappointingly. There are plenty of charity shops and I reckoned a paperback Molesworth omnibus was worth 50p, even though I have some original editions. You never know when you may want to carry a copy around with you.

I also browsed the yarn shop. Lots of Patons, a fair amount of Rowan and a small selection of Debbie Bliss plus a lot of pattern books. There were three assistants in there (three? in an empty shop? I don't understand how they can pay themselves), sitting at a table knitting, crocheting and chatting. I can't say they were rude or unhelpful but one can't help feeling like an intruder on a cosy, private scene, which is not how a potential customer should feel. I came away with a bag of half price Rowan from the bargain bin, wondering if I should have got more. They had several so-called 'project bags' containing mixed leftovers which were pretty but I couldn't think of anything to do with them.

We were lucky, considering the weather Friday and today, to have a perfect day for our trip, with the countryside beautifully brown and green. It felt more like autumn than winter, though.

Comments

[rosealare.livejournal.com]

Yes yes yes to the yarn shop problems. That's how I felt the first time I went to Putney. I really want shops like that to be warm and welcoming, and so many aren't. Glad you got some Rowan though.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Strange that the keener people get on knitting, the weirder the shops get. They had lots of magazines and I asked about the one you mentioned, Yarn Forward. They'd never heard of it and you can't get it at newsagents here or in Southampton. Where did you find it?

[rosealare.livejournal.com]

I bought it at the same time as I ordered some stuff from getknitted.com. I don't know if it's available in shops or not though. Have a look here www.yarnforwardmagazine.co.uk

If you can't find it, let me know, and I'll see if the London shop has any left.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I've ordered it and used Paypal. V. convenient!

[minniemoll.livejournal.com]

I sold a less than pristine paperback Molesworth omnibus on Amazon for about £25 a couple of weeks ago....

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

No! I don't want to sell it! Thinking of putting the spare Chalets on Amazon instead of eBay. Interesting that they were still not charging much for these yet all their D E Stevenson books were about £10.00 each, even ex-lib.

[land-girl.livejournal.com]

We were about five miles from each other and didn't even realize : )

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Shame!