Portland, OR

I was in Portland for a week. I did participate in the SC09 with my hubby for a little bit. However, I had other ideas on how to spend my time. I made a list of all the yarn stores in the Portland area. I made it to all but 2 or 3. I got a cold the last day I was there so I was unable to finish my quest. It was probably a good thing since I only had a few bucks left in my yarn money.

The first place I visited was Twisted. It was a nice cozy store. Beautiful colors surrounded me! It has a little nook where some knitters were knitting and chatting away. There was a little area for books and patterns. I ended up there. I got Toe-Up! by Chrissy Gardiner. The majority of the yarn had wool so I didn't get any yarn there.

The second place I visited was Knit Purl. It is a nice upscale yarn store. There were many wonderful fibers and goodies all around. I made my way around about 3 times before deciding on which items I really wanted. I ended up getting a ball of Isager black linen, a black & white skein of linen, sample of purple silk w/beads, and the scrumptious purple skein of Sea Silk by Hand Maiden. It has silk and seacell in it and it is so soft!

I also made my way to Josephine's Dry Goods a very nice fabric store. I didn't want to spend money on fabric this go around. However, I did purchase a remnant of a cute pattern of patterns. I couldn't help myself, it was just too cute!

I was told to go to The Button Emporium by a few people so I went. I got a couple of really nice buttons, beads and some angelina. I am thinking about carding it into some batts. It would probably do some nice felting with some alpaca. The Button Emporium was definitely an interesting place. It was like a whimsical grandmother's attic.

Although I wasn't sure if I would like this next yarn store I went anyway. It was on my way to Yarnia. It is called the Yarn Garden. It was an amazing place! Rooms, ROOMS, full of yarn. One room is dedicated to books another to knitting and tea. But the other...3 were filled with a huge selection of fibers. They also had some wonderful deals. Most of what I got here was on sale for 1/2 off or more. I had to put a few things back actually. I had to keep some money for Yarnia! The Yarn Garden is a fantastic place!

I wondered around Hawthorne Blvd. for a bit. I visited Savvy Plus consignment store for plus size ladies. It was a fantastic place! Sizes 12 and up. The staff was beyond nice, they were literally a joy to be around. I got discounts there too. So many treasures! I love that place and I highly recommend it if you are in the area and in need of plus size clothes.

I got some Thai food that was completely vegetarian at Vege Thai. No oyster sauce or anything like that. It was wonderful! I highly recommend this too. I wish I could have eaten there the whole week. The veggies were fresh and crisp and the rice was brown. So healthy!

There were also some Tibetan stores in that area. Lots of things to look at in that area actually. I just didn't not have time to see it all.

I made a detour into a bead store on my way to Yarnia. I got a couple of glass fish beads. Very cute.

I finally made it to Yarnia. It was a fun experience. I got lots of yarn to make a sweater. The colors I chose were in the blue family and black. The machine she has there is really cool. She had it made just for the purpose of winding strands onto a cone. I was almost done when I saw some silk that didn't have much left so I got another cone. It was so cheap I couldn't help it. That is what all fiber addicts say.

After all of that plus Voodoo Doughnuts and SC09 I finally got a cold. I could feel it coming but I was able to hold it off until the last day. I had to finally give in to it and rest. I am a little sad I couldn't make it to all the yarn stores but I made it to a lot of them.

I had a great time in Portland. Besides the conference and yarn stores there were some pretty exciting things. One was the tap water. I am a water snob or connoisseur. Like a wine taster but with water. I don't usually like the way tap water tastes in general. I will drink it but I would rather have some spring water. Anyway, in Portland everywhere I went the tap water was perfect! It was wonderful. Clean and fresh tasting every time.

Another thing I really liked was the mass transit system. It was a little pricey but I got a week pass for all zones and ended up using it way more times than I thought I would. I definitely got my money's worth. The light rail system was fun too. It is free for the downtown area so that was nice.

Probably the coolest thing for me besides the tap water was the recycling. It is everywhere. Everyone recycles! It isn't an issue you just have the separate containers and recycle everything. Even the hotel had a recycle bin next to the trash can. I have to say that Portland was a really fun place, very progressive.