It was a fiber-full weekend! On Saturday I went on The Traveling Ewe‘s inaugural road trip. JJ Foster is putting together fiber-related tours, and this one was grand.
How awesome that the license plate on our bus said “YARN”? Too funny. Our trip took us out of rainy Portland to the drier side of the Cascades. We shopped at Knot Another Hat in Hood River, a very lovely store with a view of the Columbia River.
We had lunch at Celilo. I’m thinking these hefty picks through my sandwich would make very cute little knitting needles.
From there we hopped back on the bus and visited Cascade Alpacas of Oregon, which has a cute little yarn shop and even cuter alpacas. Thomas demonstrated spinning and weaving for us.
And Connie told us about raising alpacas.
Can you get more bucolic than this?
Snack time!
This cria (baby alpaca) is 2 days old.
And this cria is 3 hours old. Check out the wobbly walk!
Our last stop was at Mt. Hood Winery. We sampled some wines, and had show and tell with the day’s purchases. (Angela wins. She did some major shopping!)
Melissa is going through a blue-green knitting phase. All her yarn seems to match.
Mt. Hood made a valiant effort to peek through the clouds. All in all, it was a fun day! JJ Foster has a knack for planning. We had just enough time at all the places we visited, and the bus was a great venue for chatting with other knitters. I’d do this again! You can, too. The next trip is August 16, and will visit Corvallis and Eugene. More details here. Bring knitting you can multi-task with, because you’ll be chatting and laughing the whole time.
Sunday’s fiber fun? Open studio at Knitted Wit; Lorajean is doing this on the second Saturday and fourth Sunday of each month. Stop by and craft, and shop, too. This weekend Lorajean was getting ready for Tour de Fleece. Me? I just knit. Oh, and we are coming up with a very cool color for a pattern I’m releasing soon. I edited and formatted two patterns this weekend. Lots of fun things in the works; I’m looking forward to showing them all to you. Soon!
Fiber appreciation starts early!
How was your weekend?
PDXKnitterati 
So happy that you notified us of the Traveling Ewe. I will always join a knitting ride along and this one was wonderful. You covered the highlights and I completely agree that JJ’s timing was absolutely perfect. Never felt rushed, had tons of fun, met new people and came home relaxed not worn out.
Yes, that was a perfect day. So nice to meet you in person, too!
>
Oh, man, this all sounds like a blast! Love the wobbly baby alpaca trying to make all four legs work at once! I’m definitely taking a Traveling Ewe trip at some point. I work Saturdays, but this is worth taking off for.
I look forward to seeing you on one of these trips! I know you will love it.
>
The Traveling Ewe trip sounds like great fun! Wish I could have gotten to LJ’s but too many things and not enough Sunday.
I know, so many options for fun, right? I think LJ’s next open studio day is next Saturday, 10-2. I’ll swing by at some point, because I need some more pretty yarn for a couple design ideas! Hope to run into you there, if not sooner.
>
Your posts make it very seriously tempting to consider living in Portland. It all just seems so delightfully yarn-friendly!
Portland is extremely yarn-friendly! If you can’t live here, you should at least visit…it’s worth your while. (Good luck in your new endeavor, btw!)
>
Is lunch included in the price ofthe Civil War package? I want to bring my 11 year old daughter with me. Is that ok?
Also, I am looking to make a spring/summer sweater in a cotton blend. I hesitate using 100 % cotton because it grows. Any ideas? What brand do you like and why?
Thank you,
Leigh Anne Halpert
Pretty sure lunch is included in the price of the package, and includes one beverage. Double check with JJ to be sure.
I don’t have a cotton blend to recommend to you; still looking for the one! I have done some sweaters in 100% mercerized cotton; they shouldn’t grow if you knit firmly. My favorite one is in Dale of Norway Kolibri, but that’s discontinued. Wears forever (it’s probably 15 years old, and looks brand new). I guess you can put me down as loving mercerized cotton!
>
Thanks for visiting – we really enjoyed having you all! 🙂 And thanks to JJ for thinking it up in the first place! -Sarah Keller, Owner, Knot Another Hat