Last weekend Roger & I went to Portland, Oregon for a long weekend. On Friday we went on a walking tour with most of Roger's office; more on that in another post. It is the yarn crawl on Saturday that matters!
First the back story. Through Ravelry I met Sara, a Portland knitter. I asked her if she was interested in a yarn crawl since I was going to be in town. Not only did she organize a great five shop crawl, but she recruited a bunch of other Portland knitters! We were a force!
Our first stop was Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks. The shop is large, light, and full of yummy yarn including some which is dyed by them. Somehow I managed to not get any decent pictures of the store. Maybe I was distracted by the cafe. The food looked great and the caffeine was quite satisfying.
A fellow knitter, Rodger was working at Abundant that day so we only got to visit for a short while. I did get a picture of him. Pictures of people taking pictures of you seemed to be the theme.
The next stop was a delightful pastry shop, Pix Patisserie. It happens that it was Judy's birthday! What great timing. The pastries were fabulous. I especially like the little lemon tart; I would probably eat anything with lemon curd on it (no that is NOT a dare!).
Our second yarn store, Yarn Garden, is a large store made up of several store fronts. It seems to go on forever. Why is that that some yarn stores apparently have everything and I can't find anything I want? Yarn Garden is one of those stores (for me at least). No purchase and no pictures.
Twisted was my favorite stop. It is fresh, fun, and has a wall of sock yarn. They have many of the usual yarns, lots of indie dyers including several from Portland. The space is large, the furniture is comfortable, and the staff couldn't be nicer. High marks all around.
We managed to get one organized group shot in front of the store. Back row from left to right: Cindy, Sarah, me, and Judy. Front row from left to right: our fabulous organizer Sara, Stephania, and Chrispy.
Knit Purl was a favorite of mine too. Could it be the plate of cookies and the welcome sign? Not just any cookies either; they put out macaroons for us. Yumm! Macaroons, lemon curd, yarn, and knitters in one day. You know that is good.
That is Judy and Cindy checking out the huge selection of Koigu. I don't think I have ever seen that much Koigu in one spot. If only I liked Koigu (am I the only knitter that doesn't own any?) Not shown is the lovely Shibui Knits yarn, made just for them. I might have snagged a bit of their sock yarn.
Farmhouse Knit Shop was our last stop. It is a cozy house re-purposed for our fibery satisfaction. Three front rooms are packed with yarn of all sorts. The back room is all about the sock yarn including a bunch of Blue Moon seconds.
Lia met up with us there. It was great to meet her and hand over her prize. She was one of the winners in my recent contest. I made her some fluffy spinning batts. Unfortunately, I was pretty tired by the time we got there and I feel like I didn't get to visit very much with her.
My purchases from the left: Bearfoot by Mountain colors in their Steelhead colorway (bought at Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks), Socks That Rock lightweight in 24 Karat (bought at Farmhouse Knit Shop), Knitted Wit fingering weight in the Going To The Mall Splatter colorway (bought at Twisted), and Shibui sock in Honey and Seaweed colors (bought at Knit Purl). At the back is a great scarf pattern called Japanese Vines by Michelle Molis (also a Twisted purchase).
To cap the evening Roger and I had dinner with Judy at a lovely Thai restaurant. I loved meeting Judy. As you may know, I am a huge fan of her Magic Cast-on and her blog.
A successful crawl! Thank you Sara for all the work you did setting it up.
Wow, that sounds like a wonderful trip. And you certainly got some lovely yarns there.
Posted by: Ronni | August 31, 2007 at 01:23 PM
Sounds like good fun, good yarns, good food, good people! I love Judy and her Magic Cast-on, and she is now even more famous after Cat Bordhi plugged the Magic Cast-on in her new book!
Posted by: AuntieAnn | August 31, 2007 at 01:38 PM
It was wonderful to meet you and Roger! I hope you get up here again for another crawl. There were several LYS that we missed.
Posted by: Judy | August 31, 2007 at 01:51 PM
They're gorgeous, especially the Steelhead and Honey.
I need to get out more ;-)
Posted by: Marina | August 31, 2007 at 02:34 PM
Looks like a really great time!
Posted by: Julie | August 31, 2007 at 04:59 PM
How fortunate that you did the homework for me Maia as I go to Portland in the middle of October! Now I will know exactly where to go and the bakery info is very appreciated too.
Posted by: sile Convery | August 31, 2007 at 06:33 PM
Sounds like you found the restaurant! Glad it worked out for you.
Wish I could've joined you.
It'd be fun to meet up sometime when I had a little more energy and a little less toddler with me :)
It was fun, though, and I love the batts. I keep sniffing and petting them.
Posted by: Lia | August 31, 2007 at 11:30 PM
Mmmmmm lemon crud, mmmmm yarn...heaven, I'm in heaven :)
Posted by: Debi | September 01, 2007 at 10:54 PM
oops, curd, not crud LOL
Posted by: Debi | September 01, 2007 at 10:57 PM
You're welcome! It was so much fun! I'm so glad you liked Twisted, they're just funky and new. It's a shame they hadn't gotten the spinning section of their shop done by the time you visited, but the Yarntini definitely made up for it ;D
(ooh, a week late, have I mentioned lately how far behind I am on my bloglines... ouch)
Posted by: Sara | September 01, 2007 at 11:44 PM
I'd love to visit Twisted - have heard so much about it! Of course, living in Australia might make visiting a bit difficult... :)
Posted by: Nora | September 03, 2007 at 02:15 PM