sheep in the city

The Lowdown on Boston

My trip to Boston was a blast! The wedding (you know, the reason for going out there) Saturday was beatuiful and the weather could not have been more perfect. The other days we were out in Boston were filled with going to historical sights, meeting knit-bloggers, and of course visiting some local shops!

On Friday, my mom and dad and I drove to Littleton, MA to meet up with Ruth at a great local shop called The Woolpack. I highly recommend this shop. They have a great selection of yarn and the atmosphere is cozy and very friendly. I found some great used books in their sale section. If I lived anywhere near Boston, I would make this yarn store one of my regular stops. My Dad settled in at the gathering table they had and made friends with Ruth's littlest one...by the end they were fast friends.

I loved meeting both Ruth and Lucia. They were kind enough to take me to two of their local yarn shops. Their kids were out of school and so we were a big group going from store to store...but it was so fun. The second store we went to, A World in Stitches, was great for the kids, it was big enough that they played hide-and-seek and could really hide! So funny. They had a big sale room with great stuff. My mom and I both were able to find some good stuff there. My mom bought yarn for at least 2 baby sweaters, and we found yarn for a poncho for my sister to wear while she's nursing. (If you know any poncho patterns that would work well for this, email me. I'd love some suggestions. We are using a worsted weight yarn, and she wants it pretty solid instead of holey like most patterns. Thanks!) My favorite purchase of the day was a pair of Serendipity needles that had little fimo hershey kisses on the end! So cute! You want to take a look...ok, click away! Friday night was the rehersal dinner at the historical Wayside Inn, and the wedding was the next day at the little Martha-Mary Chapel next door to the Inn. It was just beautiful!

Sunday, we spent some time sight-seeing in Boston, but it was cold and rainy so we didn't do as much as we had planned. Then it was time to meet up with my favorite Bostonian, Wendy! She is one of the sweetest knit-bloggers around! I had met her one other time when she made a trip out to Colorado last year, and I knew as soon as I found out that I was coming to Boston that I'd need to get in touch with her. She was very patient with me and my family as we tried to navigate our way through the unfamiliar city. We hit Circles first, where I picked up a pattern by Karabella for a really beautiful lace shawl. You tell me...doesn't this model remind you of a certain surgical intern from my favorite medical show?! Seriously...seriously!!

Next up was A Good Yarn. I had heard many good things about this shop...it's the shop that Alison, Dani, and Johanna all work at. Johanna was working on Sunday and she helped me pick out lots of yarn...what a great store!! (click to see a picture of the knitbloggers at A Good Yarn!) I found lots of goodies, including some great Koigu!!

Every other store I've been to lately either has the same colors that I already own or are almost completely depleated. So yeah, I got some Koigu! (this is as some of you may know, is my favorite travel yarn. I love to pick up a skein of it when I'm out of town. So far, this has worked on almost all of my trips!) I picked up some Misty Alpaca Lace weight yarn to make the above Karabella Shawl, some ArtYarns Handpaint Stripe to make some stripey mittens, and some Koigu...just for fun!! My Dad was getting into the yarn shop thing, he dubbed himself "The Yarn Chauffeur"! My Dad is the greatest!! At The Woolpack on Friday he was being kind of sneaky and when we got to the car he showed me a surprise that he had found for me. It was a license plate for my car that says "License to Knit" on it! I love that he thinks of little things like that! Awww, I love my Dad!

Finally, what you all have been waiting for...the loot! Here it is (sorry for the poor lighting...I really need to do something about that at my house!) Lots of books and patterns, and lots of yarn!!

I bought a lot of Alpaca on this trip...it's just so hard to resist because it's so dang soft! Here's a closeup of the bowl of Alpaca yarn. It's 4 skeins of Frog Tree Alpaca Sport weight yarn in color #28, to make a "Cape Cod Shell Scarf". (my mom and grandma are going to make one too. We didn't even notice the name of it until much later, and it's so appropriate that we bought it in Massachusetts!) 5 skeins of Misty Alpaca Lace weight in red to make the shawl I've already mentioned, and a skein of Trekking XXL that I just couldn't resist! In the next bowl is some pink handpainted wool (can't remember the info), the ArtYarns stripes in pink/brown and my orange Koigu! Love it! I have a couple other things to show off, but that will have to wait for another day. This post is long enough! I had a blast with my family, and meeting new knit-bloggers. Overall, this trip was a roaring success!!