Rose City Yarn Crawl Finished!

Finally finished adding pictures and links! So here is my (overdue) recap of the Rose City Yarn Crawl.

Saturday was my main yarn crawling day. My significant other agreed to drive, and we started out around 10am.

First stop was the Knitting Bee where I had fun looking through more of the One of a Kind Buttons. Decided to bring these ones home with me:

I was tempted by the yarn featured for their lovely shawl pattern but decided to wait. It's not like I have a shortage of sock yarn in the stash!

Next stop was For Yarn's Sake, where I had won a $5 gift card for answering their shop trivia question correctly. I got to show off my Ballerina Shawl to Knitted Wit and picked up this skein of her yarn, along with the Trellis Rose Shawlette pattern.

From there we headed to Northwest Wools and All About Yarn, where I managed not to buy anything. Then on to Wool and Wares where I picked up this skein of Alexandra's Crafts yarn:

It was a special colorway for the shop, so I couldn't resist :) Still looking for pattern ideas though...

Then across the newly reopened Arch Bridge for a stop at Wynona's Studios. They specialize in recycled and local items, so it was fun to look around since I don't spend much time in Oregon City. Ended up with a small braid of fiber, fun skein of sock yarn (any ideas for this one?), and a sparkly shawl pin. They also put purchases in cute handmade bags.

Close up of the shawl pin:

Next stop was Yarnia, where we found the local news interviewing the shop owner: http://www.kgw.com/video/featured-videos/Thousands-show-up-for-4th-annual-Rose-City-Yarn-Crawl-194678271.html

Chatted about the yarn blending process with a few people also waiting to get their passports stamped, and then off to Happy Knits. They have a great selection of yarn, but I managed to resist buying anything since we were only about halfway through the day. Then a stop at Yarn Garden, which had a cool fiber art piece on display. I didn't think to take any pictures, but you can check out more here: http://www.yarngarden.net/se-art-walk/.

Next stop was Gossamer, where I admired the shawl pattern they had designed for the crawl. Decided to get the featured yarn for the pattern, and have been working on it this week. It's a long shawl, so this is probably only like an 1/8 of the finished shawl! It's about the right size for the cat though ;)

Then we stopped at Twisted where I watched Tina Newton of Blue Moon Fiber Arts spinning silk hankies. She also explained how to peel off the layers of silk and knit them without spinning first. Very cool! Almost bought one, but had already spent more than I had planned. I did pick up a skein of Woobu though, since a couple of my coworkers had asked me to make them cowls. Should be enough yarn for two and they agreed to reimburse me for yarn.

Next was Close Knit, another shop I don't get to very often. We had fun admiring Teresa Ruch's lovely yarns, and learning a little about how they make tencel and bamboo fiber. She also had some great samples, and I was intrigued by the texture of the rayon boucle yarn.

I ended up with 2 skeins with plans to make fickleknitter's rayon boucle shawl.

Our final stop was The Naked Sheep. I picked up a small bottle of Eucalan (can always use more wool wash!) and picked up a copy of their crawl pattern. Also admired the samples from Chrissy Gardiner's Indie Socks book. Definitely need to make some of these! Chatted with a few other people about their handknits - thinking about making the Botanical Cowl out of Yarnia's 5th anniversary Golden Ticket yarn...

Turned in my completed passport - forgot to snap a picture, but here's my tote bag with  all of the shop buttons!

And the SO even got a Naked Sheep sticker for driving :)

Now focusing on knitting through the stash and saving up for next year's crawl!

Rose City Yarn Crawl (Days 1 & 2)

Last weekend was the Rose City Yarn Crawl. If you haven't experienced the craziness fun before, the goal is to visit 18 yarn shops in the Portland metro area over 4 days.

I started with a quick stop at Knit Purl over my lunch break. Lots of knitters having lunch in their downstairs knitchen! A couple of skeins of ShiBui staccato decided to come home with me (great discount so I couldn't resist!)

After work I took the streetcar down to Angelika's, and bought the suggested yarn for their special yarn crawl pattern. The pattern is for a bag, so I thought this would be a nice, go with everything color:

Then back on the streetcar to head down to Dublin Bay Knitting Company. Always nice to chat with other knitters and hang out on their comfy couches. Refueled with some tea and treats, and couldn't resist a skein of Sweet Georgia sock yarn:

Not sure if this wants to be a pair of socks or a shawl.. any suggestions?


From there I walked to Pearl Fiber Arts. Once in the door I was instantly drawn to the baskets of one-of-a-kind buttons. Couldn't resist an owl and a sun (which come to think of it, are both symbols that relate to past nicknames).

While there I started talking to Kara, a knitter/crocheter who had driven up from Salem. We couldn't resist the Caress wrapped in luxury yarns, and learned how to knit and crochet this bulky yarn on our hands. After about half an hour of giggling and chatting we each ended up with a super long, super cozy scarf!

The next day I had to go to work, but managed a trip out to Kathy's Knit Korner in Forest Grove. There I met up with Kara again for more chatting and yarn fondling. My significant other picked out this skein of yarn so I can make him a hat:

 
Have to pick out a pattern, but I told him he'll have to wear the hat on next year's yarn crawl ;)

Will update on the final day of yarn crawling later!