Are We There Yet?

This weekend, Regina, Marissa, Rhonda, Sherry and I headed up to New England for our own fiberfest. I was first introduced to Webs at Stitches two years ago, imagine my surprise when I learned that they were only an hour away from my parents home in Connecticut. All of that yarn, so close, and I never knew?

A road trip to Webs became a frequent subject of conversation during knitting get-togethers. This weekend, we finally loaded up a rented mini-van and hit the road. Most of the baggage going up were WIPs...there was a whole lot of knitting going on in that van. My "So Called Scarf" is finally making some progress and hit a real growth spurt.

Yes, this is Marissa actually skipping with glee across the Web's parking lot.
And a sweet gentleman in a nifty granny square sweater, who brought his wife to the yarn Mecca; we heard no grumbling. Hmmmm....do we think that Flint, Robert or Mike may mellow like that with age?Everyone was incredibly well behaved. There was no pushing or shoving to get to the yarn. No one fibbed about how a color would look on someone else so they could score that colorway. We all played nicely in the yarn-box of Webs and left with lots of goodies. I'll detail my score later.

While in Northampton we stopped in at Northampton Wools and checked out all of their goodies. We chatted up some very friendly people there. Sherry was even giving spinning pointers and doing her very best enabling. Marissa scored some Jitterbug that was later spotted on the mini-van's dashboard having elicit sex with the yummy tweed she bought at Webs.

This gem of a bumper sticker was spotted on our way back to the mini-van. I think I could live in Northampton.

Today, on our way back to Philly we stopped at Southwind Farms in Watertown, CT and indulged in some mad alpaca love.

At first they were very shy with us, but warmed up as their curiosity grew stronger. The fleeces were incredibly dense and so soft.

Alpacas are incredibly bright animals. In some ways they reminded us of cats...for the most part they knew their names, but would choose to ignore you anyway. They are also very clean animals and not at all barnyard stinky. It was lovely to see the close bond between the alpacas and the farm's owner, Jim.

I loved the handlebar mustache on this gal, just like my dad's. We were told she is a bit ornery and quite a spitter. She was very well-behaved with us, despite Marissa smooching it up with her baby boy.

This adorable little guy is six-weeks old and a future champion alpaca. Watching him bounce and gamble about the enclosure was so much fun.

Lots of soft, lovely alpaca yarn came home with us. Southwind Farms has a nice selection of yarn from their alpacas. A huge thank you to Jim and Penny Mullen for opening the farm so that we could come and visit their herd! If you are wandering through western Connecticut, give them a call and go visit. I cannot recommend them enough.

Another huge thank you to my mom and step-father, Ed, for hosting us this weekend! It meant a lot to me to have my friends meet my parents and have my parents get to know my dear friends.