I’ve been having way too much fun the last 2 weeks with my dear friend Jan. When we told various folks in our lives that she was coming out for 2 weeks they all thought that sounded like a very long visit. “Won’t you get sick of each other?” seemed to be the common refrain. The answer in a nutshell, “Not at all”.
What better way to celebrate National Crochet Month than hanging out with one of my dearest crochet friends? The 2 weeks of her visit flew by, and I was feeling a little sad as I dropped her off at DIA for her flight home this past Thursday.
So what have we been up to?
Sunday, March 8th we headed over to my friend and neighbor’s house for the monthly Mountain Top Stitching Group. Spent a lovely time visiting and everyone was playing with yarn and fiber. 3 of us (including Jan and myself) were crocheting, one was knitting and one was needle-felting. That evening Jan and I planned out the rest of our week’s adventures.
Monday, March 9th we drove over to Estes Park. We parked in the library lot and walked all the way up Elkhorn Avenue (the main street of shops). We had wanted to go the glass blowing shop at the end of the road, Patterson Glassworks of Estes Park, but they were closed. So we started back down and visited various shops on the way toward the local yarn shop near the library.
The Stitchin’ Den is a lovely little yarn shop in Estes located on Virginia Ave. I hadn’t been there since the flood in September 2013. The shop had been closed for a while after the flood and I don’t seem to get to Estes except when we have visitors from out-of-state, or I’m meeting friends from Denver there for a special event at the fairgrounds.
Jan and I both had a great time seeing how the shop had changed in the past 2 years. They had actually grown a bit by expanding their upstairs yarn space. So of course we had to really investigate the new space. Somehow, my determination to not purchase yarn was undermined (I think Jan had something to do with that, but it might have been the shop). I ended up with a tidy little pile of yarn.
After we put our yarn purchases in the car we went to a local small coffee shop for lunch. We ate outside at picnic tables since the weather was so nice. Afterward we stopped at “Sticks and Stones” a fascinating shop full of hand crafted wood furniture and home accessories. Jan purchased some items to have shipped home to New Jersey.
Tuesday, March 10th we stuck a little closer to home. We went a short ways down the mountain to my friend Val’s house and had some fun crocheting and showing each other patterns and finished projects. Val enjoyed having a new audience to show her beautiful sweaters she has crocheted the last couple of years.
Then we went down to Boulder and I took Jan to the Pearl Street Mall (this is street that has been converted to pedestrian only traffic). We visited the Boulder Book Store, where I found a wonderful book on Erte’. Then we walked further down the mall to have lunch at The Falafel King and grabbed desert at The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. After that we visited the Peppercorn store and The Little Jewel (my favorite tiny little jewelry store). Jan purchased the Gluten Free cook book for me at the Peppercorn.
Amazingly enough, we finished all those adventures in time for me to drop Jan off at a local coffee shop while I did my math tutoring at the elementary school. After picking up the boys we headed back up the mountain for a cozy evening at home watching murder mysteries and crocheting.
Wednesday, March 11th we started the day fairly early since we were driving down to Denver. Jan wanted to visit some of the Antique shops we had gone to during her previous visit. The one shop we wanted to go to the most wasn’t open, but we found some neat treasures at another shop and enjoyed looking at all the lovely things.
Then we went into downtown Denver and walked along the 16th Street mall all the way down to the Tattered Cover Bookstore. We made a stop at the jewelry store where my wedding ring was purchased to find out about getting it re-sized.
We didn’t want to get caught in the heavier 5 o’clock traffic on the highways, so after getting in a good walk on the mall we hopped in the car and headed toward Boulder. We stopped on the way to check out the Tebo Store Fixtures warehouse. I was on the hunt for a head mannequin similar to the one I borrow at the shop all the time to take photos. Unfortunately they didn’t have any more like that one.
I did get a hand mannequin for my fingerless mitts and an interesting shoulder mannequin. You’ll be seeing more of them both as I use them to as photo props for my designs. The folks there were super friendly and helpful, even though I am basically a “micro” business. I know they will be my first stop to look for any other display needs I have.
Jan and I got back to my house about 5 pm, so it was another evening of Netflix and crochet.
Thursday, March 12th we were headed back down to Denver because we had 10 a.m. tickets to the Cartier exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. Was a truly wonderous exhibit with loads of gorgeous designs. The exhibit was called “Brilliant” and was aptly named. A few of the pieces I thought I might need sunglasses to look at.
I enjoyed the exhibit so much that I spent the money for the hard cover “catalog”. Well worth the money. As much as I loved the sparkly stuff, I also really enjoyed seeing the design sketches and learning more about how these wearable works of art were created. Then it was time to head back to Boulder so I could be at the school in time for tutoring my math student.
Once we were back at home the evening was occupied with getting our gear together for the weekend. We were headed out for the 2nd annual Longmont Yarn Shoppe Spring Renewal Retreat. The retreat started the evening of Friday March 13th and went thru the morning of Monday, March 16th. I’ll tell you all about that tomorrow, otherwise this post would be way too long.
Tuesday, March 17th our last day to hang out at the house. We spent a good amount of our time in my design office winding yarn and doing a small sorting of my yarn stash. When we weren’t in the office we were in the house watching murder mysteries on Netflix and crocheting on various projects. Jan was also packing up in preparation for her departure.
Wednesday, March 18th we loaded up the car with Jan’s suitcases and some projects to crochet on. Then headed down to Longmont for Casual Crochet Wednesday at the Longmont Yarn Shoppe.
We had a little time before the meeting so walked around Main Street checking out the various shops and outdoor art. It was a little nippy, so we stopped off at a coffee shop across from the yarn shop. Jan had coffee and I indulged in some chai.
Casual Crochet was very well attended. The lovely Brenda Bourg even joined us for a time despite her busy schedule. We all had a fun time crocheting and discussing various projects we are working on. Jan purchased some yarn that had caught her eye when we were on the retreat.
After the meeting we walked down the street and had lunch at an Indian restaurant I hadn’t tried before. The food was good and Jan told me about some of her adventures in India. Afterward we drove over to the opposite end of the walking path we had explored before. The park was still undergoing construction/repair from the flood damage, but the path was open.
We walked all the way to see the fish water fountain again, then headed back to the car. It was a very cloudy day and was starting to rain a little. We were headed down to Denver to stay at a hotel near the airport.
The drive down to the hotel was relatively un-eventful. We got there with daylight to spare. Once we were checked in we decided to walk to a nearby restaurant for dinner. Since we had been so good about getting lots of walking in that day that we splurged on the delicious gluten-free brownie desert.
We walked back to the hotel just in time to beat the rain, then spent the rest of the evening crocheting and discussing what classes we want to take at the Knit & Crochet Show in San Diego this July. We were both feeling a little sad that Jan’s visit was nearly over.
Thursday, March 19th drove Jan to the airport at 7:30 a.m. It was raining, gloomy and cold. Seemed a bit appropriate. Fortunately, we talk on the phone every Sunday. So that will help us stay connected until our next adventure.
Mamas2Hands 
Wow!! FUN!!!