Sarah joined me for the Mason-Dixon pilgrimmage. We headed out of Seattle at 10 am. The roads were clear and we cruised along happily for about two hours when I got pulled over by a state trooper.
"Ma'am, do you know you why I pulled you over? You were going 80 in a 70 zone? Is there something that's got you in a hurry."
"Uh, no."
(ominous silence while Mr. Trooper examines my license and writes down my number.)
"All right, Ma'am. I'm going to let you off with a warning so make sure you slow down."
"Okay."
At first I was so pissed. How bogus to get pulled over for doing 80 in a 70 zone when there were people flying by us all day. Then I regretted not taking a picture of Mr. Trooper in his fancy hat for the blog. But I feared that would have been pushing my luck.
The rest of the trip was uneventful though a tiny bit slower.
We crossed the border and headed straight for Bolt.
What a great little shop. Everything in it was lovely, tidy and fun. I could have done some serious damage in there. Instead I bought a baggie of "Cowgirl Snaps." These are not like Ginger Snaps. They are like these in the pearl color.
Then we headed next door to Close Knit. The shop is a little overwhelming. It's crammed with yarn. Everything is jumbled and falling out at you. There were also two small children parked in the middle of the shop watching Star Wars on a laptop. Kind of killed the ambiance for me. They had one line of yarns that really appealed to me, Loominessence, which I hadn't seen before.
We grabbed some Cajun for lunch at Lagniappe. They had their phone number listed on the side of the building as 249-PORK, which I took as a very good sign. Oddly there was no pork on the menu. The crawfish ettouffe was yummy though. And the waiter ran after us for a block or two because I left my sunglasses on the table. Thanks Waiter!
Next stop was Mirador. We went there so I could see the Laptop Lunchbox in person. And buy one tax-free. I ended up with the pink one.
Mirador is very close to Mabel's so we had to stop there too.
This one is for Wes, anyone else from Vermont or fans of Thank You for Smoking.
Mabel's is a cute little shop. A large part of the space is used for a cafe up front. The selection was fairly standard with the addition of Barlett (I'm not sure if anyone in Seattle carries them). They had 2 and 3-ply plus cones of sportweight. I nearly bought enough 2-ply for a second Rogue.
Then we landed at Abundant Yarn.
We got there a little less than an hour before the event was supposed to start. And we were the first ones there. We were nearly the only ones there right until 5. Larissa, who arranged the whole thing, was there. I met her briefly at OFFF so it was really nice to get to talk to her some more. When I saw Ann and Kay come into the shop I nearly jumped up to run over to hug them. Then I remembered that they didn't know who I was and that would be weird. So I waited a moment while waving frantically at them. They waved back then asked if I was Jessica. Which is when I jumped up to run over to hug them. They gave a great talk on the process they went through making their book. They signed books for everyone including stamping the books with the woodcut pictures from the cover. While they signed books, Sarah and I were endlessly charmed by Larissa's little guy.
What a cutie!
After the signing wrapped up Larissa lead us (Ann, Kay, Sarah, Kathy--sorry, I don't remember your blog-- and me) to meet another Sarah at an artisinal pizza place. I think "artisinal" is code for "you have to wait a really long time for your table" but man, that food was great. We ate, we talked, we laughed. Honestly, I felt like I'd known them my whole life. It was a truly wonderful time.
With great sadness and fatigue, I got back behind the wheel around 10:30 and headed back home. I got back home a little after 1 and was in bed around 2. And it was so totally worth it.