Portland: Day Two

Day two in wonderful Portland began with another class at the Knit and Crochet Show. Jenna and I were both enrolled in the class, which was all about the ways of the sock. More specifically, the ways of creating Coriolis socks, taught by the inventor of this particular method, Cat Bordhi. Needless to say the class the filled. Sock knitters are nothing if not dedicated to their craft. However, Jenna and I are more casual about knitting socks, so we absorbed all of the great tips and tricks during the morning session of the class and decided to forego the afternoon session in favor of a bit of Portland exploration.

We hopped a bus to NE Alberta street in search of some crafty wares. This turned out to be a fantabulous idea as not only did we find tons of treasures, but there happened to be a street fair going on that day as well. Icing on the cake as far as I was concerned.

First Stop, Collage! This place is filled to the rafters with paper goods, scrapbooking materials, stamps, stickers, brads and crafty tchotchkes. It's nothing short of superb. I picked up some Halloween themed items as well as some stuff to make ATCs.

Next up, Close Knit! Okay, we didn't go there to purchase anything. Jenna and I had done enough damage in the Marketplace at the Knit and Crochet Show after all. However, when in another city, it is always good to go and check out the local fuzz. Close Knit is such a great store! Lots of stock from Manos to Rowan, including some hand-painted hanks from local makers. The staff was friendly and the feel of the place was wonderfully cozy. If I lived in Portland, I'd be there all of the time!

Our final craft stop on NE Alberta Street was Bolt Fabric. Another petite brick and mortar packed with quality stuff. Find tons of quilt cottons such as Mendocino, Pop Garden and Garden Party, unusual buttons, embroidery patterns, floss and a good selection of books. Definitely worth a perusal.

Damage to our wallets sustained, we hit a local taco truck before hopping a bus and cab to the other side of town.


Jenna sits propped against our chosen lunch venue.

Across town, Jenna and I hit Knittn Kitten. This store was a find! Vintage craft materials, fabrics, yarns and books. It's quite literally a thrift store for craft junkies. Brilliant to be sure! I increased my current collection of McCall's Needlework with a few purchases from this shop.

Our afternoon spent, we girls headed back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner with a colleague from the cube farm. Jeff and his wife, Mary, picked us up from our home away from home and we drove over to the Pearl District for a evening meal at Bay 13. There we indulged in a couple of bottles of Westrey Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley to start, combined with Grilled Flatbread topped with mushrooms, carmelized onions and fontina cheese, Sweet Potato Fries with a side of horseradish aioli, Steamer clams in Thai chili, scallions and cilantro. We followed that up with seared Ahi Tuna, Maine Diver Scallops and Beef Tenderloin for our main course. Our plates looked as if they'd been autoclaved at the end of the meal. So, yeah, the food was good!

After dinner Jenna and I parted ways with our fellow cube farm inmate and spouse and hit the pavement in search of Powell's.

Oh. My. God.

If you are a bibliophile, then this is your heaven. Below is just one floor to ceiling bookcase of many in the craft book section of the store...



Amazing. I know I speak for Jenna when I say that I would move to Portland simply to be close to Powell's. Yes, it's THAT good.

Not a bad Day Two right? But wait, there's more...

How do two crafty chicks end a craftacular day in a fantastic city?

DOUGHNUTS!

Oh yeah, Voodoo Doughnuts...


Classic Buttermilk.


The ever popular Voodoo Doughnut, pierced by a pretzel.


My fave, the Maple and Bacon Doughnut. Oh yeah, two crispy strips of pork atop a rich maple glazed fried dough log...Yum!

All I can say is, thank God we had to walk 10 blocks to get to the Max...

Recommended Reading (and Viewing)

We've not discussed crafty good reads in some time. Not that I've stopped purchasing books mind you. I've just neglected to share my acquisitions. So, let's get those spines cracking!

Okay, so it's no secret that I've been working with yarn outside of my familiar box during the past year. I am spinning, dyeing, weaving and even embroidering on a regular basis in addition to my usual knit and crochet regimen. Needless to say, learning or relearning these processes (as with weaving) required a certain level of research material for me to make an honest go at these new frontiers. I perused and even purchased many a book before deciding which ones were best suited to both my learning style and reading comprehension. What follows are the new essentials in my yarn library.

Addicted to the application of color to fiber? You need this book...



Upon first perusal I began making notes, depositing Post-Its amongst the pages and became completely immersed in personal stories of the dyers profiled in this book. This compendium is filled with dye recipes for a variety of chemical processes and fiber contents, clear step-by-step instructions with requisite pictures, is well organized and just a delight to thumb through for the experienced and novice dyer alike. There are also plenty of mostly knitting patterns throughout in an effort to show off the plethora newly painted fiber wares.

All of the pros aside, could I pick this book up (having had no previous dye experience) and get colorfied? Ah, that's debatable. If you're detail oriented, love a challenge, operate with a high degree of reading comprehension and have tons of space in your domicile with which to experiment in the messy world of hand dyed yarn, sure, this book will get you off and running. However, if you are a hands-on learner, I recommend that you take a class and then purchase this book to supplement the base of knowledge acquired in class. And the knitting patterns? They are nice to have, but really not necessary. The type of patterns found in the book are pretty average knitting fare, easily found in the wealth of knitting books available on the market today.

Wanna make some yarn? Here are two excellent additions to your spinning library!

First is a DVD featuring Mabel Ross titled, Handspinning: Advanced Techniques...



This instructional DVD is 112 minutes of Mabel's spinning genius. It was mesmerizing to watch this woman handle fiber and wheel. She teaches such varied techniques from preparing and spinning different lengths of fibers to making worsted and woolen yarns for weaving or knitting and using short draw and traditional long draw techniques. She also demonstrates how to create a plied yarn of any exact thickness with just the right amount of twist, for various purposes, and how to repeat it exactly at any time. Besides yarns of average thickness, very thick, soft knitting yarn and extremely fine gossamer for knitting lace are spun. Although, some spinning experience is required in order to make use of the DVD, as a novice, I found the entire DVD to be illuminating. I plethora of lessons on a disk!

My second spinning library acquisition is another Mabel find. This one in book format titled, The Essentials of Yarn Design for Handspinners.



This book is basically the DVD above and then some. I recommend purchasing both. They make a great set! Both of these items can be found online at Paradise Fibers and The Woolery amongst other sources. I buy lots (and I mean LOTS) of weaving, spinning, knitting and crochet supplies from both of these stores and I can vouch for their high quality of service. Paradise Fibers is, however, the source I buy from first and foremost. Family run business, amazing customer service and just all around nice people! Love them!

You can never have too many stitch dictionaries! I bought the new versions of the Harmony Guides (for knitting) by Erika Knight.

Knit & Purl...



Lace & Eyelets...



Cables & Arans...



I loved these dictionaries upon opening. The instructions are clear. The images are wonderful and I like that the techniques are separated into three separate books. In fact, these appeal to me so much that I was actually disturbed by the amount of negative feedback about them on Amazon. Basically, the reviewers seem to be dismayed by the lack of charts. Hey, what can I say, I'm old school. I learned to knit 31 years ago where the written pattern was queen! I could give a sheep's butt about charts. So, for me, these dictionaries are awesome.

I'm at home with my rebel within...