Road Trip

I went to bed late last night and then couldn't get out of bed this morning to save my life. I finally got up around 9:00 and sat and knitted for a while; then my son came home with his friend Austin. I was still in my jammies, and we chatted a while. By the time the kids left it was nearly noontime, and I was still in my jammies. Discouraged that half the day was already gone, I decided a road trip was in order.

DonnaB, my knitting teacher, mentioned a knitting shop down in Bath, and I wanted to see it. Coincidentally there is also a quilt shop right down the street. So I programmed up the GPS, and off I went. The quilt shop turned out to be closed, drat!


The name of the yarn shop is Halcyon Yarns, and I was just dazzled by the size of the shop and how much yarn they had. There were floor to ceiling racks of yarns and perle cottons, plus an abundance of supplies for weavers and spinners as well. In the notions aisle, I found beautiful wooden knitting needles, and a pair of tiny circular knitting needles not much bigger than a toothpick. There were tons of books, patterns, and videos for knitting, crochet, bobbin lace, and tatting. Tatting! I haven't seen that anywhere for years. For those of you in the 50 and older group, remember those metal looms we had when we were kids, with the polyester loops in different colors that we used to weave potholders? I loved those things and hadn't seen one since I was a kid, but they had those too, along with some loose bags of the loops. What a great place!

I bought a couple cones of #3 perle cotton and some satin bamboo for a knitted beaded bag we're starting this week in class. DonnaB has a mitten class planned for us this fall, but I've been thinking about giving it a try sooner than that, so I bought patterns for mittens. I asked Donna if we could try felting--I think felted mittens would be much warmer. My younger son got a pair of mittens as a gift this winter and complained that the wind went right through them.

I also bought a skein of green variegated yarn for a new beanie for my son. I forgot to post a picture of the beanie I finished for him a couple weeks ago. I was thrilled how well it turned out, and it actually fits! Now my other son and my husband would like to have one. Tomorrow I'll put up some photos of the watch cap and a little baby sweater I just finished.