Yarns to Go

Vacation's over and we're all back in DC, but I did bring lots of new memories (and fiber) home with me. I've been sorting through the photos (note to self: when it comes to cameras, the more, the crazier), and I thought I'd try posting by theme, instead of by day. So today I'm writing about the yarn shopping part, which happily was a pretty big part of the whole trip!

It started with the pre-SeaSocks '08 yarn crawl, featuring 3 Seattle LYSs. The first stop was Tricoter. I forgot to take a picture of the outside, but I think the inside more than makes up for it.
Stunning, huh? I only got a couple of things there, both of which I managed to use up during the trip. Yup, I was pretty pleased with myself about that too.

Next up was Hilltop Yarns
There was quite a bit of variety at this shop - Berroco to Handmaiden to Rowan to some Red Heart even. I found a nice little green silk project bag and some cute kids patterns too. There's also a sewing store across the street with an impressive button collection.

At the end of the day - right before going to the pier to board the ship hooray! - we went to So Much Yarn
where I finally found some Dream in Color Smooshy. I've had trouble finding this yarn at home, but now I've got a nice skein of purple in the ole yarn stash.

The first Alaska port, Ketchikan, had not one but two yarn shops. Actually the second shop is an extension of the first, The Bead Shoppe, but anyhoo, both are great, with lots of Alaska dyed and/or spun fiber. This shop was definitely my downfall. I got some handdyed sock yarn and roving, and cute little batt of quiviut:
Superduper soft, and absolutely the most expensive fibery thing I bought the whole trip.

There was also a yarn store in Juneau, though it took some finding. I wandered around the touristy part by the pier for a while before calling directory assistance (A word about cell phone service during the cruise, I had a signal, albeit a roaming one, about 85% of the time, even on days as sea). So I was talking to the Sprint operator and I asked for Skeins in Juneau and I spelled it out just in case. The operator says, "I know, like thread. My wife does cross stitch." Oh we fiber people are everywhere! Skeins, it turned out, was tucked away on the second floor of what looked like an old municipal building.
Yup, there is was. I found some cute buttons here, and they had a nice bargain bin too.

The last stop was the Beehive Wool Shop in Victoria, BC.
Lots of temptations in here. There was more Handmaiden and Fleece Artitst, plus other Canadian yarns too (the staff had stuck little maple leaf flags into the sections with "homegrown" yarn - too funny!). I bought a couple of skeins of sock yarn and scooted out the door before I could buy more.

Phew! Well that was all the yarn shopping. Next time, a post about Alaska.

Arts and Crafts

Here I am playing catch-up blogging again. There's been so much stuff going on, though pretty much all of it good, so I shouldn't complain. So, what's been going on? Mom and I went to Philadelphia to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit. I couldn't take pictures in the museum, so I had to settle for a shot of the outside, which (of course, with my good timing) they were renovating. So here's a shot of a banner hiding the renovation:We went as part of a tour done through the Smithsonian. It was a really nice, well-organized tour, just like the Jamestown one we did last year.

The following weekend was Maryland Day, which was lots of fun. I saw daring chair acts:
Oooooo, very impressive, huh? This is a student group called, not surprisingly, Chairs. Dunno if they use specially reinforced chairs for these tricks. For each trick, they seemed very concerned that all the chair-to-chair contact points were lined up and square, so maybe it's all about having the chairs balanced just right.

The star attraction was a tentful of cupcakes
They had 50,000 cupcakes to arrange into the school seal and then given out to all the visitors.

Last week was the always-awesome Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I went with James and Carol Anne and had a nice long day surrounded by fiber and fatty fair food. I waited in a really long line to score some Socks that Rock, but I got to talk to some nice sock knitters, so the wait didn't seem too bad. Gotta remind myself: next year, go to the Fold first!

In the meantimes, I made some socks:


I'm taking these socks (along with other luggage too of course) to SeaSocks. Yup, my parents and I are going cruising! This trip has been in the works for months, but even so, it's hard to believe I'll be on the other side of the country tonight. Though it's pretty easy to believe that I'll be on a yarn crawl by tomorrow morning :)

Catching Up

I've been a very naughty blogger and not posted much lately. It's been surprisingly busy. My birthday was a couple of weeks ago and there was lots of celebrating. We had dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse, which was awesome! My cousin had treated us to dinner at the same chain in Chicago last year and it was quite the experience. I had a bit of everything and it was all very yummy. Don't we look happy?
Jinann is behind the camera and sent this photo along. Also on the gluttony front, I got birthday chocolates from Erica (sadly still blogless, despite my best efforts).
How about a virtual taste test? Clockwise from top left:
1. chocolate covered caramel with salt - sweet and salty, with really loose caramel.
2. white chocolate covered caramel or maybe butterscotch ganache - not sure what flavor this was exactly, but it was very rich and sweet.
3. chocolate covered ganache with praline - not too sweet praline base
4. white chocolate covered curry (maybe?) ganache - warm and a little spicy
5. chocolate ganache - very milky with just a bit of bitterness from the cocoa coating.
6. chocolate covered chocolate ganache with crystallized ginger - the ginger brings crunch and a bit of heat.

As for knitting, I finished the Half-Pomatomus socks (finally! it was a trial):
Then I started new socks:
This is Colinette Jitterbug in a basketweave pattern. It's a nice break from the crazy Pomatomus lace.

Next up, adventures in Philly.

Spring Festivities

It's spring! Hooray! We went to the Mall on Saturday, which was swarming with people wanting to see the cherry blossoms. Not that that was the only game in town though, cuz the Smithsonian also had their kite festival:There was a nice breeze going (though not strong enough to blow the blossoms away), and the kite flyers were out in force. There was even a turtle kite:
The Tidal Basin was packed with people as always (人山人海!) , though they had replaced parking spaces with shuttle service to cut down on the number of cars. Even with the congestion, it's always worth the trip, especially when the weather is fine.
I took the opportunity to have a little yarn photo shoot. That's right, people from other places, Washingtonians pose yarn on trees. Here's some merino for my ISE6 pal's scarf.

And the Pomatomus sock wanted a close up too.

I got tired of the lace pattern after the leg (knitting through the back loop all the time was annoying) and I decided on simple stocking stitch for the foot. The sock may only be half Pomatomus, but it's all tweed, all the time :D