Road Trip

Subtitle: Headin' for the highway.....lookin' for adventure.....and whatever comes my way.


Well can I just say what came my way was a fun filled day participating in the 2007 Destination Yarn LYS Tour. With capable employees manning the shop, Nancy and I along with our husbands set out in the early morning hours Sunday to visit the shops on the northern part of the tour. We began our journey with a clear trip up I-5 to Bellingham, taking a detour to enjoy the scenic Chuckanut Drive (although in the back seat of the Scion XB with performance tires, not the smoothest ride and if you are like me and have issues with motion sickness, well let's just say I welcomed getting out of the car).


We started at J&J Needle Art and ran into Carol Quilici a fabulous crocheter who frequents our shop and joins us for Friday night knitting regularly. Carol was having a fabulous time as noted by her armload at the counter, she's so passionate about her crocheting and enjoyment was written all over her face!


We then headed to downtown Bellingham and found NW Handspun www.nwhandspunyarns.com. We had been drawn to check out this shop particulary by their picture posted on the LYS Tour website, and we were not disappointed! They are in a 100+ year old building with a loft area that has the most fabulous window seats that called to me and all I could do was imagine how fabulous it would be to sit at one of these seats with cushions and my knitting overlooking the downtown streets. Owner Nancy Bjerke is so warm and friendly and was a joy to talk with, we look forward to another visit in the near future.


From there we headed to Burlington where we visited Becky at Knot Just Yarn www.knotjustyarn.com. A small shop, but she's done a very nice job and has a great selection for her small space. We saw many finished socks from the Interweave Favorite Socks book that they use for a sock of the month club and she had the cutest Tulip Bootie pattern modeled by Becky's granddaughter Emma who is so adorable.


Next we headed to Wild Fibers www.wildfibers.net in downtown Mt Vernon and visited with owner Sara. She has a beautiful shop off the main street area and has done a tremendous job with her displays and space. We also met pattern designer Karen Agen of Blue Flower Knits www.blueflowerknits.com who designs awesome felted bags using flower embellishments, we look forward to possibly carrying her patterns in the future.

We then drove up to Anacortes and here I spent more time reminiscing about the year I spent visiting my husband Derrin via the Greyhound bus from downtown Seattle to Mt Vernon each weekend before we were married. Neither of us had been back to our stomping grounds for at least 15 years. It was nice to see not to much has changed, Commercial street looks about the same although there are the added fast food joints and Starbucks of course. We stopped for a much needed stretch and coffee infusion before heading back to the open road towards Everett.


Unfortunately, I-5 was not as clear as it had been coming up, the rain had begun and all of you fellow Washingtonians know what that means........ACCIDENTS and BACK UPS. We saw quite a few but kept going forward and enjoyed a break from the road at our next stop Great Yarns www.greatyarns.com in Everett. This is a wonderful shop in an old home with some very friendly and inviting people. They have a wonderful selection of Vivian Huxbro kits and Tilli Thomas silks with beads and sequins.


From there we jumped over to Mukilteo and visited Let It Rain Yarn Shop www.letitrainyarn.com which is in a Live/Work complex that was very very nice. Owner Patience had just moved her shop two weeks prior to the tour, it's a lovely new shop and it was so nice to be able to visit with her for some time out of the rain.


The clock was winding down and we only had about 40 minutes until the clock struck 6:00 so we decided to check out the Mill Creek shop Main Street Yarn located in an open air urban village similar to Kent Station. Owner Marie was behind the counter and we had a nice visit with her, she has a beautiful shop with a great selection of yarn and books.


That ended our tour and by that time we were indeed exhausted and started heading for home, back on I-5 we continued to encounter slow downs due to accidents but made our way through and headed to Burien for a fabulous dinner at Angelo's Italian Ristorante www.angelosofburien.com!


Thank you to Derrin our driver, Al and his GPS as navigator and to all of the wonderful women who like us breathe their heart and souls into their shops, it was such a pleasure to be able to visit with them in their shops. They are all very creative and inspiring women who are pursuing a passion that brings us together as a group and I am proud to be a part of that group. I look forward to many other opportunities to get to know them better and share our success.

Happy Mother's Day

I am really looking forward to Mother's Day, it's the one day a year I can count on both of my children being in the same room with a common desire to spend more than just a few minutes in passing with me. I have two teenagers and let's face it, there is always something more exciting than spending time with your mom. Although I must say that my nearly 16 year old daughter has come back to me and I do get to enjoy shopping and hanging out with her again!

I want to wish all of the mother's I know a wonderful day with their families. I am in awe of the many talented, compassionate, intelligent, respectful, loving young men and women you are raising. Take a moment and savor the work you have done.

****Live, Love, Laugh****

Happy Anniversary!!!

May 9th marked the official one year Anniversary of our beautiful shop Renaissance Yarns. Nancy and I have enjoyed getting to know a wonderful group of women and men who share our passion and have become a second family to us both. I'd like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement throughout this year. In addition I'd also like to thank our families and friends for all of their support and most importantly LOVE, without them this would not have been possible.

I am filled with so much anticipation and excitement for the upcoming year, we have many events planned as well as continued local community involvement and some surprises along the way! Of course we will continue to explore new yarns and products to inspire your creativity.

Most importantly I would like to thank my dear friend and partner for her committment to our adventure. I am so proud of what we've accomplished together and I am looking forward to another year of continued success and fulfillment. Thank you Nancy, I love you!