Unfortunately, what I was right about was navigation mishaps coming in threes. I was just in for a double set of them on this LYS Tour. I would’ve thought that everything from hitting three leaves of a 4-leaf clover offramp to a parade to a GPS bent on revenge would have been enough for one person, but it was not to be.

The day started off well, if early. Not as early as Saturday, since I didn’t have as far to go before 10 am. Still, I needed a bit of early morning fortification.

Orange juice. Yes, I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest for almost 2 years and don’t drink coffee. If over 7 years in the Navy didn’t get me to start, the home of Starbucks doesn’t have a chance either. Wesley was off to a good start too.

Apparently, my backup plan – bringing Steve’s GPS Sheila – was effective. Wesley realized he needed me more than I needed him, and we declared a truce. In fact, he was good enough that I had just parked at my first stop when a train crossed the road I’d been traveling and came to a stop for a while.

PinchKnitter Yarns, Stanwood WA

At PinchKnitter Yarns, they know how yarn crawlers work. They opened early enough that I was actually through with my visit and heading back to my car before the LYS Tour officially started for the day. And despite the fact that several of my fellow tourists again were starting early at the same store, this is another store with lots of open space to move around in, and a really large selection that can take time to narrow down.

Great Yarns!, Everett WA

For the second year in a row, I managed to drive right past this LYS. Maybe they should put their name on the building in big letters, or plant colorful flowers outside, or…

…maybe I should get a GPS that doesn’t think it’s located a block from where it really is.

Great Yarns! is an even bigger LYS than you might think looking at it, because it’s actually 2 stories – all the bargain yarns are down in the basement. If you enjoy getting to poke around from room to room to discover gems tucked away (and really, who doesn’t?), this is a good store for you. I had trouble narrowing down what I wanted here, wavering back and forth between a couple choices, and the ladies there were very helpful with all of my questions.

Then it was off to the last new-to-me LYS on the Tour, Country Yarns in Snohomish. I was paying very close attention to Wesley as I drove, because the navigation was just a bit tricky, with streets that branched off just a bit instead of 90 degree turns…and if you missed, there was no easy way to get back on track. I was nearly there and congratulating myself when:

You have got. To. Be. Kidding. Me.

For the 2nd time this LYS Tour, I found myself trying to get to an LYS blocked off with “road closed” signs, this time for the Sky Valley Bike Show. Country Yarns wasn’t quite smack dab in the middle of the blocked off area, but they were in it. All I could do was laugh and try to find a parking spot within a reasonable walking distance. Then I walked through the bike show, admired some really gorgeous motorcycles, and smiled at all of the bikers decked out in full leathers doing the double take at the woman in a sweater with knitting in her hand. I was definitely the oddball here!

Country Yarns, Snohomish WA

For the first time, I walked into an LYS and was the only customer. I’m not sure how much of it was due to the bike show and how much was due to people having already crossed this LYS off their list. Several more customers came in behind me (including the group I’d kept running into Saturday), and in answer to a question from one of them, the owner said she’d seen really great traffic the other 3 days. When another customer commiserated with her about having a bike show, of all things, blocking her store from easy access, the owner shrugged with a smile and noted, “Life is like a box of chocolates. And sometimes, there are Harleys inside them.”

The store was smaller but cute with a good selection. And I discovered it has a steady source of RainCity Fiber Arts yarns. I love her handdyeds, but had only seen them at Madrona before. I definitely made a note of that. And then it was on to my final stop of the day.

Main Street Yarn, Mill Creek WA

Helpful hint: Main Street Yarn is actually on Main Street, but there’s a parking lot behind the store with dedicated spots for the LYS. As this was my last stop for the tour, I had a bit more time to look around, but I did need to get home in time for a farewell party for some neighbors (a frequent occurrence with Navy neighbors, sadly). But for the first time all weekend, I was looking for yarn for me. Everything else I’d bought to that point was for future design, but I wanted one souvenir for me.

And once I found it, I was done until next year.

A few lessons learned for 2014: I need to do a better job of checking on what local events might impact my travel plans. Hopefully, my husband will be able to get off work a bit early to handle kid duties during the week so I can maximize my Thursday and Friday travel. And lastly, next year I need to set up my schedule to end at Churchmouse, no matter how out of the way it might be. They have champagne for finishers!

LYS Tour stats (today):

• LYSs visited: 4
• Miles traveled round trip: 176
• Time spent traveling and visiting LYSs: 8 hrs, 15 min
• Ferries taken: 2
• Yarn purchased: 14 skeins

LYS Tour stats (total):

• LYS visited: 24 of 24
• Miles traveled round trip: 816.3
• Time spent traveling and visiting LYS: 39 hrs, 35 min
• Ferries taken: 8
• Yarn purchased: 66 skeins

See you in 2014, LYS Tour!

Knot Just Yarn, Burlington WA

This was my most anticipated stop of the tour. Last year when I visited, the owner Becky and I got to talking. I mentioned I was a designer, and she was interested because she likes supporting local designers. And when she mentioned that she was going to be producing her own hand-dyed yarns, I was interested because that’s where I started designing, for an indie dyer. So I was really looking forward to seeing the new yarns.

This was just some of her new Eweneek Hand Dyes she had available, and it’s gorgeous. I picked up a couple skeins of the Eweneek Boo-Yah in Moss for a future design. If you think this is something you might want to knit, I can tell you that 2 skeins will be enough to do up to a size 6 in a girl’s cardigan (that’s all the planning I’ve been able to do as yet! ).

And of course, there’s plenty more great yarn there; I’d've spent even more time wandering around shopping if I hadn’t known I wanted to go home with some of the new hand-dyed.

WildFibers, Mt. Vernon WA

Walking into WildFibers always reminds me of walking into an upscale boutique (not that I have a lot of experience with that, mind). Based on the set up by the front window, I think that’s the look they were going for. There is a large selection of yarn but it doesn’t feel that way when you first walk in because there’s so much empty space. I think it wins for “easiest to move around in” during the crowds of the LYS Tour.

At this point I faced a slight dilemma. I’d originally intended to continue south to PinchKnitter Yarns and then double back north to Ana-Cross Stitch. PinchKnitter Yarns is in just a bit of a no man’s land that makes it a bit awkward to hit. But I was in a time crunch, and what I really didn’t want to do was end up missing one of the LYSs on Whibdey Island, which would be even more awkward to get to without wasting time in transit. So I turned west instead.

Ana-Cross Stitch, Anacortes WA

Don’t be fooled by their name into thinking it’s all about cross stitch and embroidery floss. The focus is definitely on the “stitch” – be it a cross stitch, a knitting stitch, a crochet stitch…

Plenty of yarn for anyone, as soon as you walk in. But I found everyone gathered around the table towards the back, near the register, and the nearby shelves, which is where their feature yarn was. In addition to the official pattern, the ladies at Ana-Cross Stitch had worked up several other projects that they were wearing to show what you could do with more than one ball of the yarn. One had worked up a top (with a very open stitch) and was taking it off to pass around for other people to try on. They’d done such a good job with the salesmanship that they were running out of colors and it was only Saturday. I think I got the last 2 balls of the pink – the yarn is Tahki Yarns Ripple.

With all that said…if you are a cross stitcher or embroiderer…there’s plenty here for you too.

Crafters Co-op, Oak Harbor WA

This was a new stop on the tour, and due to the aforementioned time crunch, I didn’t spend much time here. They also seemed pretty limited in what they had available. The staff member who was talking to other knitters when I went in was very vocal in their dislike of Chinese-made yarns, and while I like the idea of supporting local and American, I also think there’s a place for a lot of other yarns…and I prefer to be pro-something rather than so strongly anti-something. I did have a nice chat with someone about the sweater I was wearing – my Abalone – and I was able to pull out my phone and get the info from Ravelry for her to knit it for a family member.

Knitty Purls, Langley WA

In contrast to Wild Fibers, my last stop was pretty tiny, but they pack in as much as they can. Shopping in there did become a bit of a comedy, just because many of us had followed the same path that day, and all started at Beach Basket at the same time, and now we were all reaching Knitty Purls at closing time. But everyone had a sense of humor about the close quarters, and obligingly shifted around so everyone could see the bins.

I did learn that I might have been able to fit in that stop at PinchKnitters when I heard one of the ladies in the shop reassure a frantic lost caller that she didn’t have to rush – they were staying open for several extra hours. But I was fairly well spent, having been on the road now for over 12 hours, and was ready to go home.

Wesley had other ideas.

Remember that revenge I joked about? Well, he got it in spades. It all started when I went back to the car and asked him to take me home. He got to 99% while calculating the route…and stuck there. No amount of patient waiting on my part changed that. So I turned him off and back and on, and hit the home button again.

“Calculating…3%…20%…58%…80%…95%…99%…99%…99%…99%…99%…”

Uh oh.

Now, I have a systems engineering undergrad degree, so I know the 2 key trouble shooting steps: turn it off and back on, and then unplug and plug it back in. They had a success rate of at least 90% back in school, and now that the first had failed me, I tried the second.

He made it to 90% this time and got stuck. I was on a island I have visited once before my entire life with a vindictive GPS. This was not good.

I did eventually make it home – I discovered Wesley would take me some place close, so first I had him find the Mulkiteo-Clinton ferry terminal. I made one last attempt, while about to disembark the ferry, to convince him to take me home. He got this far:

Instead, I had him get me to the Edmonds ferry dock, and then once back on the peninsula in Kingston, he finally deigned to calculate a route for home (not that I needed it – it was the principle of the thing by this point).

By the time I got home, I had the energy only to plan the last day’s route…and arrange for a back up in case Wesley was still in a snit on Sunday. One day to go!

LYS Tour stats (today):

• LYSs visited: 10
• Miles traveled round trip: 324
• Time spent traveling and visiting LYSs: 16 hrs, 04 min
• Ferries taken: 3
• Yarn purchased: 24 skeins

LYS Tour stats (total):

• LYS visited: 20 of 24
• Miles traveled round trip: 640.3
• Time spent traveling and visiting LYS: 31 hrs, 20 min
• Ferries taken: 6
• Yarn purchased: 52 skeins

Either I was wrong about traffic/navigation mishaps coming in threes (and instead, they come in fives), or two of mine from yesterday didn’t count.

The day started early. How early? My first thought, when my alarm went off at 5:30 am, was, “Do I really need to see more yarn?”

My second thought was, “Get it in gear, pussywillow. We’ve got a ferry to catch.”

‘Cause yeah – it’s yarn.

Why was I up at such a bleary-eyed hour? Two of the LYSs on the tour are so far to the north that you almost need to take your passport (for anyone wondering, the wait at customs to cross into Canada at around 9 am on a Saturday morning tends to be less than 5 minutes – I know because I saw the signs). While the LYS Tour runs from 10-8 on Thursday and Friday, it’s only 10-6 on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday I understand, but for Saturday, that’s kinda ridiculous. I know the extended hours during the week are supposed to be for people who work, but let’s be real – by the time people get off work, they have maybe 2 hours if they’re very lucky to try to hit some yarn stores, and they’ll only be able to get to any that are close to them. Saturday really needs extended hours (I know I won’t be the only one suggesting that to the tour organizers, so fingers crossed for next year), but since I only had 8 hours, I really needed to make sure I did as much traveling before the stores opened as I could. That meant heading north early in the morning and working my way back south.

On the drive up, I made the mistake of pissing off Wesley, my GPS. I pulled off the highway to get gas without telling him. As I was turning onto the Cook Rd exit, he informed me he was “recalculating” in his irritated British way, but I ignored him, pulled into the station, and gassed up. Getting back on the highway was a simple matter – exit gas station by turning right on a side road, turn right onto Cook Rd, turn right onto the I-5N on ramp. Not so fast, said Wesley – he wanted me to continue on that side road (crossing Cook Rd) for about a mile, do a U-turn in a roundabout, and then take a left onto Cook Rd. I ignored him and turned right onto Cook Rd. “Recalculating,” said Wesley – now he wanted me to pass the I-5N onramp, turn left onto I-5S, drive to the next exit, and turn around to get on I-5N. I ignored him again, and he finally gave up and directed me to Beach Basket Yarns & Gifts. Once there, I joked on Twitter about being afraid that he was plotting his revenge.

Don’t joke about a GPS plotting revenge. Just…don’t.

Beach Basket Yarns & Gifts, Birch Bay WA

I wasn’t the only one with the idea of starting in the north – there was quite a crowd of us by opening time. In fact, I chatted a bit with a couple groups, including a fellow LYS Tour blogger (you can check out her daily reports on the tour at f1bercat’s SlowKnitter, which I would highly recommend. Whereas my posts are more about the experience of traveling from yarn shop to yarn shop, her posts are much more in-depth reviews of each shop). We were destined to keep running into each other for the rest of the day.

I was reminded why I like Beach Basket – nice selection (I found something I had to have easily) and charming staff.

Wear On Earth, Lynden WA

This was a new stop on the tour, and I was rather intrigued to see them based on their write-up on the LYS Tour site. This was going to be the first combination consignment shop…

…yarn store I had ever visited (their motto: Save on clothes to splurge on yarn).

The yarn store part is tucked in the back…if you can call something the size of most full-sized LYS-only stores “tucked.” Took me a while to narrow the choices down in this place.

Stop #3 on my list for the day was Apple Yarns. Wesley got a bit of his own back here, and it was entirely my fault. I knew Apple Yarns had moved since the last LYS Tour…but I forgot to tell Wesley. So he took me to the old location. Fortunately, the new one is pretty close by, so I didn’t drive too far out of my way, but I know Wesley was snickering to himself. I figured maybe this was my actual 3rd navigation mishap – that clover leaf thing yesterday was more amusing than annoying.

Apple Yarns, Bellingham WA

If there’s a town that doesn’t get to complain about a yarn shortage, it’s Bellingham – Apple Yarns was one of 3 LYS I was visiting there. Once inside, I could easily see why they’d moved to this place – who wouldn’t want to knit a room full of that much natural light?

I also loved the quotes on the walls. I recognized some of them, but this one gave me a good (and slightly rueful) chuckle.

NW Handspun Yarns, Bellingham WA

Bellingham also gets lots of variety in what’s offered. NW Handspun Yarns is definitely the place to go if you’re a spinner; that’s what the upper floor is dedicated too.

But there’s plenty of interesting yarn (including handspun art yarn made by the staff) for sale on the first floor.

And I enjoy seeing what the tree looks like each year.

Mrs. Hudson’s Yarns and Teas, Bellingham WA

This was a new addition to the tour this year, so it was my first visit – and it was a bit tricky to find, tucked away with several other cute stores in a bit of an alley. I wonder how many LYS Tours can boast of two yarn and tea stores on their list. Apparently there’s a whole yarn and tea movement I’ve been unaware of until now.

I liked the Sherlock theme of the tea room.

And that was just half the day. Check back tomorrow for my continuing adventures…and learn how Wesley got his revenge…

On the surface, my plans for today weren’t all that ambitious – just 8 LYSs, 6 of them in Seattle. The hard part was that with Steve back at work, I also had to handle school drop off and pick up, which meant that in the middle of my touring, I was going to have to head back to the other side of the Sound to pick up the kids, and then head all the way back. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do when yarn’s involved.

The day started on a very sweet note – since Lexie was on vacation the week they did the Mother’s Day cards in her class, she did hers yesterday and I got it this morning. It had a tea theme, but the cutest part was the note inside the teapot card: “I love my Mom because…she knits me stuff.”

Seemed like the perfect note on which to head to Churchmouse Yarns & Teas.

Churchmouse Yarns & Teas, Bainbridge Island WA

I was there before opening, but wasn’t surprised to see the doors were already open with busy shoppers inside. Churchmouse was my shortest stop, because it’s the only one of the LYSs on the list that’s actually local to me.

From there I headed to the Bainbridge Island-Seattle ferry; I once accidentally (showed up at the wrong time) took this one the other direction, but never from the island, so that was fun. After having lived here for almost 2 years, I still get a kick out of riding the ferries. Once on dry land, it was back to touring.

Bad Woman Yarn, Seattle WA

This year, I made sure to put Bad Woman Yarn early in my schedule. Last year, I dashed in as they were packing up for the night, so I didn’t get to see their nice set up.

This time, I wanted to be able to actually look around in a leisurely manner – there’s quite a bit to see for a small store.

So Much Yarn, Seattle WA

So Much Yarn isn’t the prettiest on the outside…

…but they do have plenty of yarn!

I found a really sweet yarn in there with sparkles that I’m pretty sure Lexie’s going to love…even though I added some green to her favorite pink and purple combo.

Seattle Yarn, Seattle WA

My last stop for the first half of the day was at Seattle Yarn.

Inside I came across a nice surprise: Shannon Mullet-Bowlsby of Shibaguyz Designz was there with a new design collection and all the fun yarn he used. (Jason was there too, but of course, I missed him.) They’ll be there for the rest of the tour, if you want to check out some great designs and yarn. I snagged a couple skeins for some swatching – Jeffrey wants a zippered cardigan from it.

Oh, and there’s plenty of other yarns to check out too.

Then it was time to head back across the Sound to get the kids. This time, I ended up on the Fauntleroy-Southworth Ferry…and almost accidentally got off at Vashon Island. That route’s tricky, y’all.

As soon as the kids were home with Steve, it was back to it for me. In an attempt to dodge as much of Seattle’s nightmare rush hour traffic as possible, I opted to head to Serial Knitters in Kirkland first – it’s a bit more out of the way, so if I missed any yarn stores, I wanted them to be in Seattle (and this almost turned out to be a premonition). But the trip to Serial Knitters was quite smooth…except for one small misstep. I forgot that my GPS, Wesley, can’t handle this exit and flips out after sending me the wrong way. Unfortunately, although I love Serial Knitters, it’s far enough out of the way that I visit rarely, and I don’t remember the freak out until it’s too late. As usual, it took 3 of the 4 clover leaves on that exit to get me pointing the right direction.

Serial Knitters, Kirkland WA

But I made it.

Serial Knitters may be my favorite store on the tour (don’t tell the others…and come to think of it, don’t tell Serial Knitters about Makers Mercantile). I had a hard time picking something out, partly because there were so many happy knitters there (a frequent “problem”) and partly because of the selection. One thing I knew I was getting as soon as I saw it – a double Yarn Buddy!

Then it was off to Seattle again, and I ran into my second travel misadventure. I had planned pretty well for traffic…but you can’t really plan for the car that stalls on the floating bridge on 502. That back up slowed me down quite a bit.

Acorn Street Yarn, Seattle WA

I wasn’t too far behind when I got to Acorn Street…but finding parking was a bit tricky. I ended up several blocks away and up a hill. Walking down was a bit painful for my knees. Walking back up was worse. The sacrifices I make for yarn…

And to get to see the ladder and imagine having one in my future craft room…and having shelves of yarn stacked high enough to actually need a ladder…sigh…

It was as I was leaving Acorn Street that another yarn crawler gave me a warning about my planned final stop that, in retrospect, I didn’t give enough thought to…but that’s for later.

The Fiber Gallery, Seattle WA

I made things a bit tough on myself here; I forgot they had parking behind the store and ended up a couple blocks (and across a busy street with no crosswalks) away.

I couldn’t seem to settle on anything here for a while, and spent a bit of time chatting, although I was aware that time was ticking. It was about 7:30, and the tour ended at 8pm today.

I did finally make a selection and get moving…and that disregarded warning jumped up to bite me in the rear.

See, there’s a section of Seattle called Ballard. Ballard has a lot of people of Norwegian descent who are quite proud of their heritage – so much so, they throw an annual parade. And today was that day.

Guess where The Tea Cozy Yarn Shop, my planned final stop is located? In Ballard. On the parade route.

I ended up circling the blocked off streets, trying to find a spot I could squeeze into. Unfortunately, the streets were parked solid, turning them into one way roads (which got interesting anytime I met a car going the other way – which was frequently). Meanwhile, I was watching time ticking down on my dashboard clock.

Finally, I found a spot a good distance a way, 2 minutes before 8, and set off at a rapid walk. Halfway there, I finally admitted to myself that this was a futile gesture. The only shot I was going to get was going to be the outside shot…

The Tea Cozy Yarn Shop, Seattle WA

See that open door? So did I.

In fact, there were several knitters in there finishing up as I dashed in, out-of-breath and disheveled. One of the staff looked at me and said with a smile, “You made it.”

Yes. Yes I did.

I got my stamp. Not only that, but I got my door prize entry, looked around, bought some yarn, and even got a frequent buyer card…all while being given the impression that the staff had all the time in the world even if it was 5 minutes after closing when I showed up. Award for the Most Gracious LYS of 2013 goes to The Tea Cozy Yarn Shop.

LYS Tour stats (today):

• LYSs visited: 8
• Miles traveled round trip: 191.3
• Time spent traveling and visiting LYSs: 11 hrs, 47 min
• Ferries taken: 3
• Yarn purchased: 18 skeins

LYS Tour stats (total):

• LYS visited: 10 of 24
• Miles traveled round trip: 316.3
• Time spent traveling and visiting LYS: 15 hrs, 16 min
• Ferries taken: 3
• Yarn purchased: 28 skeins

I love LYS tours. I love them so much that last year, I did 2 of them…on the same weekend. By the end, I’d visited 29 yarn stores, traveled more than 860 miles, spent almost 40 hours traveling and visiting LYSs, and took 7 ferry rides. It was crazy, it was exhausting, it was stressful…and it was some of the most fun I’ve ever had.

That said, I was pleased to see that this year, the South Sound Yarn Crawl and LYS Tour were on different weekends (whew!). I happily planned on doing both again…and then had to give the SSYC a miss when I ended up with other plans. I’m certainly not complaining, though.

The other plans ended up being welcoming my husband Steve home from a 8+ month deployment onboard USS JOHN C. STENNIS. I’ll take my husband over yarn any day (he might be surprised to hear that, but it’s true!).

We spent the first week of his post-deployment leave on vacation, and then the last several days just starting to ease Steve into the new household routine. But for his last day of leave (he’s back to work Friday), I really wanted to start the LYS Tour. I figured I’d leave him at home, take the kids to school, and be back in time to pick him and them up. But as we got to talking, he mentioned maybe heading down to Kent, WA to The Grape Adventure, a wine store with an awesome wine club (we had our last month’s selection to pick up). And maybe we could have lunch there too, he suggested. I reminded him about my LYS Tour plans, and then I looked at the map.

Darned if there wasn’t an LYS in Kent. It was on.

So, after dropping the kids off, we both headed south. For the first time (not on a ferry), I was actually getting to knit while traveling on a yarn crawl.

And that was because of my awesome designated driver (every serious knitter has one, Steve informed me).

Today was supposed to be gray and rainy and miserable…you certainly couldn’t tell that by our trip across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

The Knittery, Renton WA

Our first stop was a bit north of Kent at The Knittery. The Knittery was on the tour last year, so this was my second visit…which good, because I entirely forgot to take any pictures at the store, so I snagged last year’s indoor shot.

(No outdoor shot again – sorry, Knittery!)

I did take a shot of my haul, though.

That fun yarn is destined to be a new design – I’m thinking a summer shirt of some kind. Lexie has already agreed to wear it…naturally, since it’s pink and purple.

Makers Mercantile, Kent, WA

Then we turned back south to Kent for my first visit to Makers Mercantile. In retrospect, it’s embarrassing that we almost couldn’t find it in the business park. Why? Well, the outdoor shot required me to use the panoramic function on my camera.

It’s huge.

And that’s not even all of the indoor space – they have an enormous lounge with tables, chairs, and couches, as well as 3 separate classrooms. In the back, where the blue wall is? That’s the cafe. Despite the fact that we were heading to lunch from here, Steve almost lost the battle against some delicious baked goods.

Oh, and by the green wall?

Yeah. I heard angels singing.

It was lunchtime by then, so we zipped over to The Grape Adventure, which is a very short hop from Makers Mercantile. If you’re doing the LYS Tour and end up in Kent around noon, and you don’t feel like another fast food meal and/or you are at all interested in wine, I can’t recommend them enough.

Do yourself a favor – get the cheesy bread appetizer (it’s life changing. No, really). But don’t eat it all when it comes – save some. For your entree, get the steamed clams. When they arrive, dip the cheesy bread in the sauce with the clams. The 14 Hands Chardonnay is an excellent complement. You can thank me later.

Before we started eating, Steve and I did a time check. We had to be back home in time to pick Jeffrey up from school, and as the next closest LYS was in Seattle, that would be pushing it. Or…we could have a leisurely meal, enjoy each other’s company (alone for the first time since he got home), and then make a few fun stops for the DD on the way back. We chose the second option.

After loading up our wine, we headed to 7 Seas Brewing in Gig Harbor, WA. Or, at least, we tried to. I’d never been there before, but Steve had…and we were both quite surprised when he pulled up to the building to find…a distillery. Heritage Distilling Company, to be exact. I did tease Steve, a spirits drinker, about “accidentally” finding a distillery, but it turned out when we went in (after all, we were there…) that 7 Seas had moved after Steve deployed. So Steve got a bonus spirits tasting before we headed to brewery’s new taproom location.

Found it!

We enjoyed a taste of all the beers on tap and then decided to call it a day. Not a very successful one judging by the yarn crawling (2 out of 24 stores), but massively successful as a great day for a husband and wife to reconnect.

Cheers!

LYS Tour stats:

• LYSs visited: 2
• Miles traveled (round trip): 125 miles (LYSs only)
• Time spent traveling and visiting LYSs: 3 hrs, 29 min
• Ferries taken: 0
• Yarn purchased: 10 skeins

So my optimistic plans for this deployment have proven to be a bit unrealistic. Something had to give it, and it couldn’t be the kids, obviously. I’ve done what I’ve could where I could, but haven’t had much uninterrupted time (I did get a whole weekend off last month – my first of the deployment – to go to Madrona, which I’ll be posting about soon, but I opted to try to relax a bit when not in class).

The couple hours a day I do get are generally when Lexie is at school. Unfortunately, on Monday night, she spiked a fever of about 102. That meant no school on Tuesday. So I was prepared to spend the day trying to entertain a feverish and uncomfortable little girl.

Fortunately, her fever was down a bit, closer to 100, the next morning. And Lexie had already decided what we were going to do: we were going to design.

On Monday, looking for something new to do with Lexie, I’d printed out some of the fashion croquis I use to sketch designs. As someone who can screw up drawing a stick figure, this is a resource I’m so grateful for. This sketch, which became Little Miss Mopsey, never would have happened without them.

We’d started by organizing my box of 64 crayons. I’m not quite sure what’s up with Crayola and these randomly organized crayon boxes. I mean, the reason you buy such big boxes is to make sure you have the right shade of green and how can you find it if you can’t compare it to the other greens, all next to each other?

Yes, I’m a little Type A. And I’m doing my darnedest to pass that on to my offspring.

Lexie went to town with the croqui and the crayons and had a blast. So since she had to stay home on Tuesday, she wanted to design some more. Of course, Tuesday is normally one of my work days, so I mentally crossed that day off as one where I’d be getting any real work done. But it would be worth it for the fun girl-time with my daughter. So we formed “The Magpie Knitter and Fledgling” design team and started drawing.

Wow, was I wrong…about not getting work done. We’d set up our “design studio” in the dining room, and I needed to give Fledgling a good excuse before I was allowed to leave it. No goofing off in my seat either – any time I started catching up on Ravelry or Twitter I’d hear, “Mommy – aren’t you going to design with me?” I did finally convince her that the swatching I needed to do counted as design work, as long as I sat there with her and helped her pick colors out. I got more work done that morning than I do most days.

I was not wrong about the fun, though. We had a blast. Lexie and I talked about all the designs she drew and what she liked in clothing, and about putting colors together. I didn’t bother with explaining color theory (although someday I’ll pull out my color wheel) but if she asked, I’d give her a generic color (“orange”) and enjoyed watching her pick out a shade she thought worked with what she’d already colored. I loved seeing how fearless with color she was – it was downright inspiring.

So, of course, I had to give her the ability to expand her color palette. Besides, some friction had developed in the design partnership – Lexie was beginning to ask me for color suggestions just to shoot them down. I decided to dissolve the partnership while we were still speaking to each other, and we couldn’t split custody of the crayon box. So instead I hooked us each up with one of these:

I couldn’t leave Jeffrey out. He got his own tower as well, and as soon as he got home from school he hurried through his homework so he could join in the fun.

He started out with the croqui I’d already printed out, but then he wanted to do some boy designs. I had those too, so I printed several out for both kids, and Jeffrey went to work.

A couple days later, the kids are still designing. I love that they think what Mom does is so much fun…and they’ve inspired me to get cracking!

Saturday was stressful as well, although it was a much happier stress – Lexie was having her first large birthday party with friends. Until this year, a big party didn’t make much sense because she wasn’t in school and didn’t really have any friends outside our neighbors, but this year she had classmates in both school and gymnastics. So I had 19 kids at a local indoor play arena. Lots of other parents were there too, but I always stress about these types of gatherings, and normally I have Steve there to keep me on an even keel. Fortunately, the party was a rousing success.

(I had to cheat with that picture – that’s from the family gathering the weekend before…I remembered all the important stuff for the party, and forgot a camera.)

So today, what I needed most was to relax. I’ve got grading to do for designs, and I’m on a fair isle kick right now. In fact, I woke up last night with a design idea. And it’s going to be really cute. I’ve also gotten several skeins I’ve ordered recently for designing, and my hands are itching to get swatching.

But mentally, I wasn’t up to it. I wanted something simple, something comforting. So I picked up some crochet.

I have a young cousin who’s expecting, and ever since I heard the news I’ve been working on a set of bibs and cloths. I’ve got a sizable stash of Peaches and Creme from right before the mill was sold and have been waiting for some babies to use it on. One of the colorways I had was Gumdrop, and since we didn’t have a gender yet, it seemed like the perfect fun colorway to work with, especially since I had all the perfect coordinating solids.

So I sat down and started flipping through all the washcloth patterns I’ve saved on Ravelry and picked out the Simple Stripes Dishcloth. Then I grabbed the purple solid and some Gumdrop and started working my crochet hook.

A couple rows in, I knew it was working. I could feel my muscles relaxing and my breathing slowing. Tomorrow, I’ll get back at the designing. But today, I’m just going to crochet.

Wednesday, I was working on my swatch while watching Jeffrey and Lexie at their tennis lesson. And as usual, I was chatting with a dad who brings his daughter to the same lesson. He noticed what I was doing and asked, “Oh, what are you knitting?”

I’m used to that. A lot of people don’t recognize the difference between knitting or crocheting, or aren’t sure which they’re seeing. I’ve never understood why some knitters and crocheters find that confusion to be such a deadly insult; I wouldn’t have known the difference before I learned to do them myself. I’m just pleased to have the chance to talk about what I do. Sometimes I tell them it’s actually crochet (or knitting); sometimes I just tell them what I’m making.

But this time, before I had a chance to say anything, the dad corrected himself, “Oh, you’re crocheting.”

Ah. Clearly someone more familiar with yarn craft than most I encountered. Still, his initial question is one I’ve found difficult to answer, even for people how know knitting from crochet; they rarely get the concept of gauge squares (heck, based on some Ravelry threads, I’m not sure some people who knit and crochet themselves get gauge squares). It’s a lot easier to be able to say, “I’m making a mitten” or “I’m making a hat” then to try to explain that I’m knitting or crocheting a square of fabric just so I can count the number of stitches in a given measurement so I can verify the size of my hook or needle. Usually, I just say I’m just practicing stitches or something like that.

I held up the rectangle I’d worked so far and started to do the same, when he looked at it and asked, “Ah, checking your tension?”

It turned out his wife knits and crochets.  So naturally, we started discussing his wife’s hobby and mine…which led to a rather amusing story.

They’d moved here from another state, and as part of putting their house on the market, they’d put items in storage, including his tools and much of her sizable yarn stash. At one point, he’d needed one of his tools, so he’d gone to their storage unit to retrieve it. Unfortunately, when he went in, he found his tools missing. So he called his wife and told her someone had broken into the unit and stolen his tools.

“And without missing a beat,” he finished, “she asked, ‘Is my yarn still there?’”

It’s exactly what I would have asked.

My grandfather (my mother’s father), on the left, served in the US Navy during World War II. He was a fire controlman and served aboard USS WREN (DD-568) in the Pacific theater. Growing up, I knew Grandpa had been in the military, but he never really talked about it and I had the impression (not sure where from) that he’d been in the Army. That changed shortly before I graduated from high school.

My Uncle Tom (my mother’s brother), in the middle, also served in the US Navy. He was graduating from college in the middle of the Vietnam war, so he applied for the Navy commissioning program and was accepted. He may have only intended to serve for the duration, but he stayed for a full 20 year career, much of it in the submarine fleet. He was the first officer in our family.

While I was still in high school, I became interested in serving (believe it or not, because I wanted to join the astronaut program) and I applied to the U. S. Naval Academy. It was when I was accepted that I learned about my grandfather’s prior service in the Navy. His granddaughter was going to be a Sailor, and was now worthy of all of his sea stories. My favorite was the one about the lieutenant on his ship who was belittling his men and making their lives miserable. The Captain had spoken to him about it, but he hadn’t changed his ways. Then the ship pulled into a tiny isolated Alaskan post, and the Captain discovered there was a lieutenant stationed there willing to do almost anything to get out. When the ship left, that lieutenant was on board…and the one who’d mistreated his men found himself with a sudden transfer to Alaska. Somehow, all of Grandpa’s stories involved an officer who didn’t take care of his men and received his comeuppance.

When I graduated from the Naval Academy in 1996, I went to sea like my grandfather and uncle before me – I’d fallen in love with shipboard service and left my former dreams of space behind without a backwards glance. That’s me on the far right above, while serving on USS GONZALEZ (DDG 66) – and I was so happy that my grandfather lived long enough to see his granddaughter become a destroyerman just like he had been.

Unfortunately, my original plans for a 20+ career ended with a medical retirement as a Lieutenant…but now as a veteran I serve in another way: as the wife of a Sailor with his own family tradition.

While my grandfather was serving in the Pacific theater at sea, Steve’s grandfather (on the left) was also in the Pacific as a US Marine. Steve (on the right) enlisted in the Navy after high school before applying to the Naval Academy where we met as classmates. He now serves on board the USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74), currently deployed overseas; we hope to see him again in the spring.

It would be wonderful if, someday, we can pass this tradition on to our children, but we will certainly pass on appreciation for our fellow veterans, especially those who protected our freedom with their lives. Thank you to all of those who have served and are serving. May you all come home safe.

It’s such a perfect night
It doesn’t seem quite right
That this should be my last with you

Come September
I will remember
Our camping days and friendships true

And as the years go by
I’ll think of you and sigh
This is good night and not goodbye

Every week I spent at Girl Scout camp growing up ended with that song, so I couldn’t help but think of it as I started to write this post (in November, not September) about the rest of my Camp Loopy adventures.

There’s some big differences between Girl Scout camp and Camp Loopy, however. For one, optimistic song lyrics notwithstanding, the end of each week did tend to be goodbye. Years later, I don’t remember much about those weeks, other than the songs – just some quick flashes of memory. The only tangible thing I have left are the ribbons I won during the Camp Echo Trail Olympics. I lost touch with any friends I made pretty quickly.

With Camp Loopy? We just moved on to another thread in the Ravelry group. And I have these:

Campy Copper Abalone (top) I already posted about. I started to tell the story of Loopy July Brides (middle), but never finished. The Ravelry project page contains the rest of the play-by-play, as well as all of my end-of-knitting notes. Despite lots of doubts – was I going to use enough yarn to make the 800 yds minimum? Was I going to get it (and my mom’s sweater, which I was working on at the same time) done in time for my cousin’s wedding? Was it even going to be wearable? (Until I got the lace panels added, I couldn’t get the fit right) – I ended up with a sweater I absolutely loved.

Sadly, there are no pictures of me wearing it at my cousin’s wedding with my beautiful dress…because I was so focused on how to pack my mom’s sweater while it was still blocking that I left it at my parents’ house. But at least Mom looked beautiful in her sweater!

And I successfully completed my Dragonflies assignment for Camp Loopy #2. Then I moved into Tent 4 for Camp Loopy #3…and was a bit intimidated by the requirements. At least 500 yds this time (and as I was planning to stick with the sweater-for-me theme, that was a given anyway), but containing 2 colors. I found a great pattern, Gilet court d’ete, that was one in a striping yarn, so I knew I could use 2 colors for thin stripes and it would look good. Picking out colorways was the hardest part, mostly because there were so many pretty options (and I wasn’t limited to a specific color palette like last time. I finally settled on Malabrigo Rios in Purpuras A and Indiecita A – purple & yellow and blue & yellow are 2 of my favorite color combinations.

But it wasn’t the yarn selection, and more than the yardage or multiple colorway requirements that left me intimidated – it was the fact that Camp Loopy 3 corresponded with the Ravellenic Games…for which I was already over-committed. Much as I loved Camp Loopy, the Ravellenics had priority with me. Still, the Games ended 11 days before Camp Loopy did – could I knit a 2-colorway striped cardigan for myself in 11 days? I was darn sure gonna try.

I did it in 9: Parlez-vous Loopy?

Had I had enough yarn to knit it as long as I would have preferred, it might have taken me the full 11 days, though. The pattern doesn’t come with measurements, so I wasn’t sure how long this was supposed to be, and mine is a lot more cropped than I would have liked. As it was, I went slightly over the given yardage requirements. But I was able to call it done for Camp Loopy 3, and if I should decide I want it longer, since it’s a top down sweater I can just unravel the bottom edging and start knitting again.

But since I did have a bit of “extra” time, I added some extras to my sweater:

Not actually too the sweater, but as it turned out I had the makings for a necklace and earrings and nail polish in the same colors as my sweater to do the art work. Making my own jewelry even brought back more memories from Girl Scout camp, like the leather bracelet I’d cut and stamped one year. That bracelet is long gone…fortunately, these sweaters will be around for a good long while, just like my new friends from Camp Loopy.