Hi Ho, Hi Ho ... It's Off To Shop We Go!

I had the afternoon off on Friday! Yippee for me! My noisy bubbly super tough lovely friend, Roxanne, picked me up, and together with my printed MapQuest maps we set off on a yarn store road trip!

Our destination was Country Yarns, La Salle Road, Petrolia, Ontario.

So what was our excuse this time? Well, Roxanne is a my queen of crochet! She has crocheted me some absolutely gorgeous things including three tablecloths, two christening gowns for my nieces and a lacy little summer top. And now she is finally crochetting herself a tablecloth using Coats Opera 20 thread. Only trouble was that the 10 balls I gave her weren't enough. And guess who carries it? Yup, Country Yarns.

The drive there was lovely and took us exactly one hour. We weren't sure what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised at the amount of stock that Jeanne carries in her home business. The quaint little store is lovely, as is Jeanne! She carries knitting and crocheting yarns, patterns, accessories, needlework and cross stitch supplies, tapestry wool and floss, and the most delightful tapestry canvases you've ever seen!

Roxanne was in tapestry heaven! She bought a fabulous tapestry canvas and ordered another. Plus she got her Coats thread for the tablecloth. And the best part was that everything she bought was on sale!

I bought a great Clover Row Counter, a fabulous skein of TimiQuipa sport weight for just $5! (the last one), a beautiful skein of On Your Toes sock yarn in beautiful green print, and the most awesome Handspinner's Dream Alpaca with a Twist ready to spin combed top! And it gets better!! Jeanne also gave me 30% off my purchases. So I got out of there for just under $50!

What I was really looking for though was a 5.5mm Addi Turbo Bamboo 32" circular needle to knit my water turtles lace shawl. Jeanne didn't have any in stock, but she did recommend another yarn store only 15mins away in Sarnia. She phoned ahead for us, drew us a totally awesome mud map, and off we went! What an absolute delight to find friends in business. So rarely will a store recommend a competitor. Thank you so much Jeanne.

There on 105 Mitton Road [how appropriate!] Sarnia, Ontario, we found the Ewe Are Special Wool Shoppe. What a wonderful little store! And the owner, Marg, is equally lovely. She carries a wide range of yarn, accessories, needles, books, patterns and more! And what a lovely little stash of Noro she has!!

Roxanne had already spent all her money, but I still had some, so off I went in search of something special. I bought two skeins of Noro Cash Iroho in the Emerald colorway, one skein of Manos del Uruguay in the Canyon colorway, and two Addi Turbo Bamboo circular needles. Marg gave me a discount of 30% off my Noro and Manos purchases! Thank you Marg.

What an awesome day! Our round trip took us 4 hours in total - door to door. Roxanne and I hope to visit both stores again soon. Thank you Jeanne and Marg for your lovely hospitality.

And when I got home there was a package from KnitPicks!! Yippee! My 16" circs and book arrived.

The book is called Icelandic Knitting by Helene Magnusson and is really beautiful!

Wow, what a day! Hi ho, hi ho!