Alberta Trip - part 1

I finally got through the 893 photos that I took in the 12 day trip to Alberta. I ended up being quite ruthless in my deleting, and kept about 500 of them. What a job! At least they're mostly of good quality, so there weren't too many touchups to do.

Where to start....

First off, Dad's socks. I don't have a picture of them on his feet, but he did seem to like them a lot, and told me that they fit perfectly. I'm sure that when it's a little colder in the wintertime that he'll wear them more around the house.


On the first day, I went to Addie's in Cochrane. We were staying just outside of Cochrane and had to run in to town for a quick trip. I managed to sneak out for 20 minutes to poke around the store. I didn't find anything that I loved, and knowing that I was going to three other yarn stores, I resisted the urge to buy. That inner strength didn't last long.

After a trip into the mountains...


In homage to the yarn harlot, the sock visits Takakkaw falls and realizes that it needs to be in focus for future photos.



The sock visits the Columbia Icefields and notices that it's still not in focus, since the silly human taking the pictures didn't look at the previous day's photos before taking this one.

We had a few days back at the house. I went in to Calgary to Pudding Yarns. It was a nice store, had a nice selection of yarns. The person who was working there when I was there happened to be a [self-proclaimed] novice knitter.


When I arrived, she was talking to a customer [who appeared to be a regular] about what project she could start while sitting by an ailing relative. Several simple projects were discussed - I piped in with suggesting that she try making a Clapotis since it's pretty brainless after you figure out the first repeat. She actually had the Clapotis pattern printed from Knitty at the top of her knitting bag!! It was neat to see that the Clapotis-fever is still alive and well.


Then I started fondling some pretty red malabrigo and wanted to make an einstein coat for Erika. I didn't remember the yarn requirements, and they didn't have the Sally Melville book in the store. My printout from Ravelry of all patterns in the queue didn't have the yarn requirements (can we add that? have to check that out). The regular customer did know of the pattern and book, and when she got home, she called the store to tell me the yarn reqs for the sweater/coat. Now that's service!!

So, I bought the malabrigo. It's so nice, and I can't wait to knit it into an einstein jacket.


I also got some sock yarn. I will be making socks for an 11 year old whose favorite colors are purple and green. Hopefully I'll have enough leftover to make a syncopated cap.



At the cash, I saw some plain looking brown yarn. It looked soft, so I touched it. Big mistake. The yarn is Buffalo yarn, and it was soooo soft, I had to get a skein. This was my luxury purchase of the day. Not sure exactly what I'll make with it yet.


Here are all of my Pudding Yarns purchases.


I did also pick up a cute little sheep measuring tape, and since Erika really wanted to be in on the photo session - voila!


Coming very soon (the photos are done!) - Make 1 Yarns and Custom Woolen Mills.