Pack your bags my friends, we're going on a little crafty excursion. This keyboard biologist was on the loose in Michigan doing her best to support the economy. If all those consumer confidence indices don't rise you can't blame me!

Before we left Ludington Mom and I had to check out a few places. Our first stop was Maude's -- all sorts of crafts and jewelry. Some mundane (i.e. eyelash yarn scarves), some more dramatic. One impressive element of this store is that the things inside were reasonably priced. Not cheap, but affordable enough so that you didn't feel bad taking a few things home. This is what hopped into my bag...

Seriously Neat Poly Clay Buttons

Polyclay is an amazing thing, and these buttons just made me happy. I almost feel like I need to design a sweater for the leaf and flower buttons on the right side of the photo. I liked them so much I got the matching barette. I haven't decided whether the soap will be used or just be used to keep my stash smelling nice. Right now it's adding it's peaceful lavendar aroma to my knitting room.

Sometimes a Girl Needs a Little Novelty Yarn

The next stop was Nautical Yarns. The store had a much better yarn selection than I would have guessed for Ludington. I got drawn in by the novelty yarns at the front of the store... more railroad variations. Will I ever learn? Probably not. The yarn on the left is Lana Grossa Viale Print, colorway 302. The yarn on the right is SRK Collection Persia. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it is a railroad yarn edged with co-ordinating wool threads. Both yarns are destined for fun scarves. The gadget in the middle is an I-cord maker that looks capable of working with big yarn. Booga Bag here I come!

On Friday night we drove back to Ann Arbor. I finished this off Saturday morning before Mom and I hit the road for southeastern Michigan fiber adventures.

Seaside Angel

Here's my skinny Angel scarf. I just let the stockinette roll and the ends ruffle. Simple and pretty and soft. I'll post the "pattern" in the gallery if anyone is interested in it.

Just so you know, there are way too many crafty stores in the Ann Arbor metro area. Our first stop for the morning was Flying Sheep.

Goodies from Flying Sheep

I just went in for Opal sock yarn... really! But then that Trendsetter Voila Print jumped into my hand... and it needed a friend, so the Matchmaker came along. The top left Opal is from the Southwestern collection, the top right Opal is Brasil. I also finally found my size 13 Addi Turbo... so that I could do a little more weekend knitting. Only I would by a $14 needle to knit up a $11 skein of yarn...

And, of course, no trip to Ann Arbor would be complete without a trip to Knit A Round. I really can't say enough good things about this store, or how much fun I have every time I go there.

What I Found at Knit A Round

First off, if you haven't touched Mountain Colors Bearfoot yarn, what are you waiting for?!? This stuff is incredible. It's soft and the mohair makes the colors so rich and sumptuous. They only had 3 colors left when I got there... lupine and pheasant are the two I picked. The lupine is definitely for me. This stuff was so awesome that my mother decided to get a skein too to try out a lace scarf.

The Plymouth Fusion and the pattern you see in the middle are a testimony to the value of shop models. That sweater was hanging in the window. I decided that I just had to have a gossamer striped mohair bullseye to wear this winter. The Fusion stripes like Noro. So here I am, all ready to start my first real mohair adventure. The only real question is whether or not I will be able to be careful enough to avoid errors so I don't have to do a lot of ripping.

New Hobby? What New Hobby

After that, we set off for Plymouth. The Lost Arts Stitchery is worth the trip for anyone making dolls or interested in tatting. Mom found the pattern off which my Chrismas doll will be based. I've been thinking about tatted edges for a while and the owner of this store had some beautiful examples of her work that just sucked me in and encouraged me to take the plunge into needle tatting. I haven't opened the kit yet, but I'm looking forward to trying it out.

We hit a third yarn store, also in Plymouth, whose name, unfortunately, escapes me. It was quite large and had lots of good yarn. I picked up a couple of patterns there, but my credit card arm had already had a pretty major work out, so I didn't let myself look at too much yarn.

Armed with my big fat Addi Turbos, I spent that evening and the following morning working on my Crystal Palace Splash scarf. The colorway I used is called "Tide Pool" -- 7189. This is a complete no brainer scarf and the result is totally fab. Cast on 12, garter stitch until the end. I'll let other people lead the anti-novelty yarn revolution -- I'm having too much fun with it to let anyone else's feelings keep me from enjoying it.

Splashing in my TidePool

I managed to stay out of trouble on Sunday. Mom and I put together a little emergency knitting repair kit so she would be able to keep going on her scarf. We topped off my Ann Arbor trip with a visit to Zingerman's Deli. This is one of those Ann Arbor landmarks that shouldn't be missed. Of special note is their Chocolate Cherry bread. Almost better than brownies. If you're ever in Ann Arbor, this is the one local place that lives up to the incredible hype it gets. It's almost more dangerous than a good yarn store.