Thursday, July 18 was the first official day of the Linda and Jan Yarn Crawl. There were 10 LYS we would visit in 2 days to complete the Crawl. We started with a pedicure, Powell’s BookStore and lunch. After all, knitters cannot live by yarn alone.
This is how participants kept track of the LYS they visited. Each LYS had its own button. When you visited the shop, you got a button. When your flowers (roses) were filled with the buttons of each of the 10 LYS, you received the official Rose City Yarn Crawl button which opened the magic door to the official yarn crawl patterns. The first shop we went to was Pearl Fiber.
Pearl Fiber’s slogan may be “It’s not stash it’s a souvenir” but mine is “It’s not a stash, it’s a collection.” And boy, did I ever add to the collection on the Linda and Jan Yarn Crawl. Pearl Fiber is a sweet little shop just down the street from Powell’s the largest bookstore in the continental United States. It’s a city block long and wide and 5 stories high. It was amazing but I do have to say I was a little distracted thinking about all the the yarn we were going to see. My goal for each LYS was to purchase something I’d never seen before. So my first purchase was for Ann.
Ann collects sheep and I thought this would be a perfect addition to her collection. And, I had never seen anything like this. . .
It’s a shawl closure which has a magnet on the back so you never have to stick a point into your knitted fabric. After we left the store, Linda gave me the Pearl Fiber pin and we were on our way to the next LYS.
A LYS with the slogan “Color outside the lines” was made for me. Is it any wonder I bought lots at For Yarn’s Sake!?!?!? I must admit that I was so excited to see all of the beautiful fiber that I didn’t take pictures of the first couple of shops. Oh, well! Excitement kinds of makes me loose my concentration.
This is The Moon & Other Satellites by Larissa Brown and is one of the official Rose City Yarn Crawl patterns. “With its stunning reservoirs, wooded paths and lofty views, Mt. Tabor has long been a source of peace, inspiration, mystery and raw beauty to Portlanders. This design is inspired by watery reflections of the moon, stars and other lights that pass over in the night. Its expanding rings are like ripples in otherwise still water.” The yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ Socks That Rock in Red Dawn, Copperline, Blood Moon and Shadow. The colors are exquisite and the pattern amazing. I did buy one more thing.
This is Knitted Wit Victory Sock in Valentine’s Day. As soon as I saw it, I knew what it would become.
It will be my next Optical Delusion. As we were leaving For Yarn’s Sake, I realized that my heart was racing and my blood pressure may have been elevated. AND THIS WAS JUST THE BEGINNING! Linda gave me my pin for For Yarn's Sake and we were on our way. Two LYS but many treasures. On to the next Fabulous Funhouse of Fiber.
The next stop on our Crawl was Knitting Bee. What a fun shop!
I did start taking pictures at Knitting Bee. Look at the front desk made out of huge Granny Squares. Isn’t it adorable!?!?! Don’t you just love seeing a child in a LYS talking knitting!?!?!
Lots of activity, lots of talk. It made me want to sign up to volunteer. I think you can tell a lot about a shop if you close your eyes and listen to the conversation. When I did this at Knitting Bee, I heard joy. I decided to take a deep breath and not buy yarn at Knitting Bee unless I absolutely fell in love with it. But don’t despair, I did buy somethings.
Aren’t these sweet? Made specially for Knitting Bee. I got my pin and we were on our way to shop four which is really over the gorge in Washington.
Blizzard Yarn and Fiber is in Vancouver, Washington and is about to become Linda’s local yarn shop. Linda and Denny are moving from Stevenson to the Vancouver area but that’s another story. We walked into Blizzard and II was overcome by the joyous noise. The shop was full of knitters each singing their own song of knitting. It was amazing.
Gorgeous, hand dyed yarn everywhere I looked. One of the things I noticed about most LYS we visited was the prevalence of small, local fiber companies with hand dyed yarn. The colors are amazing. I could honestly tell myself, “If I don’t buy this I will never be able to buy this exact color again.
I saw these 7 balls of yarn sitting together on the top shelf of a yarn rack. Well, you know me!!!! If it's Roy G Biv, get out of my way or I'll run you over. It is Rowan Felted Tweed in in Mineral, Zinnia, Rage,Tawny, Iris, Watery and Lotus Le. I had to have it. You might think that concluded my purchases at Blizzard Yarn & Fiber but you would be wrong.
In all of my days of loving and stalking Madelinetosh, I have never seen this colorway. This is Madelintosh Merino Light in Magic and it truly is magic. I tried not to buy it because I can buy Madelinetosh at Spun in Ann Arbor. but when I got to the register there it was sticking to my hand!
My last purchase of the day! Now really who could leave Mad Tosh Merino Light +Halo Glitter in Rocky Mountain High, Colorade behind!?!?! Obviously not me. Once again my photography doesn't do it justice. As I write this, I can feel the fatigue I felt at the end of the Linda and Jan Yarn Crawl Day 1. I felt Fiber Fatigue. Just think about it. Don't you think that should become a phrase in the Knitter's Lexicon? Haven't you felt Fiber Fatigue? We drove back to Stevenson basking in the vista that is the Columbia Gorge. When we reached Linda's home, we sat down to drink wine, talk and well, knit! Day 1 exceeded my expectations. On to Day 2!
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