Yarn Harvest 2011

 I jumped on the ferry yesterday morning to attend Yarn Harvest 2011, a yarn crawl of the local yarn shops of the Lower Mainland. To give you an idea of the ground we covered, here is a map of the participating stores...

View Yarn Harvest 2011 in a larger map

My amazing friend Amy picked me up the ferry terminal and we headed straight to our first stop...

Three Bags Full

The reason I love this shop is it doesn't carry anything I don't like. Really! Everything in stock is in such good taste, you don't have to wade through a sea of yarns you would never knit with to get to the good stuff... it's all amazing! They have a whole wall devoted to Cascade 220, beautifully arranged for your inspiration. They also carry SweetGeorgia and Tanis Fiber Arts. They were also nice enough to give us replacement Yarn Harvest buttons as we had forgotten ours at home (Thank You!)

Birkeland Bros.

Sweet Georgia

The SweetGeorgia studio was buzzing and it was by far our longest stop. Felicia couldn't be there because she was in LA at Vogue Knitting Live!!! But her studio was left in very good hands, everyone was sooo nice, and I scored a new SweetGeorgia button to wear on my project bag!

Gina Brown's

I had never been to Gina Brown's before and it was one of my favorite stops. The ladies were super nice and personable which made for really great vibes in the shop. They also had the best deals in town, not only were they offering the standard Yarn Harvest discount but there were loads of yarns that were drastically reduced, gorgeous yarns like Mirasol were being sold for half price, it was incredible!

Urban Yarns

Urban Yarns was another amazing stop. They carried so many of my favorite yarns. I think this was Amy's favorite stop, she kept finding little corners of the store that were just packed with goodness. The staff were super helpful and friendly and they even had goodies laid out on a table for hungry yarn crawlers.

They also had samples of my designs Marian and Pasha! I also got to meet Kynna of Urban Yarns who incidentally met my Mum a few months back when she was in town. Kynna recognized the Pasha that my Mum was wearing and went on to show her store samples of my designs. I think that everyone got a good laugh when Kynna pulled out the store sample of Marian and my Mum went on to tell her that her name was... "Marian"!

Baad Anna's

Baad Anna's was a really neat shop. They had some really interesting indie fibres at the back of the shop including samples of yarn that you could take home and try out! They also had a yarn bomb outside...

Black Sheep Yarns

Black Sheep Yarns was a really lovely shop. They carried the largest selection of Madelinetosh I have every seen, it was pretty incredible! They were also hosting Quo Vadis, a local spinner + dyer of vegan friendly, organic, fair trade yarns.  

This guy was pretty cute, and was catching everyone's eye. Apparently they had sold out of Rebecca Danger's book early in the day!

The day ended at the ABC Restaurant in Coquitlam for the knitter's dinner, what a fantastic idea! It was an opportunity for all of us to be in one place at one time, to share our goodies, and even win prizes.

I met Chelsea (back right) earlier in the day at SweetGeorgia's. Her table had an amazing haul and they so graciously let me photograph some of it, that's right, there are still bags full on either side of the table! These ladies were lovely to meet (I'm sorry I didn't get everyone's name!).

Wanna know a secret? We stopped at six yarn stores and one amazing studio and I didn't buy one single thing! Truth is, I didn't need any yarn, I just wanted to be a part of it all, visit yarn stores I had never been to, and see first hand what Yarn Harvest is all about. It was an amazing day and I am so glad I could participate. 

My girlfriend Zoe made sure I didn't go home empty handed though, she sent me home with a bag full of her HANDSPUN yarn to play with! Yes, I am a very lucky girl!

In the Garden...

 This morning I noticed the first little red raspberries on our bushes. The canes were acquired from a friend and planted in spring, they didn't bear any fruit at all during the summer months. A fall crop is such a nice surprise. 

Having never had a rose garden, I'm constantly amazed at their lengthy bloom time.

Happy Thursday!

Rae KAL : Yarn

{ SweetGeorgia Tough Love Sock in Saltwater }

I've found the perfect yarn for the knit along, isn't it to die for? This picture doesn't do the colour justice at all, it's very bright and vibrant!

If you would like to join the KAL hop on over to THIS post and enter your info, it'll get you a discount on the Rae pattern (or if you've already purchased the pattern the discount will be refunded to you). To join in the discussion you can visit THIS thread in our Ravelry Group.

Free Patterns.

I realized that there is no where on my blog to download my free patterns so I have decided to add them here, as individual posts, one by one...

Rae KAL

image courtesy of Nook.

  We've been a little Rae crazy in our knitting group lately. The weather is turning and it's a really simple knit that is fast and fun. It's also perfect for that special skein of fingering weight yarn that you've been saving for something special.

Because so many of us are wanting to start this project (or cast on for our second, or third! ...ahem, Rebecca) we are going to have a Rae knit along!

Participants of the KAL will be able to purchase Rae at a discount! If you are interested in joining, enter your info (follow the link below) and receive a coupon code sent to your Ravelry inbox. I've started a thread in the Ravelry Group so that we can share our yarn choices, chat about our progress, share photos, and more. It's fun to knit together so...

Camping at Salt Lake

 I've finally put together a post of pictures from my Girls Camping Trip. I took so many pictures (458 in 3 days) and I love to share but my favorite thing about these posts is the reference it provides me, it's like rereading a journal entry, it's nice. 

Day 1: Lake Crescent

 On day 1 we hiked 8 miles along the shore of Lake Crescent.

We came across a cave which turned out to be an old railway tunnel.

 I thought it was sort of spooky ...but neat. 

The water at Lake Crescent is crystal clear and bright blue. The lake is incredibly deep and the only thing stopping you from seeing all the way to the bottom is the lack of light once you reach a certain depth, it's eery.

  

It was smoking hot that day and our reward for hiking eight miles was a swim in the lake.

 { Sunset: Day 1 }

We camped at Salt Creek. It's a beautiful spot, waterfront, where you can catch amazing sunsets from the rocky beach.  

 { Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup }

Val taught us how to make Banana Boats, a gluten-free, smore alternative that she was introduced to on her last camping trip. They were so good we bought more bananas so that we could make them again.  

 Ours were not gluten free :)

The fully loaded bananas are wrapped in foil and placed in the fire until the chocolate and marshmallows are nice and gooey.

 ...unwrap and eat with a spoon!

  

Day 2: Hurricane Ridge

This is my most favorite hike, ever. 

 { Do you recognize this view from my Road Work post? ...notice the snow to the right. } 

One of my favorite things about this hike are the wild flowers, I must have stopped a zillion times (thank you for putting up with me B & Val!). 

Depending on what time of year you are there the surrounding plant life can look very different.

 

I enjoyed this description of the seasons... 

 { "This high trail has two seasons - lingering winter and brief summer..." }

Back at the car a fawn came right up to our window to give us a sniff.

 { Sunset, Day 2 }

 B wore this hoodie on our last Girls Trip. We drove down the coast and camped the entire way, we decided to turn around at San Francisco but never was there a plan to follow or a schedule to keep. During this trip the journey really was the destination. It's a nice motto and a great way to look at life, it makes things more enjoyable. 

(...it also describes how I feel about knitting.) 

Day 3: Heading Home

{ Snack before catching the Coho }

I think they called this savoury roll the 3P because it had Pesto, Pumpkin Seeds and Parmesan. It was so amazing I took this picture just so I could blog about it! If you are ever in Port Angeles, stop at the Itty Bitty Buzz! They serve goodies made by Oven Spoonful and they happen to have the best blended mocha's in town. Yum... I highly recommend it.