sheep in the city

Arizona Adventure: part one

I survived my trip to Scottsdale and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it down there, despite the heat. You get used to the hot weather, and I just had to wear different clothes than I would at home, here in Colorado. I went down there to help my parents furnish an apartment that they have rented for the next year to vacation in (read, my dad and his golfing buddies can golf all winter). Hopefully I'll be visiting on a regular basis this next year!!

As soon I landed in Phoenix, we headed to IKEA to start the shopping. I loved it...and had a great time looking at the showroom. My parents enjoyed it, but they weren't as impressed as I was. They thought that it was a little too "young" for them. So, I found lots of cool things at IKEA...none of which I could buy because...ummm, they wouldn't fit on the plane:) They had some really cool displays though, and I took a picture of this one. It's a bunch of plastic collanders...but it reminds me of a chandelier by Dale Chihuly. IKEA was like eye candy to me though, I loved it! On to the next furniture store though. The next place we stopped, my parents actually found all the big furniture at, it was much more up their alley, and didn't require them to assemble anything:) I had to take a picture of my Dad in this chair (which I'm happy to say, we didn't buy!!) because it reminded me of that Lily Tomlin character Edith Ann.

This picture cracks me up everytime that I see it!

Fast forward to Saturday morning, when Amy picked me up bright and early for a day of knitting/crafting adventures! First we headed to a Craftster group that she belongs to that was meeting up and going to see a fiber related exibit at the ASU Art Museum. It was a show of Mark Newport's work. I love visiting Art Museums when I travel...and to have this one displaying knitted stuff...knitted superhero costumes no less, was awesome! Some of you may remember seeing his stuff in an old issue of Interweave, I think. What a creative guy!

Amy and I were both inspired by his embroidered comic books. She just picked up a needle punch tool at a thrift shop for a couple bucks, and I have had a set for about a year...so don't be surprised if you see us doing some crazy embroidery around here. Go check out Amy's blog to see a funny picture of me, another crafty lady, and a book that is just about the funniest thing I've ever seen!!
Amy presented me with a Scottsdale Survival kit that included:

•Sunscreen...recommended 100spf, but 30 would do
•Eye Moisturizer...in case any desert sand gets in your eyes
•Aloe...for when I get burnt by the blazing Arizona sun
•Pepto Bismal...for all the spicy SouthWestern/Mexican food
•and last, some Hand Sanitizer, for all "questionable" surface contacts
What a cute idea!! Thanks Amy!!

From the museum we headed to the stamp store, where I reconnected with my inner stamper from days of old. I used to love stamping. Seeing some of the amazing things that they had on display was again...inspiring! I did buy a "few" stamps, but darn it all if I didn't leave them at my house, so there will be no picture today. There was a sheep stamp (had to have it), a monkey stamp, a Frida stamp, and an alphabet set. It's time for me to pull out all my old stamps, like another blogger I know. We headed to lunch at Flo's, Amy's favorite chinese restaurant, that I have to agree is pretty amazing. I liked it so much I wanted to take my parents back there for lunch on Sunday, but they didn't open until 4:00, so we were out of luck.

So, when did we hit the knit shop, you ask? Well, we saved the best for last of course! We headed over to what I think may be the cutest knit shop I've been in recently, Jessica Knits. The shop was well lit, had multiple seating areas, fun displays, and just about every yarn you could want.

(Sorry for the fuzzy picture...it's what happens when other people use my camera) They have a great selection of Koigu, Rowan, Lorna's Laces, and everything in between. They even had some stuff that I had never seen before, and I feel like sometimes that I've seen it all. I could have just looked and touched and played with yarn all day but I needed to get back to help my parents, and Amy had to go home and get dolled up for a night on the town. So, it was decision time! I needed to restrain myself, put back the multiple colorways of Koigu that I had in my big silver galvanized bucket (yes, they give you huge buckets to fill with yarn while you are shopping...very smart, that Jessica) and make a decision. So here's what I decided on:

Pretty, pretty Koigu in a color that I had never seen before, I bought three skeins. It's color 713. I think I'm in love. Can you love an inanimate object? Have I finally lost my mind, due to too much knitting and fondling yarn? Maybe. But, I had socks on the brain, so I got myself some sock yarn. I've never used Lang Yarns sock yarn before, so that will be fun to try out. I picked up 2 skeins in color number 0158. A Fushia/purple and light/dark gray colorway. There are more adventure stories to come, but I need to post this already...so stay tuned for more about my trip to Arizona. Pictures of the place we stayed, the most beautiful hotel I've ever stayed in and what I got when I went back to the knit shop for a second time! Of course I had to take my mom back to the store:)