It was with best intentions that my daughter and I headed over to our favorite neighborhood yarn shop, All About Yarn, in Coon Rapids. That was to be our first stop. This weekend was the Yarn Hop and there were 17 stores we could have visited but we only ended up at ONE! I even picked up the official Yarn Hop folder, pin and paperwork.
We walked into All About Yarn and it was a bit like Norm walking into the bar Cheers....."where everybody knows your name". We were greeted by the shop owner and her sister and then I got a huge hug from one of my former Tuesday morning knitting friends. It was so wonderful to see her and catch up on all that I've missed since starting my full-time job. I told her that every Tuesday morning at 11am, no matter if I'm at my desk, in training or at a meeting, my mind wanders to the days when I used to knit with that wonderful group of women. We, as a group, never missed a Tuesday. Even when one of our friends was terminal with cancer and could no longer come to the shop, we took our knitting group to her home and sat around her bed knitting and visiting. I'll never forget the day she could no longer knit and lay with her eyes closed. Someone asked her if we should leave so she could get some rest and her response was, "No, I love just laying here and listening to your voices". I just couldn't go rushing off to all of the other stores. It was too important to "hang out" somewhere familiar and I place I have missed going to every week.
I went to about six stores on the Yarn Hop last year. The process was the same this year. Each shop had a free pattern to go along with the yarn designed especially for the shop. At All About Yarn, they had two patterns this year to go along with the two colors of yarn dyed especially for the shop. One pattern is for a cowl and one is for fingerless mittens.
The yarn sold out but you can see from the fingerless mitten pattern what the colors are - I'm on the waiting list for BOTH colors!
I did find some other yarn to purchase. I'm going to knit another quick cowl with fun spring colors.
Something to keep my fingers busy while watching my middle son's baseball games!
Next year, I am hoping my mom will come and go to ALL of the shops with me. Mom, I will even take off a day of work to go! Here is a link to the website for future reference.
www.minnesotayarnshophop.com
"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy. They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." -Marcel Proust
One of my friends goes to all the shops each year and I was planning on going with this year. But I just couldn't work it into the schedule. She had a lot of fun and bought lots of yarn. Maybe next year. That yarn is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI hope to get to every shop next year. I'm going to have to start saving now so I can buy yarn at each shop! :)
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