Chris’s Visit: The Final Chapter
On Chris’ final full day in Fort Collins we did a bit of a mini yarn/book crawl in Northern Colorado. We started the morning off procuring caffeine with chocolate at a fantastic independent bookstore in downtown Loveland called Anthology.
Then we popped into Interweave for a bit and visited with a few of the gals we know and chatted with Sandy of Knitting Daily. We got to see the Stag Bag in person :-) Then we wandered down to Woolen Treasures where we got to see Sandy purchase her yarn for Tomato and throw in our two cents on color choice for a Stag Bag. I came home with some Nature’s Palette in Dusky Plum. In the morning light it looks like a fitting name, but in the shade or indoors it just looks like a really nice mid-value grey. It may become some Spearfish for myself or it may become a new pattern at some point. Who knows! I also picked up some Panda Cotton, but more about that in a bit.
On the way north we stopped off at Swetsville Zoo and then it was on to Nanytutu’s. But, it was nearly mid-afternoon by that point so we ate at a great coffeeshop across the street from Nanytutu’s called The Chocolate Rose. I *loved* their food and atmosphere. I wish they weren’t in Wellington, LOL!
At Nanytutu’s I just picked up two skeins of yarn - 1 lone skein of Panda Cotton and 1 skein of Fixation in bright orange (I didn’t get a photo of that one because it already made it to my knitting bag, though I haven’t opened it yet). At Woolen Treasures I picked up a solid color Panda Cotton called Ember Glow. Then Nanytutu’s had a coordinating multi-color skein called Cinnamon Red so I had to get that so I could have fun cuff/heel/toes - of course! I don’t know what it is, but I’m all about the contrasting cuff/heel/toes lately. The Fixation I’m going to use to make a stick shift cover. Mine is black and at nearly a mile high in a black car, even with a sun shade in the windshield the gear shift can be scorching. The rest of that skein will become one of Chris’ Iced Java Jackets.
We had some excitement after Nanytutu’s, however. My car wouldn’t start. It was parked in the shade. Because we ate first and then shopped it had been parked long enough that there shouldn’t have been any vapor lock or that. So, we called the wonderful Knitter Sansablog and she came up to pick us up. Meanwhile Chris and I made the most of the shade and time. I finished the second Coyote Ridge sock and Chris used the Internet from The Chocolate Rose, LOL! When Knitter Sansablog arrive I decided to give the care one last try and it started so she followed us home to make sure we got there okay without stalling. I was sorry to inconvenience her, but I am *soooo* glad that she followed us because I found out that the brake light problem that had been supposedly fixed that Saturday had not. I had the driver’s side brake light all the time (thank goodness), but the other two we intermittent. So Chris kindly followed me to the garage to drop it off and it is all fixed. We still don’t know why it wouldn’t start that day, but since they fixed the brake light it hasn’t happened - knock on wood! It couldn’ve been months before I found that out. Plus, since it was only a few days later the garage took a fair chunk of change off of the second bill because they didn’t actually fix it the first time. Had it been months later they wouldn’t have done that.
We wound up the evening by a stop at My Sister Knits (I didn’t buy anything since I’m there almost every week anyway) which I think was Chris’ favorite, but we’ll have to wait for her accounting of the crawl. Then we wandered around Old Town a bit where Chris got some more great sign photos. We enjoyed Matter Bookstore. It is at the back of The Bean Cycle and it may just be another frequent stop on my hot afternoon coffee shop tour of Summer 2007 :-)
Chris was a fantastic guest and would be welcome anytime. She also left us with four mixed CDs. My favorite is the Coffee Mix followed closely by Sleepless in the Minneapple. The other two are getting a fair bit of listening too. She also got me started making my own mixes. It is addicting, though a bit time consuming too. But I’m having a blast. Chris also gave me a skein of her handpainted yarn. It is a generous skein with nearly 650 yds in it. I think it may become knee highs when the weather cools off a bit. I love the colors. They are so much fun!
And thus ends the accounting of Chris’ visit as told by me…
