STP Yarn Train 2011

King Street Station

After getting off to a rough start which included spilling an entire cup of coffee in my lap at the train station as the train was boarding (managed to soak my jeans, my camera and my cell phone all in one fell swoop ~ no damage done other than a big stain on my pants so no harm no foul!), we headed south a little drowsy but excited for our first trip to Portland on the annual Yarn Train sponsored by the Snohomish Knitters Guild.


my first train ride ever!

 The trip down was fun as we started waking up and visiting with other knitters, and watching the light of day break outside our window.


left to right: Kelli, me (see the stain on my knee?), Trudy, Sherry

 It proved to be a rough day for a walking tour since it rained a hard, non-stop, torrential downpour the entire time we were in Oregon. We opted for a taxi to our first stop of the day, Knit Purl, a great shop with a stellar staff that made us all feel welcome and gave us some free swag as well as our 10% event day discount.


Union Station in Portland

 Our second stop was Dublin Bay, one of my favorite stops of the day.  It's beautiful inside and I wish I could have sat and knitted for awhile in front of the fireplace to dry out from the rain.  They had a great book selection and I picked up a copy of 'Knitted Lace of Estonia' by Nancy Bush, among other things.  I didn't realize until I uploaded pictures when I got home that I was lucky enough to catch our guest KAL blogger, Morgen, while she was shopping (that's her in the gray sweater below).


Dublin Bay

 Our third stop was Twisted, not on the walking tour but since we were taking a taxi everywhere we had some extra time so we headed out to see if Sivia Harding was there.  This is her home shop below, where she works.  We weren't lucky enough to be there on a day when she was there, but the shop was offering a 15% discount for the tour so of course, we shopped a bit...


Twisted

 ...and Trudy got to rest her weary knees and do a little reading.


Trudy

 Our last stop was Urban Fiber Arts, which had some great things we hadn't seen anywhere else during the day, but we were tired and hungry and the shop was really crowded so we decided not to linger and went down the street to Deschutes Brewery & Public House.  I had a fantastic breakfast-lunch-dinner (we hadn't really eaten all day!) ~ grilled sirloin with rosemary jus, smashed potatoes with white cheddar, bacon and hops, grilled squash and an ice cold Cascade Ale (one of my new favorites!).  I think everyone enjoyed the food as much as I did but I was so engrossed in my meal I don't think I even asked how their food was!


are you drooling??

We found some amazing stash builders (that's mine in the above photo), got lost trying to walk to Voodoo Doughnuts for the still elusive bacon maple bars (we ended up in a reaaaaaly bad neighborhood and quickly decided it was time to turn around and get our butts to the train station), had lots of laughs (broken umbrellas, crazy taxi drivers, almost leaving Sherry behind in Portland....I'm so sorry Sherry!!!  I lost my mind!), and had a fantastic adventure.  Thanks to everyone at the guild who helped to organize this trip ~ especially Mo! ~ what a huge undertaking!  You gave 200 knitters, us included, a day full of cherished memories!