Saturday, August 23, 2008

Saturday Trek Across Massachusetts

As I suspected, I did not make it to the 8 am yoga class, though not for lack of trying. Apparently I got the am/pm mixed up on my clock when I reset it last night. Ooops.

So instead, I decided to drive out to Northampton to this yarn store that I've heard a lot about on the various knitting blogs I read. Mapquest said it was about an hour and a half's drive, so I thought it would be a nice way to spend the afternoon. Which it was, until I got on the Mass Pike, which was a parking lot...it took me an hour and a half just to get to the I-84 exit, which I can usually do in 25 minutes. Ridiculous.

The store itself...I'm not sure what all the fuss is, really. I bought more sock yarn, but I'm not sure I'd go back. I feel like I must have missed something. I ALMOST missed the back room, which is where there was oodles and oodles of yarn stacked floor to ceiling, most of it half price. But it was just...yarn, y'know? Nothing that really rocked my world, so to speak. The other women in the store were swooning and buying just PILES of yarn - the woman in front of me spent almost $200! I grabbed another skein of sock yarn before I checked out because I felt embarrassed buying so little. I much prefer Knitty City in NYC, even if it is a lot smaller (and obviously, a hell of a lot further away).

I probably will go back, though, later this fall when the trees are turning, because it's really beautiful out there and I really want to see the downtown area (I actually think the downtown that I can see from the highway is Holyoke).

I finished the day out with a trip to Whole Paycheck (aka Whole Foods) where I found a pint of Maine blueberries from Cherryfield. Cherryfield is considered the Blueberry Capital of the World, and I find it really odd that it wasn't named Bluefield. I once asked a state senator from the area about this and he scowled at me.

I got home to find Wilbert sitting on top of the kitchen table, where he knows he is not supposed to be, and he got shooed off in quick order. He then went and scratched my knitting basket, which got him yelled at, and now he is lying on top of a bunch of fabric, getting it covered in cat hair. I'm starting to feel like one of those parents who do nothing but yell at their kids...I am constantly saying "no" to this cat and I might as well talk to the wall. After yesterday, when he found my belt on command, I've been trying to get him to do fetch/find other stuff, but he just looks at me blankly and yowls. Apparently, his dog-impersonating days are over, at least for the moment.

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