Yarn Crawl
G'day all!
I am sure you are all familiar with the idea of a pub crawl, but they are not my scene. Nope, I am much happier with a yarn crawl, or a fibre crawl or even a fabric crawl.
And today I went on a yarn crawl. A bunch of the "local" shops put on what is called shop hop. One of the shops was very easy to get to - I just cross four roads in total and I am there. It is quicker for me to walk than drive and try to find parking. Also, who drives about 400 yards to get somewhere unless there really is no way to walk there? I wandered in there on Friday.
I popped by another local shop and scavenged some of their $1 patterns yesterday.
But today I took off for pastures new. I stopped in at my LYS for Wednesday night knitting (Bad Woman Yarn), then started the fun of navigating.
Whoever laid out the north east quadrant of Seattle was on crack at the time. I understand that roads cannot go over the edge of a cliff or escarpment, but really dudes, some of the road decisions are crazy. Apparently the end of Ravenna Boulevard, a road that goes on the diagonal through a grid, has been redesigned recently - hey, great! Let's have one through road that doesn't stop with three other roads trying to join in, and of course lazy local drivers know where they are going so who needs to indicate? In Oz, this corner would've been turned into a roundabout, but now that I am familiar with how Seattleites deal with roundabouts, it could be extra exciting. Someone wants to turn left? They just go the wrong way around the roundabout! Noone's coming that way. Someone is on your right as you drive around the roundabout? You stop for them and let them on! Cos you have to give way to the right, right?
Anyway, I eventually found my way to my next destination (and I may have bought some yarn, pics one day maybe!), then managed to get back to I5 and hoon up to Mill Creek (with a little deviation along the way when I misread a direction), then off to Snohomish (ever so proud of myself for remembering the directions, though I think maps had told me the wrong way to go but I still made it to my destination....).
It turns out that Snohomish was playing guest to pretty much every Harley type bike in Washington state (and I suspect maybe other states and provinces as well...). So alas, yarn shop, I did not see you because I got quite pissed off by not being able to find a car park and having roads blocked. Then my phone wouldn't tell me how to get out of the place again - the local 3G/E connections were swamped by 10,000 bikies all trying to figure out how to leave again I guess or looking for a good pub. Or maybe a yarn shop.
This meant that to get my eight stamps in my passport (not really my passport passport, just the shop hop passport) to go into the draw for some sort of prize, I had to drive all the way to Mt Vernon. Quite a pleasant little shop. I also liked the Skagit River meandering, no, make that hooning past - the river seems to not have much of a gradient as it wanders towards the sea but it really was in quite a hurry.
Then in Stanwood, a little town off the beaten track, I found a jewel. A complete jewel with a heap of Norwegian yarns. It was completely unexpected and very welcome. I may have bought yarn there too.
Finally, my last stamp in Everett, at a shop with an amazing range of yarns and a lot of blingy and upmarket stuff. I admit to being intrigued by mink yarn, though I fear the minks may meet a nasty end to supply the yarn. In contrast, I am happy to use possum yarn (usually blended with merino) because possums (imported and naturalised Australian brushtail possums, not American opossums) are pests in New Zealand, and the sooner they are wiped out in NZ the better.
Six yarn shops in 5.5 hours, over 140 miles or about 250km later... hmm, well it may not have been a wise use of the Earth's resources but it was sorta interesting. I got to see some places I wouldn't've otherwise seen, I got to cuss at stupid road design and at stupid me and at my stupid phone because it decided it didn't want to tell me how to get the hell out of the place I was in...I probably should've had some lunch along the way but Snohomish was full and by the time I reached Mt Vernon, it was too late for lunch, plus not many places were open. I also know which yarn shops I will return to.
anon!
I am sure you are all familiar with the idea of a pub crawl, but they are not my scene. Nope, I am much happier with a yarn crawl, or a fibre crawl or even a fabric crawl.
 |
| Skagit River, Mt Vernon |
I popped by another local shop and scavenged some of their $1 patterns yesterday.
But today I took off for pastures new. I stopped in at my LYS for Wednesday night knitting (Bad Woman Yarn), then started the fun of navigating.
Whoever laid out the north east quadrant of Seattle was on crack at the time. I understand that roads cannot go over the edge of a cliff or escarpment, but really dudes, some of the road decisions are crazy. Apparently the end of Ravenna Boulevard, a road that goes on the diagonal through a grid, has been redesigned recently - hey, great! Let's have one through road that doesn't stop with three other roads trying to join in, and of course lazy local drivers know where they are going so who needs to indicate? In Oz, this corner would've been turned into a roundabout, but now that I am familiar with how Seattleites deal with roundabouts, it could be extra exciting. Someone wants to turn left? They just go the wrong way around the roundabout! Noone's coming that way. Someone is on your right as you drive around the roundabout? You stop for them and let them on! Cos you have to give way to the right, right?
Anyway, I eventually found my way to my next destination (and I may have bought some yarn, pics one day maybe!), then managed to get back to I5 and hoon up to Mill Creek (with a little deviation along the way when I misread a direction), then off to Snohomish (ever so proud of myself for remembering the directions, though I think maps had told me the wrong way to go but I still made it to my destination....).
It turns out that Snohomish was playing guest to pretty much every Harley type bike in Washington state (and I suspect maybe other states and provinces as well...). So alas, yarn shop, I did not see you because I got quite pissed off by not being able to find a car park and having roads blocked. Then my phone wouldn't tell me how to get out of the place again - the local 3G/E connections were swamped by 10,000 bikies all trying to figure out how to leave again I guess or looking for a good pub. Or maybe a yarn shop.
This meant that to get my eight stamps in my passport (not really my passport passport, just the shop hop passport) to go into the draw for some sort of prize, I had to drive all the way to Mt Vernon. Quite a pleasant little shop. I also liked the Skagit River meandering, no, make that hooning past - the river seems to not have much of a gradient as it wanders towards the sea but it really was in quite a hurry.
Then in Stanwood, a little town off the beaten track, I found a jewel. A complete jewel with a heap of Norwegian yarns. It was completely unexpected and very welcome. I may have bought yarn there too.
 |
| Still Skagit River, Mt Vernon |
Six yarn shops in 5.5 hours, over 140 miles or about 250km later... hmm, well it may not have been a wise use of the Earth's resources but it was sorta interesting. I got to see some places I wouldn't've otherwise seen, I got to cuss at stupid road design and at stupid me and at my stupid phone because it decided it didn't want to tell me how to get the hell out of the place I was in...I probably should've had some lunch along the way but Snohomish was full and by the time I reached Mt Vernon, it was too late for lunch, plus not many places were open. I also know which yarn shops I will return to.
 |
| Surprise! Skagit River, Mt Vernon. |
anon!
A yarn crawl sounds awesome! I hope you win a prize with all those stamps in your passport. You win an award from me for the best photos of Skagit River and Mt Vernon. :)
ReplyDeleteIt does sound like a much better and more productive kind of crawl. Love that last picture. At the roundabout at the corner, some people just drive straight over it!!!
ReplyDelete