Monday, March 9, 2026

Crawling Around Portland

The Rose City Yarn Crawl began on Thursday. We arrived in the Portland area Wednesday afternoon. Alexa and I hit the trail a little late on Thursday morning, because we wanted to start the slow cooker for supper. We drove to Hook and Needle in Vancouver first, where we each bought some yarn. I got a skein of sock yarn from Boss Kitty in Ectoplasm. Then we moved on to Close Knit. I didn’t find anything I wanted there, and it was very crowded. We had lunch close to Starlight Knitting Society, which was close to our next stop. There I found some yarn for a pullover. It’s Berroco's Lana Light in pimento as the main color and grapefruit for the contrast. I researched patterns on Ravelry right on the spot and decided on the Speculoos Sweater. 

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On Friday we drove out much earlier. We still had six of the nine shops to visit. We started with Weird Sisters. I had some fascinating conversations about knitting. Alexa found a yarn vendor she had been following on social media. 

Next we went on to Fiber Rhythm, which is where I bought the yarn for my Field Cardigan last year. I showed a photo of the sweater to the young man who sold me the yarn. Very close by was Ritual Dyes, and we stopped in there and got our passport stamped. We didn’t find anything we couldn’t live without.

From there, we went to Northwest Wools. I found some spinning fiber that was tempting, but didn’t buy anything. 

It has become a tradition to end up at Knotty Lamb, turn in our passports and get a photo. While there, I snapped a photo of Mandy picking out what she wanted. 

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We got the traditional end-of-crawl photo. (Mandy looked away, having spotted something else she wanted.

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I picked up a couple of skeins of sock yarn from The Red Pansy in a color called "Warm Grass." I didn’t have a pattern, but I wanted to make another tee or short-sleeved top. 

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While I was checking out, the clerk, who teaches at the Knotty Lamb, noticed Mandy's cardigan. We had a conversation about it, and she expressed an interest in using it to teach steeking, as others have done.

Thursday evening, we went to Johan's school to hear him play for the younger children. It was part of a demonstration of instrumental music for the younger kids, to get them interested in possibly playing an instrument when they are old enough.

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Later, at home, Johan had a go at playing one of Peter’s clarinets. The sounds he made were pretty good, so maybe the clarinet will be a second instrument for him.

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Dusty has been enjoying hanging out with his friend Louis. They are almost the same age.

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On Sunday, Peter drove us to OHSU's waterfront location for Charlie to get an MRI as required before his procedure today. Alexa and the boys took the dogs for a walk.

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In the afternoon, peter, Johan and I went back into Portland so Johan could get a book at the big Powell's book store there and I could replace Peter's gift card for Mox's Boarding House, which I had purchased over the phone but had to be picked up in person within a certain time period. Peter didn’t get to it in time, so they had given me a refund. 

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The gift card got spent right on the spot.


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Everyone was pretty tired Sunday evening.

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I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry, BlueSky or Spoutible if you need information.


If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon or B&N and search for Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah, Classic Tales RetoldOur Favorite Verses, More Classic Tales Retold or Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.


Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.


What's on my needles: Still working on my Traveling Woman Shawl, but cast on another Melt The Ice hat.


What's on my iPhone: Finished The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles. Very little progress this week. Just started The Strange Case  of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss on the AudiobooksNow app.


What's on my sewing machine: Put away until the next project.


What's in The Doll's Storybook: Charlotte and Mariah have given a presentation at school at the request of one of the teachers. Charlotte played her violin and Mariah sang. Then the teacher led a discussion with her class. The dolls at home want to get in on the fun in The Itsy-Bitsy Spider.


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What's my tip of the week: We keep a packet of nonperishable food in the car, in case we come across someone who's asking for food. We include plastic utensils, a napkin or paper towel, a variety of canned or packaged ready-to-eat food and a can opener. 


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Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog, and they are reproduced in print with a few changes.


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The stories in Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Talking About Boys, ChangesShhhhh!, Staying After and Money in a Jar.


The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a StrangerThe RescueUnmaskedFuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.


Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook. Poems included are Valentine's DayKeeping PetsBack to SchoolVictor the VultureThe Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.


The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green GreatcoatThe Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.


The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best BudsGetting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.


The stories in Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Being LittleBesties, and Distraction.


If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, only 8%, because the vendor gets a cut. My author's page at Book Baby is here. Scroll down and click on any of the books that interest you. Find my books at Barbara's Bookstore as well, or ask your local library to order the books.


Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.


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