Seattle to Portland Yarn Train

Michele Bernstein's Pippi Earflap Hat on display at Twisted in Portland, OR

I've been following Michele's blog, PDXKnitterati for as long as I've been blogging. She's got a great sense of fun--- and as a knitwear designer and Portland native, she keeps her blog readers extremely well-apprised of all things yarny and fibery. When Michele learned that my friend Chandria and I would be heading down to her neck of the woods for the Snohomish Knitters Guild Portland Yarn Crawl, she generously offered to show us around her hometown last Saturday. It was so cool to be able to trek through town and hang out with Michele as she led us to so many great places in Portland:

Knit Ambassador to PDX: Michele chauffeuring me, Chandria, and Denise- another Seattleite yarnie we met on the train.

There was so much to see and enjoy in Portland, Chandria and I left town planning our next trip back. We're so happy that Michele has agreed to let us give her mini-yarn tour of Seattle the next time she's in town. Here's a picture re-cap of the day:

Chandria ready to join 125 other knitters for a very early departure from the Jackson Street Station, Seattle:


Charisa, our Yarn Train coordinator, Knit Lollipop for tiny sock KAL, Katie Kent serenades us with the Yarn Train Song

Arrival at Union Station


Raffle winners announced and final instructions before the Crawl begins

Portland not only has the most yarn stores per captia anywhere, it's a picturesque city to boot--- I love all the architecture. (That's the public library, bottom left.) Our first stop though, ended up being a non-yarn one, at Dig:
Too cool for words. I wanted to take home everything I saw, but managed to refrain.



Then to Bonnet, where I bought a pretty gray tam.
(Knit Kit in the window of Powell's Books, the famous Deschutes Brewery.)

We met up with Michele at Knit Purl. I found a couple of skeins of Camelspin I had in mind for the Stefanie Japel shawl class I'm signed up for. Knit Purl ran a gumball sale: at checkout, customer receives penny for gumball machine. Gumball color determines %off. My yarn ended up being 15% off with no sales tax. Woot.
Then to the Button Emporium, across the street from the public libray. (That's Michele's pretty Seafoam Sock.)

At Starbucks, Michele introduced us to Judy Becker and friends, including Susan from Abstract Fibers.
Discussing new yarn that will debut at Madrona....


Michele gets a tweet from Twisted about Voodoo doll kits:

Just in time for Valentine's Day, apparently. The one on the right is wearing a sticker that says: Hello. My name is Matt.... Poor Matt.


I completely fell in love with Twisted! And BMFA like nothing I've ever seen in a LYS. While we were there, Michele helped me choose some Debbie Bliss Aran Cashmerino to make a Pippi Hat yay! and Chandria scored some awesome STR and Woobu.


A delicious bite at the pub next door to Twisted and then across the bridge to Yarnia:


Up to six different strands of fiber can be wound together to create a custom yarn:
I chose mohair, silk and merino to make a pair of mitts. DIY price for 200 yds: $7.00

No! I didn't knit it! It's the tam I picked up at Bonnet. I'm probably the only person on the planet who'd buy an already-knitted item on a yarn crawl... But wearing it will certainly remind me of a wonderful day spent with yarny friends. Can't wait to go back!

(Yarn Train Flickr set here)