Good Morning Everyone!
The Great Northern Yarn Haul is officially underway! I've been enjoying my days off exploring with Kathleen and Wanda, it's always an adventure when I get those two involved. The best laid plans always seem to have a way of unravelling as quickly as a dropped ball of yarn. Thankfully even when things don't go exactly as intended, it ultimately results in an uproar of laughter. Our biggest obstacle involves going from point A to point B, the irony, we are all extremely proficient in map reading yet somehow we continue to rely on the GPS. The coordinates get plugged in for Jeffersonville to West Lebanon, calculating, cursor spinning and bam, we're on our way through the Notch. We eventually make our way to I-89 South, the cruise control gets set, straight shot and we'll be in NH in no time. Mind you, we've been this way before, and how the hell we ended up on Dugout Road in East Randolph can only be blamed on one thing, THE GPS!
It's still a mystery to us why the little voice told us to exit when it did, we all had the same thought of, "this doesn't seem right" but we ignored it thinking that perhaps we were about to discover a secret short cut to the yarn shop. We also happen to appreciate the scenic route and not being on the interstate. Tourists pay a lot of money to visit a place we are so fortunate to live in, we may as well experience the beauty that is Vermont. So we're driving past VTC winding our way around Route 14, taking in the panoramic views, the quaint homes and hillside farms. Then we turn onto Dugout Road which takes us further away from civilization and it really seems unlikely that West Lebanon is going to be at the end of this road, but we still have faith in the GPS until we hit a steep hill with a washed out culvert halfway up. I tell Kathleen to floor it or we'll never make it, that's where she decided to listen to her gut. She puts the car in reverse and back down that windy, dirt path we go, calling it a road was rather generous. We get back on I-89, proceed South, turn off the GPS and follow the signs, we're in West Lebanon in no time at all, PHEW!!
To say that I've been excited to visit Scratch for an entire year is an understatement. We tried going last year during the height of the pandemic only to discover that they weren't open when they said they were. It wasn't a planned destination, the wonderful woman at Norwich Knits suggested that we head over since it was only about 10 minutes away so we did. It wasn't a wasted trip, instead of buying yarn, we discovered that Three Tomatoes has the most delicious pizza which we had again this year after going to Scratch. We pretty much beelined from the car to Scratch and I enter the store first to discover a woman sitting at a table with a mask on. I stop dead in my tracks and ask if she'd like me to put on a mask, she responded to me like I should know better. I go on to inform her, and maybe put her mind at ease, that I am fully vaccinated to which she replies, "Good for you." At this point I leave to store to join Kathleen and Wanda who are digging in their bags for a mask. I looked at them and said, "If we hadn't just driven 2 hours to get here, I think I would leave." I should add, there was not a sign on the door stating that a mask is required for anyone to enter, so if you're going that way, BRING A MASK! We did end up staying and spending quite a bit of money, Wanda even got overcharged $200 which did get refunded promptly. We figured that it was probably a disgruntled employee who was forced to work on a Sunday, come to find out it was one of the owners. All I can say is her greeting matched the shop name...
Yesterday we decided to head to Bristol, I wanted to meet the owners of Hermit Thrush Fibers (formerly Yarn & Yoga), Ashley and Greyson. They were absolutely delightful and we enjoyed chatting with them and hearing about how they ended up in Bristol, VT. Kathleen and Wanda had no problem filling their "Hauling" bags with new projects, I was just the cheerleader and let Ashley know that I only required a small commission. We wandered around the charming downtown, stimulated the economy a little bit more and then headed to Waitsfield to visit Shades of Winter. We walked into the shop and said a cheery hello to the woman behind the counter and received not much more than a grunt, she retreated to the back and never said another word to us. We stayed for a few more minutes and looked at some of the Malabrigo pattern books. Numbers 12 & 17 were extremely inspiring, so much so, I'll be adding them to my next order. All I can say is in some towns, the yarn shop is the best thing ever, in others, it's the restaurants, we found The Mad Taco just a few doors over, OMG!!!! I'd drive back just for the tacos, they have a smoker in the parking lot if that tells you anything.
We will be meeting tomorrow evening from 6-7:30 for Stitch and Bitch at the shop, I hope you can join in the fun. I did receive a full box of Dulce from Berroco yesterday, Wanda has already made claim to 6 skeins of Onyx to knit the Felice. Make it a GREAT day and I hope to see you soon!
Katy