Webs Detour – We stop for yarn!

My husband knows that I have a difficult time being anywhere in the vicinity of Webs (even if it takes us an hour or so out of our way to get there) without paying homage to the mega yarn emporium in Northampton, MA. Being a dear, he knows this and is willing to make the detour. Even better, he makes himself at home in one of the arm chairs in the front of the store.

 

Webs Entrance - There's lots of parking!

 

Yarn, yarn and more yarn in Webs' ailes of plenty!

 

Jaeger Sienna Cotton in Beige from Webs

Since we needed to return our car rental by 7.00 pm we were on the clock. By the time we arrived at Webs, I had twenty minutes to survey the merchandise, make my selections and pay! As any of you who have visited Webs know, the joy of shopping focuses on going through the aisles of discounted and discontinued yarns in the warehouse. It’s like a scavenger hunt.

  

While Webs sells yarn on cones, they don’t interest me since I have many cones in my ever growing stash. Having a limited amount of time to make my decisions, I focused on yarns that I didn’t have in my stash and sock yarn since I had promised my husband a pair of socks (poor idea since I only make one pair a year!).

 

I bought a bag of Jaeger Sienna in a tan color and some blue, orange and white sock yarn for my husband as well as another set of pony double pointed needles. I was happy that my purchases came in under $50.00.

 

BTW, due to our timing, my husband discovered that we could return the car to Hartford instead of Stamford, which was an hour closed to Webs!

Maine Bound Knitters

For our annual summer pilgrimage to visit friends in York, Maine, we rented a car in Stamford (much cheaper for those of you New York City residents). My husband drove while I knitted and navigated. Since my friend Amanda and I were aiming to go shop at Tess Yarns in Portland, we were under time pressure to get to York by the early afternoon. I used the time to make progress on my Leaf Lace Kimono.

Fortunately, I had called Tess earlier in the week to let her know of our plans. (I love how friendly people are outside of large metropolitan centers!)  As a result, I knew that she was planning to be dying for an upcoming wool show. En route, I left her a message but received no response.

When we got to York, Amanda insisted that we go straight to Portland despite the fact that all we got was a recording at Tess Yarns. Thanks to Amanda’s driving we got to Portland and found the store in record time. While the store was closed, there was a note and a phone number to call. This time we got a human who let us know that she’d be over in about ten minutes.

I had experienced the intense color experience of Tess’ hand dyed beauty several times at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Unlike most yarn stores, the yarn is displayed by color (as versus by type of material or brand). When you enter the store, your eyes don’t know where to go.  It is a wonderful, peaceful place where you decision of what to buy is really tough to make.  

Portland Knitting Adventure with Amanda

Inside Tess Yarns

Tess’s Color Arranged Yarns

Tess’s Mom (aka Tess)

Since I wanted to make a sweater with what I thought would be the fall colors, I bought some rich royal purple sock yarn called Twinkle Toes. I bought three skeins with wonderful yardage (440 yards each)I had seen the color in the window at Bloomingdales a week earlier. Amanda bought some wonderful blue worsted weight to make a vest with.

Tess’ Yarns wasn’t the only aspect of our trip that provided color. I was amazed by the wonderful flowers that seemed to lift their faces to the sun during the short Maine summer.

Maine Potted Flowers in Bloom

 In addition to taking advantage of the Maine coast, Amanda and I knitted and I got to see Amanda’s amazing two shawls that she was working on. One was in fingering weight alpaca that I had given her. The stitch involves great patience and has wonderful dropped stitches. Amanda’s become a great fan of Folk Shawls and, based on her Wool Peddler shawl, I’m considering getting a copy of the book.

On Sunday, the weather prevented us from enjoying outdoor activities so the four of us decided to take a trip to Freeport, the home of LL Bean. While it doesn’t sell yarn, it’s an amazing shopping town. I loved the humor that existed in the form of giant sized (literally) products.

L.L. Bean Outlet Store in Freeport, ME

On our way out of York, we stopped from some local fare, lobster rolls. They’re amazing! It’s special treat to have them this fresh! 

Authentic Maine Lobster Roll Readyto Eat!

 

Baby Kimono and Warshrag on Fire Island Beach

We were lucky to sneak in a couple of days on Fire Island after our honeymoon. Fire Island is a shelter island off the southern shore of Long Island which is like a piece of heaven on earth (although nothing like the Cook Islands!)  While my husband wind surfed, I knitted on the beach. In addition to my honeymoon projects, I had two small projects which is unusual for me.

 

Summer 2008 on Fair Harbor Beach

Leaf Lace Kimono Progresses on Fair Harbor Beach

Honeymoon Vest Arrives at Fair Harbor

Sunset on Fair Harbor With Boats

Sunset on Fair Harbor

 

For a friend who was pregnant, I made a baby kimono from Mason Dixon Knits. It’s a wonderful piece of knitting that’s easy to do. I had checked it out on Ravelry and fund numerous versions of it. I made it in a butter yellow which could work for a boy or a girl.

 

Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono in Yellow Cotton

 

For a friend’s knitting bee, a group of us decided to make her a basket full of hand made washcloths. It was like a KAL. We all used Rowan Cotton and the wash cloth had to be nine inches square. I was excited since I had wanted an opportunity to test out the warshrag pattern also in Mason Dixon Knits. I bought black and pale pink for my washcloth which I called “Good and Plenty” since it was the same color as the candy! I must say that it was a fun pattern to knit and gave me an opportunity to test out another way to knit two colors that made a nice texture.

 

How Much is That Doggie in the Window?

On the way home from our honeymoon, we stopped in Chicago to visit friends and relatives who couldn’t make our wedding. As part of our stay with friends in Oak Park, we stopped by Chix With Stix, a delightful store in Forest Park.

 

My husband and my friend’s son made themselves at home on the sofa by the window. The store’s tiny Chihuahua peered over their shoulders while they played a game on my husband’s phone.  The two of them had taken bets on how long my five minutes would actually be. (I clocked in at just under twenty minutes.)  

Chix With Stix Summer Window

  

Chix With Stix Canine Masot At Work

Feeling the pressure to decide quickly, I couldn’t make up my mind so that I left empty handed. I regret that I didn’t buy their adorable birthday cake stitch markers.

Cook Island Honeymoon Knitted

The love that filled our wedding amazed us and filled us with joy. Despite being the hottest day of the summer (although it was the first weekend in June), the celebration went off with relatively few hitches!

 

We were glad that we had a few days to acclimate and get things in order before we headed off for our honeymoon. For our honeymoon we went to the Cook Islands which are located in the South Pacific about a third of the way from New Zealand to South America. We made our decision based on a Google search for “romantic honeymoon” (I kid you not!) We also used TripAdvisor which we swear by to help us decide on hotels, Etu Moana and Rarotonga Beach Bungalows.

 

If you want a place where you can relax and unplug from your everyday world, I wholeheartedly recommend the Cook Islands. They’re the perfect place for a romantic getaway complete with blue-green lagoons, hotels with small individual huts and white sands. We stayed at two different islands, Aitutaki and Rarotonga. To our surprise, we were the only ones who spent any time sitting on the beach.

 

Romantic Beach Front in Aitutaki

 

Raratonga Beach Bungalow

 

View of Beach on Raratonga

 

 In between the romance, walking on the beach, snorkeling and kayaking, I found some time to knit while I soaked in the natural beauty. Knowing that I’d be away from my usual New York knitting emporiums, I planned three projects to overcome difficulty or boredom. They were the Apres Surf Hoodie, Leaf Lace Kimono and Honeymoon Vest. I brought two sets of patterns and needles of the sizes required.

 

Here are some photos of two of my projects, the honeymoon vest out of Noro Sakura for my husband and the Leaf Lace Kimona out of Noro Lily.

  

Leaf Lace Kimono on Aitutaki Beach

 

Leaf Lace Kimono Under Aitutaki Tree - Yarn Harlot Style

Knitting on Etu Moana Deck Overlooking the Beach

 

Leaf Lace Detail

 

Honeymoon Vest on Aitutaki Lagoon Tour

 

While I didn’t finish any one project, I made progress on all three of the items that I brought. Since the Cook Islands are not a major shopping center, these projects are a way of having a souvenir of my honeymoon.