Road Trip!

Clare and I played hooky today. Two days before Thanksgiving with 22 people sitting down to dinner is not the time to run away. It's time to count chairs and place-settings (I'm short). Time to haul out all the wine glasses and dust the light fixtures. Make pie crust. Take down the kitchen curtains. Clean cabinets. Paint the house. Lay new floors.

Okay, okay. I tend to over-extend at holidays. All the things I live with day to day that don't bother me (much) suddenly become intolerable the closer I come to a celebration. Clare tells me that two days before Thanksgiving, any sentence that begins with "I'll just" is not allowed. She keeps telling me to breathe.

So at 9 this morning we set off for The Fold in Marengo, IL. This is a major expedition for city folks. The way is rife with danger. Lake Shore Drive in its current incarnation as Dan Ryan Expressway II. Downtown during the morning rush. The Kennedy - which is always hell, I don't care what time of day. And then the hazards of Open Road Tolling and it's attendant construction. We listened to almost all of Arlo Guthrie Live in Sydney. We're talking a long drive here. And then we almost missed the sign. Thank goodness the folks at The Fold post a map.















It really looks nothing at all like what I expected a fiber Mecca to look like.













Just like your uncle's or cousin's or college friend's. Unpretentious. Friendly. Welcoming. But not fiber related.















The Fold is well known for its spinning resources. And the entire first room is devoted to wheels, hand-spindles, roving, you name it. But, and I quote from their website here, "The Fold has added yarns to our inventory! Naturally, being spinners, we are picky about the quality of the yarns we carry. We think you'll agree these are worth looking at."

They were wonderful. Manos del Uruguay. Classic Elite. Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Merinos. Alpacas. Cashmere blends. Recycled Silk. I'd have a picture if I had bothered to check the batteries in my camera.

We had come for Mountain Colors in something other than Bearfoot. Well, I had. Clare subscribes to the "you can never have too much sock yarn" school of thought. Not being a sock-knitter I wanted Mountain Colors non-Bearfoot yarn. And we found it. They had 4/8, Handspun, Merino Ribbon, Twizzle, Weaver's Wool, Feathers, and Wool Crepe. And Bearfoot.














On the left is MC Weavers Wool in Wilderness. On the right is Fonty Yarns Soft Tweed, color 1105. Now I am between a rock and a hard place. I went in search of additional incentive to finish Red Scarf #2. One of these is destined for RS #3, but which?

Lovely as the yarns were, it would have been wrong to leave The Fold without something that spins.















We made it home in time for Marco's bus. Jiggedy-jig!