On Monday, June 13, I flew from Winnipeg to Minneapolis to Denver, then a
1.5 hr shuttle bus from Denver airport to Fort Collins, CO. I roomed with my former secret pal Mary Pat, in a very nice 2 bedroom suite at the Marriott Residence Inn. Nice thing about this hotel is a hot buffet breakfast included in the nightly rate as well as an evening get together with snacks and drinks.On Tuesday the 14th we drove to Boulder for a fun day. We toured the Celestial Seasonings plant (Tea) and I dropped a few bucks in the gift shop. Two Christmas gifts were purchased (heh, heh). She took me over to a yarn shop in Boulder called Shuttles, Spindles & Skeins. What a great shop! We spent a few hours and dollars there. I picked up some fab sock yarn called Sockotta by Plymouth Yarn. 45% Cotton, 40%Superwash Wool, 15% Nylon. I also bought some stitch markers and a set of bamboo sock needles. We had a quick deli lunch and headed over to the Pearl Street Mall. What a great way to rejuvenate a downtown street. There were flower planters everywhere and the mall was pretty busy for a Tuesday afternoon. We had planned to have dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, but finished up early at the mall and were too full to eat. We ended up having snacks and wine back at the hotel.
Wednesday morning and afternoon was spent at yarn stores in Fort Collins and that was fun! We found a brand new store called "My Sister Knits" in a residential area. It was on the second floor of a carriage house behind the main house. We drove right by it the first time! I can heartily recommend this store if you're ever in Fort Collins. It may be small, but it's crammed with all kinds of yummy yarns. Tons of Brown Sheep yarn! I found some yarn there that I couldn't resist: 2 skeins of Fortissima Colori Socka Color sock yarn in the coolest shades of blue/brown/cream/grey and a sparkling silver lurex thread through it - and on sale too! I just hope the silver thread doesn't itch. I bought 2 skeins of the dreamiest Kid Merino l ace weight by Crystal Palace in mauve/purple/green variegated. Gorgeous! Then, 2 skeins of some crazy fun yarn called Fling by Crystal Palace in black with a green lurex thread. These will probably become a wild scarf. We enjoyed the friendly atmosphere so much we brought a bunch of the knitting camp women back there the next day. After we finished there we drove down the road a few miles to the Lambspun store. Another fabulous yarn store. There, Mary Pat picked up copies of the new knitting mystery called "Knit One, Kill Two" that had been signed by the author and promptly gave one to me (smile)! The author of this mystery used the Lambspun store as her model for the shop in the book. There is a restaurant attached to the store, so we met a couple of other women there for lunch and libations.
Wednesday evening was the first get together of the knitting group for camp. It was fun renewing acquaintances and discussing projects.
Thursday and Friday were spent knitting, having show & tell of everyone's completed projects, as well as some help & instruction on a sweater being done as a group project by some.. My lace weight mauve neverending shawl drew a lot of nice comments (grin).
On Saturday, one of the women drove some of us up to the Estes Park Wool & Fiber Festival. What beautiful scenery! I had a ball up there, and spent quite a bit of time looking at the llamas and alpacas. But of course, the ultimate was the Wool Barn filled with exhibitors and their fabulous yarns. There was a company from Texas that had the most gorgeous mohair yarn in wonderful color combinations. I managed to restrain myself! I did pick up some beautiful superwash merino wool in a wonderful combo of purple/green/turquoise/blue from Interlacement yarns in Colorado Springs. I bought 2 x 8oz skeins for $10 each and I think they are worsted weight.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday we all went out for dinner as a group and fun was had by all.
I had to get up really early Sunday for the "fun" shuttle bus ride back to the Denver airport and then home by around 1 pm. I had a great time and it was wonderful to see Mary Pat again.
Following is a link to my new Yahoo Photo album for the camp:
Shelagh