sheep in the city

Indiana recap!

The purpose of my trip to Indy was to see two of my good friends get married. Plus, my Dad was officiating the ceremony which is always fun! I flew into Indy on Friday (with a layover in Kansas City where RayLynn got on the same flight as me! So fun!) We got all checked in to our hotel and then headed to the rehearsal. Of course, with every wedding there seems to be a lot of down time, and we as knitters know just the thing to fill up the time! Here are my Mom and RayLynn knitting away at the church. None of us were actually in the wedding, but since we just had the one car...we were kind of stuck. But, again, the knitting came in handy!

We actually managed to make it to two knit shops on the day of the wedding on Saturday. One before the wedding, and one after the ceremony but before the reception. We're sneaky like that! The first shop that we stopped into was awesome, it's called Mass. Ave. Knit Shop. It was a huge store that had tons of great yarn and samples galore! I love it when stores have samples...and obviously it worked on all three of us because we all bought yarn to make a purse that they had on display! I could kick myself for not taking a picture of the finished bag...oh well. I'm almost done knitting mine though! With this project, I decided to stray a little from my usual color scheme. I knew that I would shock all the girls that I usually knit with because these are so not my colors, and they are so the colors that somebody else I know loves! A couple people in fact!

The yarn that I'm using is Malabrigo Aquarella which I had never seen before. It's so fast and fun to knit with! It's a sling bag that has long straps that cross over your body. You start at the tip of one strap, increasing along the way, then you knit the body for the bag, and finishing with the second strap. I had most of what you see knit in the above picture done Sunday morning. (It kind of looks like a big knitted sting ray right now) The pattern is one that the shop designed and gave out with the purchase of the yarn. I'm sure that you could call the shop and ask about the pattern, they are calling it the Malabrigo bag. It's knit on size 15 needles...so it's flying! I have a knit group to go to tonight, and I think that I should finish it. Sometimes it's just good to have an instant gratification project. I also picked up a shawl pin to wear with my Charlotte...it's perfect! It's made by the talented folks at Moving Mud. This is kind of a crappy picture, but it's mostly a pale pink color, with a little splash of a deep burgandy wine color. Perfect!

After the wedding ceremony was over, and RayLynn and I had taken the first of many goofy pictures, we headed to the reception. Since there was a yarn shop practically on the way to the reception, we had to stop! This one was called Stiches & Scones. It definitly lived up to the cuteness of it's name. I highly recommend stopping into this shop if you are in the Indianapolis area. Check out the wall of Koigu! Holy moley!

Can you believe that I walked out without a single skein?! Could I be reaching maximum capacity in my Koigu stash? Maybe it was because I was so focused on finding the perfect shawl pin. I came pretty close I think. I will be looking closer at the packaging tonight, to see exactly who it's made by. I know that it is made by Urban Tribal Wear, but I can't find these on their website. I'll look at the package it came in again and let you all know. It's really cool...it's made of polymer clay and the pin is twisted metal and beads. I also picked up a skein of ArtYarns Hand-paint Stripes yarn.

Many of you have come to expect me to bring home a new knitting bag when I go on a trip. Well, I didn't want to disappoint you...but I didn't really find anything that was unique. But, check out the bag that Mass Ave Knits gives out when you purchase yarn from them! This is what they put it all in! How cool is that? So, I guess I did get a bag while I was away!

One of the highlights of the trip for me though was getting to see my friend Stephany. She and her husband currently live in India, so I don't get to see her very often. She was the "Matron of Honor" and came all the way from India just for this wedding. Our last night in town, the three of us stayed up late talking and laughing and just being goofy in general. This picture is a perfect example of how silly girls can be together! Overall, this trip was a roaring sucess and just what I needed. I didn't realize just how much I was missing my friends until I had the chance to catch up with them.

Hopefully in the next couple of days I should have a finished Indy Malabrigo bag to show you!

Posted by Stacey at October 10, 2006 09:22 AM