The great West Coast yarn tour and wedding fiesta

This past weekend was my best friend's wedding in Portland, Oregon. Before heading to Portland, we made a stop in San Francisco to catch up with some friends and the city in general. While the Boy worked, I made it my business to visit every yarn store I could think of; I only missed one that I know of (don't tell me if there were others).

My favorite is Imagi-Knit. Since my last visit they've almost doubled the square footage of the store. It's like every yarn shop in NY rolled into one - everything from Koigu to Brown Sheep, all under one roof. I was so overcome I forgot to take a picture, although I did not forget to take home these gems - that's two skeins of fabled Seasilk in Rose Garden. It is so soft and yummy that I carried it around the store like it was my little toy puppy.

I exercised restraint - that was my only purchase despite the fact I hit the Urban Knitting Studio, Artfibers and Noe Knit as well. Urban Knitting Studio was nice but a little austere for a knitting store. I loved the feel of Noe Knit, though - warm and inviting with lots of people lounging around in comfy chairs and at a big table.

I also cruised through Britex in San Fran - Oh. My. Goodness. This place was amazing. The colors! The selection! The organization! I just had to take a picture of their zipper wall - have you ever seen so many zippers so well arranged?! When I go buy zippers in NY I have to dig through a decrepit box marked "blue" which has zippers of all lengths and hues arranged as though they've sprung from Medusa's scalp. I came home with all manner of thread, twill tape and elastic but there was so much fabric I couldn't get my head around buying anything but a remnant of flannel! Shameful, I know.

While in Portland I hit the Dublin Bay Knitting Company, which was lovely and inviting with a beautiful selection. I also poked my head into the Knit Knot Studio and was dismayed to find an old favorite, Lint, is closing its doors! The place had clearly be ransacked by the time I got there and it was sad to see it all cleared out.

Lest you think nothing was accomplished but shopping, I did sew up this little number before I left. The bridesmaids' dresses were a lovely shade of blue shantung and I had no purse to match. So on the morning before my flight I chopped up the hem of my skirt (left over from alterations) and made this little zip pouch which has grosgrain ribbon accents and is lined with cream cotton. It's a little wonky because I rushed the zipper, but it did the job of holding my lip gloss and the bride's perfectly!

Sadly, it's the only scrap of the bridesmaid dress that I still have. After our flight home, my Boy and I idiotically waltzed off the plane without our garment bag, which the flight attendant had helpfully hung in the first class cabin (far, far away from where we were sitting). Nestled in said bag were the Boy's best suit, his dress shirt, my dress from the rehearsal dinner (which I adored and wore only that once) and my bridesmaid dress. We realized our error when we got to baggage claim but by the time I sprinted through the airport, convinced someone to give me a security pass, went back through the metal detectors, stripped off my shoes and had my water confiscated, the plane was no longer at the gate and gone was our black, plastic, completely nondescript and unidentifiable garment bag... with close to $1000 of clothes in it. I am still so mad I could spit. C0ntinental is purportedly looking for the bag but as each day passes with no word, I'm losing hope. There is an outside chance it will wind up in their warehouse in Houston but I'm not holding my breath... because if I did, I wouldn't be able to scream at the top of my lungs "I AM SUCH AN IDIOT!!!"