Well… we all survived our latest Circle of Brain Knit Weekend in Traverse City. Apparently we’ve all been busy as all get out since the weekend though because it’s been almost a week and none of us have posted about it. See how bad we needed the weekend?!
Sue, Sue’s Mom, Kristi and I loaded up the car on Friday evening and hit the road as soon as humanly possible once I was out of work and had made it across town to Kristi’s digs. I got to love on my boyfriends (both the cute toddler version as well as the furry one) which was just lovely since I hadn’t seen them in AGES. Gerrit even made faces at me from the upstairs window while I was walking up to the house. 
*gush gush*
On the way up knitting, gossiping, and iPod listening was had. We giggled a lot, stopped for slurpee-like drinks in Alma, and basically had a lovely drive until we hit a big storm just outside of Traverse City. Finding Sue’s Aunt’s house was a little “interesting” due to the fact we could barely see in the rain, it was darker than crap, and we’d come into town on a totally different road than what was on our directions. LOL But after a phone call (thank goodness for cell phones) with Aunt Janet during which I laughed like a maniac from the back seat listening to, we got to the house in time to get completely drenched with rain while unloading the car. Like, so wet we had to change our clothes when we got inside. Craziness.
The rest of the evening was spent knitting some more, watching the TC news (seriously funny shit there, let me tell ya), and just relaxing. Finally we all stumbled to our couches/beds for the night and passed out.
Saturday morning we woke up to Marcia calling us from the road. She called to let us know she was on the way up and so we all got purty then headed into town to meet Miss Marcia. Getting into the city was much easier than finding the house had been and within a few minutes we were in downtown TC where the wind was blowing at about 62 miles an hour, but it was still beautiful.
We parked and because Saturday was the end of Earth Week we got two free trees to plant which was very cool. Then off to Horizon Books we went to get coffee and meet up with Marcia. At Cuppa Joe we sat and enjoyed bagels and coffee while knitting and enjoying the people watching. Eventually we walked down to the LYS Lost Art where we encountered Rude Woman and blew her additude off as much as possible. From there we walked to Dish Cafe to have lunch and knit for a few more hours. Once we were done there we went to the bead shop (I forgot the name… whoops) where we were basically like 12 year old boys giggling over the word “hole” and beads that looked like um… body parts. LOL
We eventually ended back up at the bookstore to meet up with Sue (she’d left us while we were obsessing about the holes in the bead shop). Then off to Tom’s Market we went to get food and booze for the night.
FYI… the Tom’s Market right by the bay in TC won’t let you take the shopping carts into the parking lot. LMFAO. Yeah I did a wheelie with the cart to get it down into the parking lot and this little Troll popped out of his Troll Door and was like “You can’t do that, Miss!”
I said, “What are we supposed to do?”
He says, “Carry the bags.”
I didn’t swear but I almost did. hehe I believe I said, “Oh for crying out loud, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of…” Marcia did call him a Troll though (I dunno if he heard it or if he’d gone back into his Troll Door) which made me laugh like a moron.
Back at Casa De’ Aunt Janet we hung out with Baylee my newest furry boyfriend while making pizza, drinking, and of course more knitting!! We have an official COB Adult Beverage thanks to Marcia, and thanks to Sue Ravyn’s Bollero has the stitches picked up and is nearing completion.
Our COB KAL however caused a whole lot of drama during the weekend. Kristi frogged and restarted hers about twenty times in three days while I decided to give it up all together and create my own. LOL Originally we were working on the Montego Bay Scarf by Amy Singer because Marcia has one and it’s beautiful. Sue’s already made about sixteen of them in two days (okay yeah, not really but she’s whipping those puppies out pretty quick and they’re beautiful!). I on the other hand decided to design a Grand Traverse Bay Scarf which basically has less thinking involved because I managed to mess the Montego up every time I worked on it.
Sunday we hit the bookstore and Cuppa Joe’s again plus went to a store called Momentum to buy more stuff. I got a cushy soft “Up North Michigan” sweatshirt. After that we went to Mabel’s for brunch with Aunt Janet and Sue’s Mom before finally hitting the road once again to come home.
The weekend went way too fast but much fun was had and we’re already looking forward to the next time we can have a COB meeting.
And now… pictures.
Cool wind thingy…
Traverse City… wee!
Mmm… coffee!
Kristi and her Kaffe Fassett.
Cool light at the Dish Cafe.
Artsy Fartsy…
The traditional foot picture… Dish Cafe.
And another in the car…
Kaffe Fasset… almost done…
All left to do is Kitchner!
New Stash… gunna make me some Worsted Weight socks.
Baylee butt.
Baylee face… isn’t he cute?
Sue’s Magical Glowing Booze
Marcia and he window twin.
I want to live here…
Rock Star Marcia.
Kristi with her Montego in the car.
Mabel’s.
Fire Damage on I-75
My Grand Traverse Bay…
Our trees…
And quotes…
“The boat is not a navigational hazzard.”
“He’s GWC… Goofy Without Cause.”
Kristi, 2pm: “I’m really excited about this whole Montego Bay experience…”
Rude Lady at LYS to Sue about Worsted Weight yarn: “You know those will be really thick socks, right? Like you won’t be able to wear them with shoes…”
Rude Lady at LYS to Kristi about her yarn: “You know you’ll have to wind that into a ball, right?”
Krisit: “I feel like we just ate… I’m not going to eat… I’m going to get some soup…”
Marcia: “I think we should go back to the yarn shop and thank the lady for enlightening us about winding the yarn into a ball before using it…”
Marcia: “I liked how he came out of his little Troll Door to yell at us…”
Kristi, 7:41pm: “This scarf is my fucking demise!”
Kristi, 7:55 pm: “Look at my Montego Bay… I’m in love with it!”
Marcia: “I wonder how long that’ll last…”
Kristi: “Not long…”
Kristi, 8:30: “Look…” (as she frogged the whole thing again)
I’m sure there were more quotes but once I started drinking I forgot to write stuff down. hehe For now though, I’m off to finish watching Grey’s and get some knitting done during Lost.
Oh and Happiness of the Day… My Florida flights are booked, baby! Whoot! 2 months and 5 days. Wee!
great recap! Hows the Grand Traverse scarf coming? I’m too scared to say anything either way about Montego…it could all change in an instant…but I am grateful to have rolled the yarn into balls because that would have really made it difficult to get started
Mabel’s………mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Isn’t that the place with the stuffed hash browns? Yum! Sounds like a good time was had by all.
I hope you guys hit some of our other yarn shops while in TC! You will always encounter a Rude Witch at the Lost Yarn. It always amazes me they can stay open with the attitude thats served up there!
And for the record Tom’s has curb service grocery pick up so you don’t have haul your groceries.
I pass that windmill everyday on my way back and for to work but it still fascinates me.
Hope you come North again when the weather is better conducive to walking and wandering
I too have been the victim of the Crabby Lady at Lost Art. (How can you work in fiber or fabric and be crabby!? I don’t know, but it does happen…)
BUT there are some lovely yarn stores in TC where you are always greeted by a friendly face! Here are my two favs:
Yarn Quest, 819 South Garfield, Traverse City, and
Inish Knits, 9031 S Kasson, Cedar, MI (just a hop, skip, and a jump from TC—in fact, since you passed the windmill, you were pretty close). Add them to your “Must See” list the next time you’re in TC. (Maybe for the Stitch ‘n Pitch at the Beach Bums game…)
Happy Knitting to All!