the quacking fiber addict

“Rain! whose soft architectural hands have power to cut stones, and chisel to shapes of grandeur the very mountains.”
Henry Ward Beecher

Sachi was right. There IS a yarn store in Olympia. Unbeknownst to me, we had gone by it a great many times. Mostly because it's called Canvas Works I tended to ignore it:


Considering the large sailing community (and boat-making, as well), I had thought it was, well, you know, a store that sold canvas. Silly me ^_^ Another reason I hadn't given them a second glance is the fact that they're located in the more industrial section of town, see?, the neighbors:


Every time we walked or drove by, I was busy focusing on getting to somewhere more, ah, picturesque. Yes, I know, I'm shallow. But, if you look in the picture above, you can see the dome of the state capital building. Olympia is pretty small, and you can see the dome from nearly anywhere in town.

Anyway. I went into the store and tried not to moan. They had some exquisite yarns that I can neither afford nor find the space for. The sales lady (very nice, very helpful) immediately showed me to the sock yarns. I was a bit disappointed by their small selection (of sock yarns). But, that disappointment was quickly assuaged when I wandered into their book section. Oh... my. I didn't even know where to start. So, I let my eyes wander, and they immediately zoomed in on the lace books.

And do you know what I found?? A copy of Creating Original Hand-knitted Lace! OMG. I have been searching for this book for ... wow, over six months at least. Maybe a year. No one carries it. No one has heard of it. They HAD it. In hardback. At 30% off the price on Amazon. I snatched it up and tucked it under my arm, as I wandered the store some more. They also had a HUGE button collection (sigh), but I limited myself to buttons I needed. Specifically for baby T's wraplan. They had pink and green buttons that matched the yarn I'm using! (yes, I have the colours committed to memory, heaven help me). So, I grabbed 8 of them and then forced myself to stop looking, as I was over-budget already. I escaped with my finds (the saleswoman agreed that the buttons were squee!-worthy) and I nearly skipped home. Here's a pic of them on Mum's porch:


A last note on the LYS, Canvas Works. I really liked them, they were very nice. They had a great selection. I wouldn't recommend them for knitters on a tight budget, though. Their prices were a bit high. But, otherwise, I really liked them.

Relating to the title of this post. I did bring an umbrella with me. I didn't use it, because the wind was so high it nearly turned the poor thing inside-out. I just toughened up and tried to ignore the chill. On the way home, the rain and wind got worse, so I was extremely happy to arrive. Of course, 1/2 an hour after I had settled in, the rain stopped.

It figures.

Just like in San Fransisco.

I must have angered the rain (and wind?) g-ds at some point. Some sort of ritual sacrifice or something must be in order. Chocolate, maybe?

Oh!, in other news, my Hogwarts Houses Swap partner, Laural, received my parcel today! Here are her pix. And here's one of mine:


The hoodie: I painted and appliqued a Gryffindor crest (t-shirt) I had (it was entirely in greyscale and needed some colour desperately) to a hoodie, along with a House patch, and embroidered around the crest with red and gold floss (A and K were bemused watching me embroider during American Idol). The DPN case: made from faux-suede, lined with Indian cotton (don't tell Mum I raided her quilting stash, but it was the perfect colour!), and with velvet trim - I have to say, was really pleased with the whole thing, it came out so lovely and it was my first DPN case. I also included some Gryffindor coloured DPNs I found at St Vinny's. The Canary Creams? I couldn't resist. And the yarn I got at Full Thread Ahead.

I'm so pleased because the hoodie fits Laural perfectly, and she seems to like everything else. Yay!

Labels: craft swaps, lace, LYS review, travel, wraplan