Day Trippin'

Off to Fredericksburg with Darling Husband!

First Stop: The Cat's Closet which sells The Bestest Sparkly Balls In The Whole World -- at least that's the verdict from The Sparkly Ball Expert, Isabella, shown here with three new additions to her stash: The Cat's Closet has several experts in residence as well. Here is the lovely Kaitlin (with a shaved belly from recent x-rays -- but she's AOK). Katilin is the chief toy inspector and allowed me to help her try out a potential new product -- two Sparkly Balls connected with a curly spring. I think she will eventually give it 2 Paws Up!We then wandered the antique stores for a bit, working up an appetite for the second draw of our infrequent visits to Fredericksburg: Sammy T's. This nice little pub really caters to Vegetarians and Vegans, with numerous selections and a clearly marked menu. I always get felafel -- usually the sandwich, but this time, cuz of the braces who know, I went for a tabouli salad, which included mini felafel balls.

Both versions come with a sizeable bowl of the house-made lemon-tahini dressing - YUM! Of course, we also had to share a basket of fries!

After lunch, we headed to a new stop on our tour: The Knitter's Cottage (that's me on the porch!)This spacious store, located in a lovely old house with soaring ceilings and original windows, also has thoughfully placed rocking chairs inside so that DH was comfortable whilst he waited for me.

Their large inventory made for nice browsing although the non-animal fibers weren't too plentiful. Nevertheless, I managed to find Stash Enhancement in the way of GGH "Cadiz" (51% cotton, 33% acrylic, 16% rayon) marked down $3 per ball.

Although it looks sort of fuzzy in this picture, the product is actually a dull cord wrapped with a shiny cover. The blues and aquas in the colorway say "Greek Beach" to me! I bought only 3 balls and hope to try it out for socks.

Speaking of socks ... I also finally bit the bullet and handed over the $$ for two 24" addi Turbos. Now I'm set to try the new sock knitting technique on two circulars. I'm hoping to say Goodbye and Good Riddance to the rotten dpns.

Lastly ... I did knit on the drive and finished the sleeves for the little baby Cabled Sweater. Tomorrow I'll put it together and knit the button bands, finalizing a project!

Of course, there is the new sock yarn to think of ...

And the two library books of folk mitten patterns ...

Did I mention that my "Audrey" pattern book arrived yesterday too?