How Much Fan Was That?

Sunday, Beth, the kids and I hit the road again. We were off to Shipwreck Beads. Just a quick trip, you know. It turns out there is no such thing as a quick trip, at least for us.

It seems we worked up quite an appetite browsing through acres of beads of every color, shape and size. After we decided on what we "absolutely needed" and paid the bill, it was time to find something to eat.

I didn't really want to go to the usual fast food joint. What I wanted was coffee and a nice place to sit. What Beth wanted was to head home any way but I-5. Thus our adventure began. There it was, a sign pointing to Yelm. So Yelm it was. Now Yelm is further from that sign than one would at first believe, but we persevered and were we ever glad we did.

We stopped at a little restaurant known as The RoadRunner. What we didn't realize was that they were about to close for the day. We offered to leave, but the woman insisted that she would be there for awhile yet so we were more than welcome to stay. We were hungry, and after all, she offered to make a fresh pot of coffee for us. How could we resist?

Beth and I thought their pulled pork sandwich looked pretty good so that's what we ordered. The kids had hamburgers. Oh my gosh, were they good. Everything they serve is made there, which meant that the potato salad didn't come out of a five gallon container made is some factory and the baked beans hadn't been labeled Bush's.

The kids hamburgers were just like at home except bigger. We ate until we were full and then this friendly waitress told us about the homemade desserts. Our eyeballs were rolling, but we decided chocolate cake to go would be a good idea. After all, what if we got lost on the way back?

The moral of this story is, if you ever go to Yelm, stop in at the RoadRunner. If you just want some really good home cooking make a special trip. yes folks, it's that good.

Now for the knitting news. I have finished the baby set for the shop. It's so cute and best of all, quick and easy. If you have a need for a baby gift, this is a good choice. Fast, easy and inexpensive. Sounds like a great gift idea to me.

The best part of finishing the baby set is that now I am free to start another project. I think it's going to be that mitered square sweater that I saw at needle market. The yarn for it should be in today, so my timing is perfect. That doesn't happen very often.

What a Week We Had

If going to the Mariner's Game for Stitch 'N Pitch wasn't enough excitement, two days at the Northwest Needle Market just about put us on adrenaline overload.

The ballgame was so much fun sitting with our friends, knitting, laughing and sipping lemonade. The good news is that we only lost half as badly as last year. Win or lose, going to Safeco Field and watching baseball is the greatest.

Needle Market came on the heels of the ballgame. Beth and I had planned to only look and take notes. It didn't take long for us to go to "Plan B". We bought some really nice sock yarn from a small company out of Tenino known as Fly Designs. We both really like the idea of supporting local businesses.

We picked up several other new(to us) companies as well. Lace, lace, lace everywhere we looked. This seems to be the latest new trend. Wow, lace knitting and socks are big.

I can't forget blogging about our class with Cat Bordhi. She is the most amazing teacher. Three hours flew by under her tutelage . Her new sock book is so interesting. Cat's new sock architecture is a whole new approach to knitting socks. This could very well shake up the sock knitting world.

Even with all this excitement, I have been able to work on my own projects. Yesterday, I finished knitting my cardigan sweater. I'll block the pieces this weekend and get is seamed up and then wait for cooler weather so I can wear it. I think it will be the perfect sweater for this fall and winter.