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Whew! I finally finished the baby dolls and hats for my friend’s niece and little sister. I sure hope they like them. :). Lu will do their faces because she’s an expert embroiderer whereas I am not.

Me and Luke picked up my prize today! I should have taken a picture at the store….

Thanks Great Yarns!

We did it! Today we completed the yarn tour. It was so fun and we had a blast celebrating at the last stop with a glass of bubbly. But that’s not the best part! Both me AND Olga won daily drawings yesterday. Olga from Knitty Purls in Langley and me from Great Yarns in Everett. What a wonderful surprise and a certain highlight.

Today we were all over the Puget Sound beginning with Beach Basket Yarns and then over to Wear on Earth. I picked up some really tiny circs for making socks. These babies are a mere 9″ long!

Then we were down to Bellingham for trips to Apple Yarns, NW Handspun Yarns and Mrs. Hudson’s Yarns & Teas. All wonderful and I will have to go back for sure sometime before next years’ tour.

Next we cruised down to a group fav, Makers’ Merrcentile where I picked up my beloved tee cake.

After that we headed west to The Knittery. Here I split 3 skeins with Teresa so she could make their pattern and I will come up with something for this:

From there, we were off to Seattle Yarns. And, for the big finale, we headed to catch a ferry over to the famed Churchmouse Yarns &Teas where we picked up our last stitch marker and pin…

And, toasted our success!

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This year by far was my favorite LYS touring experience. Yes, it sucked to have a debit card lost, but I think that how smoothly traffic and parking went, how quick (yet surprisingly unrushed) our visits were, and most definitely the fact that we get a prize, made this a smashing success and memorable event.

I personally cannot wait for next year!

We had another fabulous day touring and knocked off 8 more stores. My day started extremely early at 3 am so I could get get some work completed and attend court before heading out. Luckily, I was able to get to the top of the calendar and was out of there by 10 am (woot!).

The first stop was back to Wildfibers so my mother-in-law, who was not able to join us yesterday, could get the pattern and Olga and I could enter the drawing again. Conveniently, they are located across the street from my office.

Next we headed out to Ana Cross Stitch. I always love their patterns and was able to score some awesome yarn. Surprisingly, it’s not even pink (but I did get grey…I can’t help myself).

Then we were off to Whidbey Isle Yarns. There we learned a very valuable lesson – It was realized that a debit card was lost in Seattle and we found out the crooks wiped out the bank account. This is a harsh reminder to us small town folks that the “big city” can be a nasty place. Keep safe ladies, keep safe.

Stalwarts that we are, we didn’t let the bad news get us down and trucked on down the road to Knitty Purls and enjoyed their new location before grabbing lunch and taking the ferry over to Everett. We stopped at Great Yarns where, and you will never guess, I bought pink and grey yarn for their super cute cowl. I pretty much always get their pattern supplies. It was really mandatory because we had been drooling over mink yarn yesterday and had shown great restraint, so the fact that mink was featured, it seemed fated.

After that, we headed to Country Yarns. This would have been our last stop but we had loads of time so we figured we’d head out to Tolt Yarn & Wool where I thought I’d died and gone to yarn heaven. If I ever own a yarn shop, I want it to be just like that… I had to leave because I really really (really) wanted to buy some of that gorgeous goodness, but the project I had my eye on was way over budget. Must. Save. For. Next. Year.

From there, we realized that we we’re going to have to pass Quintessential Knits, so that was the last stop for the day. The pattern was cute, the inventory nice, but the location leaves much to be desired.

When I got home, I saw I missed a call from Great Yarns (!!!) Could it mean I won the daily prize?!?! They didn’t leave a message so I am dying to know! I called right back, but no one answered.

Tomorrow will be another busy day. Mine will start at 1:30 am because we have a kid leaving for Disneyland – the lucky dog. We think we we will finish tomorrow! So excited. Stay tuned….

We are having a fabulous time on this years’ tour! We’ve seen many great shops and lots of yummy yarn. The word of the day for this tour is “Madelinetosh.” Nearly every store we’ve been to features some variation of this yarn.

Today’s itinerary took us to Seattle. Our first stop was So Much Yarn. Then we were off to Bad Women Yarn where I picked up some, yes you guessed it, Madelintosh…

Next we traveled to The Tea Cozy, where I picked up – yep, that’s right – more Madelinetosh and also the Cascade 220 Superwash I need for a special project.

One of the highlights of this years’ tour are fun bags… I’m a sucker for bags. I got two, one at our next stop, The Fiber Gallery and I got one toward the end of the day at another store.

Then we were off to Acorn Street Yarn, where we were bummed to learn that the owner was retiring and it may not be around anymore…I picked up the lace blocking wires I’ve been needing.

That little stain is where, sadly, my cupcake I got as a special treat early in the tour, fell out of its box and landed frosting down in the back of my car.

On our way back North we headed to Serial Knitters. After that we headed to a new store, Mad Cow Yarns. They offered us yummy truffles and I got a kit to make my first möbius cowl.

After that, a trip to Pinchknitter Yarns. I picked up that second bag there…

Finally, we stopped at our local store where I got, yes, more Madelinetosh. I couldn’t pass it up because Sarah’s pattern is super cute and probably my favorite of the tour so far!

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All in all it’s been superfun. I ate a bunch of crap that is totally not on my diet and got lots of new yarns. We hit 9 stores so we got our first stitch marker. Can’t wait for tomorrow!