A Day in April

I just turned... ahem... let's just say "an age" and leave it at that. I had an awesome time over this year's birthday weekend. My very good friend, Faith, came into town for a yarn shopping trip! We headed out to the Twin Cities at what I would consider the crack of dawn on Saturday, and went to the Three Kittens Yarn store in Mendota Heights, and Borealis Yarn and The Yarnery, both in St. Paul.

I had been to the Three Kittens before, where, for some unknown reason, I decided against buying the yarn made from milk. I had since come to regret that act of woolly thinking, so this time, I picked up two skeins of the 80% milk sock yarn. Our next stop was The Yarnery, where we were delighted to find that everything was discounted by at least 20%. I ran a amok in that store, buying three skeins of Cascade Ecological Wool for a sweater I have wanted to make, a skein of Alpaca Sock yarn and two skeins of black Cascade 220, which, while I have no particular project in mind, is always useful. Finally, we went to Borealis Yarns. I was also able to pick up some Snuggly Bubbly, which I will probably make into a Baby Surprise Jacket. Finally, I found some navy Hempathy, which I will use to make some socks for my fiancé.

My main objectives, other than getting to spend time with Faith, were to pick up yarn for my cardigan pattern, buy yarn made from unusual or interesting fibres, and find some nice baby yarn. All in all, the trip was a complete success! I even found a cute clasp for my Butterfly cardigan, and locking stitch markers to finally finish my Ben sweater!

Despite this bounty of yarn and yarn accessories, the best thing I received this weekend was, instead, an early wedding present from Faith. I was just so grateful that she bought me the Addi Click set! I have been having so much fun with it and repaid her generosity by making silly sound effects every time I switched out the needles. I was so excited to be the proud owner of interchangeable Addi Turbos, that I instantly set them to work on the Deborah cardigan with my new Ecological wool. These needles are truly amazing, and I was able to finish the entire back panel over the weekend! I also finally learned how to do the continental purl stitch!

My only regret from this trip was that I forgot to charge my camera! I had this very wonderful idea of having various pictures of us outside each yarn store, inside the stores staring pensively at potential purchases, beaming gleefully with overflowing bags of wool and cotton.... But alas, it was not to be. Luckily, Faith had more photographic wherewithal than I, and took this picture: