Actual Knitting Narrative

Gingerbread Mansion on Berding St. in Ferndale

I remember reading somewhere that Meg Swanson had written something to the effect that she was envious of new knitters beginning their "knitting adventure." For some reason, I thought it seemed like a silly comment at the time,  but as I've gotten older, I've really understood what she was saying as far as the big picture goes and, of course, with knitting. It is exciting to discover something new, and that exciting feeling of "newness" can't be replicated. On the other hand, I still love traditions and going back to old haunts, remembering past experiences there.

Fleener Creek Trail, down to the beach which is less than a mile south of Centerville.

Visiting the town of Ferndale is one of those things for me. We always have to drive by the Gingerbread Mansion, walk the cemetery hill, buy a Moo Bar at Sweetness and Light Candy Company, drive out to Centerville Beach, and I, of course, have to visit Foggy Bottom Yarns.  The shop has moved to a to a "sunnier" location on Main St., and the owner, Jacquie Ramirez only sells knitting items instead of antiques as she has for years. She is always helpful and attentive although you think that she might remember me since I've been going there every year for at least the last fifteen years. I bought a couple of skeins of Cascade yarn there, not that I needed any yarn at all or that Cascade isn't one of the most ubiquitous brands around. It just wasn't quite enough for me  simply to browse even though I've had a pretty solid moratorium on yarn buying for most of this year.

I plied Kai with Mt. Dew so that Paige and I could go and yarn shop while Russ dozed in the car.

I'm not over the excited feeling I get if I found out about a new yarn shop during our travels, but I'm also willing to forgo going to every single one since family resistance can be quite extreme at times. Yesterday, however, I couldn't resist stopping at a shop that practically landed right in my lap. We're were walking down 2nd Street in Eureka on our way for our perfunctory once-a-year lunch at Hurricane Kate's when I passed by a sign that said Knittery. I figured that I would finagle a little time there after we ate. So, we walked on to Hurricane Kate's, and had a delicious lunch, complete with French press coffee.

We were a little disappointed that they didn't include  brown sugar-sugar cubes as they have every other year, but still heavenly

I've been to a lot of knitting shops, but this one seemed a little different, lots of higher end yarns, not super expensive, just nice! I repeat: I've been on a yarn diet, and haven't even felt tempted to buy any yarn for months and month. I started out by picking up a pastel skein of Louisa Harding angora yarn to knit some baby booties for a friend at work who's having a baby, but then I saw a cardigan sweater sample that was too good to pass up; and, of course, I had to buy the suggested yarn to knit it with, soooo, I had a bit of a splurge. Strike that. I had a splurge and a half.

The pattern is called Elegant Empire, and I don't think the picture does the pattern justice.  Hempwol comes in so many pretty colors, and I'm slightly apprehensive about the color I chose, not like blue isn't appealing. I'm just not sure it was the best choice. I would have preferred plum, but they didn't have enough of it. As I was checking out, I saw their  flyer for upcoming knitting workshops. There was man in a photo who looked very familiar. It was Franklin Habit, author of The Panoptican, which I don't read regularly but enjoy when I do. Then I had to do a double-take because the guy helping me looked an awful lot like Franklin Habit. "OMG! Franklin Habit has moved to the North Coast and I'm buying yarn from him!" Glad I didn't say anything stupid, because I suddenly had the realization that middle-aged white women might just think that all bald, gay, yarn-loving guys look alike.The nice man helping me didn't look like Franklin that much after all. Anyway, I think it's very exciting that they're having Franklin Habit come to their store, and I felt just a little more hip for having bought stuff there, and I wish I could be there this fall to take a class.