Yarn Along the Rockies.

Last week my grandparents were in town from Oregon. Grandma always does the crossword puzzles in the daily paper, and on Saturday, she found an advertisment for something called a yarn crawl. Now, I've heard of pub crawls and figured a yarn crawl couldn't be much different. That's mostly right. The idea is the same, though a yarn crawl is more structured and in most cases, more sober. Instead of one night, you have 9 days to visit every knit shop on the list. They're located all over Colorado. Instead of drinking your way through the local pubs, you feed your yarn addiction. It's a wonderful thing. At your first stop, you recieve a "passport" which you get stamped at every shop along the way. Each shop has their own prize basket filled with knitting(and crocheting)-related goodies. When you reach the last shop you turn in your passport and are entered in a drawing for the grand prize, which is a huge basket filled with something like $1,000 worth of yarn, needles, notions and super nifty stuff.  Being a new knitter, I had never heard of any of these shops, or even knew such magic places existed. All my supplies came from Michaels and JoAnne Fabrics. Woo boy, what I was missing. Did you know they make yarn out of alpaca wool?? It's amazingly soft especially when mixed in with this other material call mohair. AHHH. Textile heaven. I was a yarn ignoramus but let me tell ya, I have now seen the light. A lot of these shops spin and dye their own yarn (or sell what locals have spun and dyed), which makes for one-of-a-kind fiber you can't find anywhere else. In addition to getting a feel for which places have what and discovering a tons of new supplies, I met some very cool people. A lot of these shops have areas where you can sit, knit, and chat with other knitters. A few even have cofee and yummy treats. What a brilliant idea! At the last shop on my list I sat down, got out my current project (baby booties) and knit away. It was so neat talking to the other ladies there, because they know so much more than I do. They gave me some tips just in the short time I was there. And it's fun to just listen to peoples stories, tell some of your own. It's a way to make lasting friendships. For me, knitting is a connection to the past. It's something poeple have been doing for hundreds of years. When I pick up my needles I get this feeling of belonging, because I'm doing the same thing a mother on the Oregon Trail did. Or a homesteader in the Wild West. It's being a part of history, however small and it's a fantastic feeling. Okay, I'm getting off track here. The point is, knitting is cool and yarn crawls are informative, a way to find great resources and just plain fun.
Little did Grandma know, she would launch a gas-guzzling trip accross colorado, and start my hunger for the finer things in life, like REAL yarn instead of the cheap arcrylic stuff. Yarn Along the Rockies was one of the most enjoyable things I've been apart of in a while and I hope it becomes an annual event!