Long Weekends Are For…

…taking a breath—a deep, long breath—and letting the stress melt away. I had a pretty horrific week last week, so the extra day this weekend was really welcome.

Long weekends are also for doing awesome things with your faves. On Saturday, the girls and I went and tooled around in Massachusetts on an absolutely beautiful day. Our first stop was the Yankee Candle flagship store, which is an event and a  half if you’ve never experienced it. Votives were a dollar (score!) and I got a pretty new double wick candle for the apartment. But there’s so much crap to check out in that place, that I didn’t even remember to get a photo of the actual candles.

For instance, you get attacked by Lego robot monsters…

AHHHHHHH!!!!!

…and you get to model the latest in pirate fashions.

Argh…

You get to interact with wildlife in its native habitat…

Tracy makes a friend.

…and, of course, there’s cocktails!

What happens when you give the doctor the camera? Your mini ‘rita Xmas ornament pic comes out all blurry.

The entertainment did leave something to be desired…

Animatronic rednecks. WHY??

…and I’m really not sure what this is all about.

Yup, that right there is a giant cow catching a Frisbee. I don’t really get it…

They did have a fabulous kitchen and cooking area, complete with tasty samples of dips and salsas and barbeque and cheese-filled crepes…

Sampling the salsa

…and I was sorely tempted to buy a pastry blender, but resisted. Ah, a brief flash of willpower!

They had these really comfy hammock chairs to try out…

Ahhh, the relaxation….

…and a whole Halloween section. I love Halloween…

The Rolling Bones…hehe…

…and Tracy was literally a kid in a candy store when she found a chocolate and candy coated pretzel.

Love the lighting

Kris found this appropriate and giggle-inducing sign for her apartment door…

Kitten tested, Yoda approved

…and we decided to let Tracy drive, but she didn’t get too far.

All my friends drive the low rider…

After Yankee Candle, we drove down to Northampton and had lunch at Fitzwilly’s, complete with a round of Arnold Palmers and, of course, a seafood pie for Tracy.

Then we hit up WEBS and WEBS Beads. As per usual, I forgot to take pics. Something about yarn fumes makes it impossible for me to remember to pull out the camera while in there. But I was exceedingly well-behaved. I scored another US 6 Addi Lace, since the one I already have is laden with a scrappy scarf for an indefinite time period and I have a couple projects on the horizon that call for a US 6.

I also scored a skein of Madelinetosh Lace in “Oxblood,” which is way darker in person than on the Web site, for a Geodesic Cardi (Rav link).

And I picked up a copy of the Austin Hoodie pattern (Rav link), because I completely fell in love with the sample they had in the store. They didn’t have enough of the Tosh Merino Light in the colorway I wanted, though, so I’ll pick it up at a later date.

Clearly, I have a thing for Connie Chang Chinchio patterns. I’m not afraid to admit it. I love her design style.

And that’s all I bought. See how good I was!

On the way back home, we made a layover in Longmeadow for a harrowing and hilarious gelato stop.

A dairy fix to end the day. Fab!

Massachusetts is really the poster child for how not to design rotaries on your local roads. For serious. But the gelato was delicious.

I had a quiet day on Sunday with Madori and the kitties and my 4! Ounce! Challenge! design, topped off by a long walk at the park and a visit to the spindlemaker’s house to walk his puppies . No pics yet, but I’m actually to the edging already. Go me! And I think I’ve got my edging issues all worked out, too. Woot! 

If I can get through the last few, extremely long rows without incident, I should be ready to take photos and start laying out my pattern by early next week. Get your fancy camera ready, Kris!

Yesterday, Madori and I visited with my mom for a few hours, then returned home to find that Tilly had ripped into the sealed bag of Cascade 220 reserved for Girasole (Rav link) and had skattered the skeins around the house, completely mutilating one of them. Thanks, Til. Glad to see she’s back to her old, lovey, non-aggressive, yarn-sucking self.

Busy week this week because next week is VACATION! And I desperately need it. Lots of writing to get done at work before then, though.

And my favorite-ist fave is coming for a visit next weekend!! Yay!!