Implosion
(I think we will reach 2,000 comments this week!? Remember that the lucky poster of the 2,000th comment will win a gift certificate, or if you missed the details, see the bottom of this post.)
I have been quite delinquent on showing some of the nice yarns added to my stash during the past few months. Here’s a catch-up! more »
Treasure Hunting
This past weekend was the Second Annual “Tools of the Trade Twin Cities LYS Shop Hop.” Because I didn’t go last year, I decided to go on Saturday and asked Mom to go with me.
What I really liked about the Hop is that I got to visit five new-to-me stores. The metro area is so big and sprawling, it’s a bit of a drive to go to most places. We started at Zandy’s Yarn in Burnsville, went up to Needlework Unlimited in Minneapolis/Edina, west to Coldwater Collaborative in Excelsior, then north again to Amazing Threads (but we got a bit lost trying to find this shop), east to Sheepy Yarn Shoppe, and south to The Yarnery in St. Paul, and finally 3 Kittens Needle Arts in Mendota Heights. We left the house at about 9:30 AM and got home just after 4 PM! (Christy of Purling Away made a Google map that shows the shop locations.) Of these 7 stores, I’ve visited only The Yarnery and 3 Kittens previously.
I think Needlework Unlimited was my favorite; there was a TON of patterns, and we spent about 20 minutes there browsing. Amazing Threads was smaller than I expected. Coldwater Collaborative was crowded (bad timing on our part). But overall, all the stores were very nice with a varied selection. (The most common overlap I noticed were the new Marie Mayhew felted kits. The Yarnery recently opened their online shop and have them available for anyone interested who doesn’t live in the area. NAYY; I think they’re pretty cute!)
To prepare for the Hop, I researched each store’s website to see if I could find certain brands or items that interested me and might generally not be found at the other shops. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money or buy a ton of yarn, so I made a shopping list. I managed to stick to it pretty well; I found about half the items on my list, plus a few extra patterns. I set myself a budget and didn’t go over, so in all it was a successful excursion.
Grand Shop Hop
Quick note: I am testing a new photo popup plugin in this post. Go on, try it out by clicking any of the pictures below. Please let me know how it works and how you like it. Thank you!Update: To close the pop-up if the instructions don’t work or show up for you, click on the pop-up/larger photo itself and it should close. Update #2: This plugin has been deactivated, thanks!
A couple weekends ago was the “Handcrafts on Grand Shop Hop.” The stores included The Yarnery, The Bead Monkey, and Treadle Yard Goods. Mom and I decided to go, because we hadn’t been to two of the participating stores yet. I’m glad we did, even if it was cold and rainy!
