Rings, Strings, and Fine things!

She’s back!

I made it back from Melbourne last night and though I’m happy to be home I definitely had a great time.

Thursday was mostly driving, with some fibre thrown in. I stopped in a little village called Euroa (very small little place, entire downtown is about a block and a half long) for a coffee and found this darling little cafe/bulk shop combo called Fair Enough. The coffee was tasty and I had their fresh muesli with yogurt (that’s Aussie for muesli, if it’s granola they call it baked muesli). It was cold and cloudy and every shop on that street had a sign out saying ‘Bring Your Own Container!’ or “Packaging Free’. It was like being back in Seattle. It made my goth-hippy heart sing. 

 I also managed a little dino knitting while I was there and sniff some frosted lavender. It was as delicious as it sounds.

      

After breakfast I stopped in at First Edition Fibres and Yarns. They produce a large portion of the spinning top/fibre sold in Australia. If you’ve ever been to Virginia Farm Woolworks you’ve probably handled, if not bought, some of their top. I walked away with several yummy things.

I got myself the rest of the way to Melbourne and had some time before I was to meet my friend,  who was hosting me. I checked out Brotherhood of St Lawrence, one of my favourite opshops (I always find stuff I’m looking for there!). It, sadly, was a but of a bust. I found a few things I liked, but they were the wrong size, or not on the ‘yes I really need that’ list, so I walked away empty handed and a little let down.

I probably should have noticed this as the warning it was. The rest of the afternoon was more of the same in one way or another. I bounced from cafe to yarn shop to opshop, but didn’t get the zing I was hoping for. In the end I bought my yarn and went to a cafe to sit in a corner and stare out the window at the soothing rain.

To be clear, the yarn shops I went to were lovely and the staff were very helpful and kind. I just didn’t quite ‘settle’ while visiting them, if that makes any sense. I was able to find lovely yarn and purchase without a problem. I even got to see what one owner was currently working on.There were groups in the shops stitching away, but I found it hard to enter the conversation. They seemed to have their own thing going on, and the shops were too small to accommodate other stitchers if you weren’t part of the group. In the end I felt more like an awkward lurker hovering over a group I wasn’t part of than I did a potential joiner. 

Turns out all the driving and need to get out of Sydney for a few days had drained me of my social skills, which is something you need when visiting new places for the first time. Who knew?

Friday more than made up for my weird/uncomfortable/disappointing Thursday. I got up, got myself a coffee, and headed over to Wondoflex Yarn and Craft Centre. It was the right kind of yarn shop for me. How am I sure? I walked in and the owner (I’m so sorry I have completely forgotten your name! Please let me know and I’ll update) immediately complimented me on my shawl (What The Fade by Andrea Mowry in a collection of black to purple to bone coloured Hedgehog Fibres) and asked if she could give it a squish. 

After having a little bit of a geekout about the shawl, during which I mentioned this was my first time at her shop, she said I was there on the right day. Thinking she was making a joke I responded that I knew I was there on the right day, because wasn’t everyday the right day if it was about yarn? Turns out the ‘right’ day was a Friday, and I had managed to magically turn up on a day that the downstairs was open. The downstairs? I asked, a bit stupidly. The owner smiled knowingly and suggested I grab a basket on our way down.

Now, before you go dismissing a visit downstairs as nothing too exciting, as I first did, you must understand. The downstairs in Wondoflex is the size of my apartment and it is filled with CLEARANCE/MARKED DOWN YARN from discontinued lines or miss-dyes or drabs from the end of a dyelot. I turned a corner from the stairs and an entire apartment’s worth of priced to move yarn of all levels of luxury opened out in front of me. I was a little breathless at first. Wouldn’t you be?

    

I found Zauberballs for practically pennies, and a beautiful cotton/linen blend with sparkles and sequins. (This is definitely for Youngling. She loves bling.) There was another stitcher there, and we agreed to help remind each other to breathe. I’m sure my eyes were the size of bbq grills. I also walked away with some self-patterning fingering weight yarn, some delicious Malabrigo sock yarn (a first for my stash!) and a project bag. And there I was thinking I wouldn’t manage to kill an hour in a yarn shop before heading over to meet up with a fellow Fibre Fiende.

After the romp in the shop I headed out to the other side of Melbourne metro area and met up with a friend. Our plan was to grab some lunch and then have a crafternoon. Mel is super artistic (you’ve got to see her paintings and sketches!) but she also crochets and she’s got a library in her house! Pretty much everyone needs a Mel in their life - she’s brilliant and a blast to hang out with. We spent the first few hours just geeking out over yarn, FOs, my haul from Wondoflex, and her darling puppies. 

  

The shawl is Crochet Between the Lines by Tammy Canavan-Soldaat in Mel's favourite hufflepuff colours. It's crocheted, and really fun to stare at from all sorts of angles.

Oh yeah, that library she’s got? It totally doubles as the perfect spot to settle in with a project and a pot of tea. The ‘Crafternoon’ extended to include an evening book group hangout with wine and yummy thai food. Best remedy ever for a harder-than-usual Thursday. I walked away with some spoils, too. :D That ring is something I’ve been coveting for ages! I finally have one!

  

Saturday was very quiet and slow - I hung out with Ellie at her house and we baked, chatted, and drank tea until the sun went down. Nothing too exciting, but definitely needed and welcomed. 

Sunday I was up and on the road, headed back to Sydney. Turned out that at some point during the night the newest Seanan McGuire book was released in audio format. (For you newbies I’m a big big BIG Seanan fan, and this book is the sequel to the book no one thought we’d get a sequel to.) The Girl in the Green Silk Gown is about a hitchhiking ghost. How more perfect can you get for a road trip than a book about roads, traveling, and urban legends?

The book was even better than I expected. It was so good, in fact, that I had to bribe myself with knitting breaks for the driver. Everyone go read Sparrow Hill Road RIGHT NOW and then read Girl in the Green Silk Gown. Then come back and we’ll squee about it. You won’t be sorry, I promise. (for those of you who aren’t big fans of horror, don’t worry, it isn’t gory. There’s even a love story or two.)

The book was so good that I actually sat in the car outside our home waiting for a break in the plot before stopping the story and heading on in. While I was sitting in the car waiting for the chapter to finish I got a message from Liebling last night that he and Youngling were refreshing the map to see when I would be coming up the stairs. I think I was missed. :o)

Oh yeah, I promised you guys i wasn’t joking about the gigantic concrete merino ram. Here it is in it’s demonic form. I will point out that yes, in fact, this gigantic hollow concrete merino ram comes complete with gigantic hollow concrete balls. Aussies are weird, just go with it. 

   

Enjoying the blog?  It takes a lot of caffeine and yarn to make this happen! ;)