Virtual Vacation
I got to visit West Virginia, courtesy of Heather C, for the Knitter’s Virtual Vacation Swap!
The first thing I saw when I opened the box was this cute pink mesh tote. 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.
Today’s post is brought to you by the letters E, L, and V
Las Vegas was… exhilarating! Mom usually travels to Las Vegas once a year for a trade show, and I always ask if I can tag along. I know that I probably never would get a chance to visit the so-called Sin City otherwise.
It was so much fun to see all the places shown on TV and movies, like Caesar’s Palace, MGM Grand, or the Bellagio. Everywhere we went, there were slot machines and card tables. I can certainly understand the allure of winning money. I have the worst luck when it comes to card games, so I only dabbled a bit at the penny slots. I’m not a big fan of multi-line slots but Wheel of Fortune was fun to play. Also, the smoke wasn’t as bad as I expected, because most of the time, it was only the casino area open to smokers.
Las Vegas was… exotic! At the trade show, Andrew Zimmern, local (as in MN, not NV) chef and TV/radio personality (he is host of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods), spoke a couple of times. Afterwards, he had “bug candy” to pass out and share. (I did not eat any, but I saw the boxes. The “candy” included Mexican-spiced larvae and crickets spiced with a flavor I’ve since forgotten.) This is my Mom with Andrew.
The Hilton has a cute Star Trek store and restaurant/casino. I never did see any Klingons or Ferengi, just people who were wearing the Deep Space 9 uniform. I didn’t take any pictures or try the Romulan Ale. (Guess I’m not a good Trekkie.)
Las Vegas was…. exhausting! Seriously, I had no idea how much walking was involved! The Strip with the newer casinos is closed to pedestrian traffic, so you either have to drive and brave the traffic, or cross the street via bridges. Mom says it this is a fairly recent development with the arrival of the mega-casinos and the increased influx of tourists and workers.
On the other hand, while my Mom was busy with seminars and meetings, I got a ton of knitting and reading done. It was nice to have a break from the computer (I didn’t try very hard to find free WiFi).
Las Vegas was… expensive! The shows and restaurants were all pricey. (At least the food we were served was both delicious and generously portioned.) It was mentioned somewhere that the average visitor spends $600 in the casinos during a visit! We went to the Fremont Street Experience (downtown Las Vegas, where the old casinos are) and were made dizzy by the light show every hour or so. The Forum Shops was a gorgeous place with its artificial sky and high-end stores that I rarely see. We missed out on the Fashion Show Mall and its outlet shops; by the third night, we were too tired to go out.
Las Vegas was… extreme! There was so much going on that it was impossible to even see everything. The convention center had three different events running concurrently, the MTV Awards had taken place a few days before we arrived, and a volleyball tournament was winding down. (The Las Vegas Convention center was a bit nicer in the food department than the one in Chicago; in addition to a pricey self-service cafeteria with tons of seating, there also was a Starbucks, Sbarro, and Nathan’s.) The temperature reached 106°F while we were there. At least it was a dry heat, as the saying goes.
Las Vegas had… evidence of fiber! There are three yarn shops,* and we had time before our flight home to stop in at two of them. I forgot to take a picture of Gail Knits, which was rather spacious. There was a couch in the front and plenty of tables. And the yarn? It filled the neatly arranged shelves along the sides and in the back section. I may have misunderstood, but they didn’t seem to have much cotton in stock (blends, mostly). As I was leaving, I noticed several carousels of Berroco pamphlets and Rebecca magazines near the door.
We almost didn’t go to the second store, Wooly Wonders because the website address no longer works and the phone seemed to be out of service. Luckily, the people at Gail’s told us it was still open. Wooly Wonders is tiny, but chock-full of yarn, and includes supplies and classes for weaving and spinning.
There wasn’t much sock yarn at either store (TOFUsties and Fixation at Gail’s Knits, and JaWoll and Wildfoote at Wooly Wonders). I guess it’s too hot most of the time to wear socks in Las Vegas? I got a gorgeous hot pink skein of TOFUsties and a rose pink skein of Hempathy to take home with me.
Here are more pictures. (They aren’t exactly in order… I thought I had uploaded them in a coherent order, but apparently not.)
Behind and Behinder
Ahoy, me hearties! I was out of town last week, and intended to have several posts scheduled and ready to go. Unfortunately, I ran out of time before departing and forgot to upload the needed pictures.
Below is a mini-catchup, and tomorrow, you’ll find out where I traveled!
BookMate Update
Some of you will recall I posted reviews of hands-free book holders earlier this year, including the BookMates I & II. Two weeks ago, I received an odd email through my contact form about the BookMate. At first I thought it might be spam, but I decided to check the website first. It turns out that the BookMates have been discontinued at BookMateStore.com.
They will continue to honor warranties, which is good. They plan to introduce a new line of book holders/covers/stands by November 1. I wonder what they’ll be like, and how they compare with the original versions and those from other manufacturers. I’ll try to post another update once the new product is available.
Organic Power
The heavy rains and related floods that hit SE MN and SW WI a few weeks ago have affected many of the region’s farms. Knittymama is holding a fundraiser contest in conjunction with Sow the Seeds‘ fundraiser to help these organic farmers. Please consider donating (details are in the contest post) to this worthy cause. You could win some pretty yarn! Deadline is September 29.
Flower Power
The newest installment of the Rockin’ Sock Club arrived a few weeks ago. I’m fairly sure all members have received their yarn, and this is old news, but in case you haven’t seen it yet:
I admit, when I first pulled the yarn out of the envelope, I only saw the blue and brown end, and thought, “Huh… This seems very similar to Rainforest Jasper?” But as you can see in the picture, more colors are included, including indigo and magenta, in the colorway. Groovy.
3 things
- It’s so sad, shocking, and awful about the bridge collapse. Yes, I’m OK. Fortunately no one in my family was anywhere close. I used to live on the West Bank, right in this area; I can’t imagine how stressful it must be over there now.
- In case you missed the news, MezzoDiva is fundraising for her participation in the 2007 Weekend to End Breast Cancer. If you contribute, you will get a copy of her sock pattern Campanula for the Cure! All the details and donation instructions are available in this post. She has also recently started a KAL blog for anyone planning to knit the pattern. It’s a very pretty pattern; I haven’t quite decided what yarn I’ll use. Possibly the recent Rockin’ Sock Club colorway, Firebird? Or maybe I’ll wait to see what arrives this month?
- Did you know Tuesday Morning currently sells yarn? And not just the eyelash/novelty variety. I had no idea. Mom happened to stop in there yesterday and bought a few skeins for me. She reports that the shelves were pretty messy and picked over (typical of the store), but that there were also some very nice yarns priced at 50% off retail.
Birthday Swag
(A couple readers have expressed interest in the Sockamania Club Knitalong, which, up until now, has been closed to new members. The club has opened to new participants with a possible cap at 100. If you signup before the 10th, you can participate in the current July pattern-along and qualify for the monthly drawing if you finish before the deadline. Email signup and KAL details are on the club’s blog sidebar.)
My birthday was simple but lovely: quesadillas on the grill at my parents’ house, then gifts.
Being from a bookish family, I wasn’t surprised to receive some books,
Goblet of Fire
Owl Post made a delivery last week! I eagerly opened up the box from my Hogwarts Sock Swap pal Tanya to find several packages wrapped in purple and green, natch. These colors have nothing to do with Hogwarts, but happen to be one of my favorite color combinations. Which to open first??
