I have the best friends....

This Labor Day weekend was spent, well, laboring.  I finished staining our deck (finally ~ never again to be a one-woman job...what was I thinking?) and we worked on our landscaping.  It wasn't all work, though, since I did manage to celebrate my birthday a few times ~ with the hubby on my day, with my folks last night and on Sunday, Kelli planned a girls trip to The Artful Ewe in Port Gamble just for me!  Awesome.  We had a great time strolling around the one road town and doing a little shopping.  We capped the day off with a lovely picnic lunch of fried chicken, watermelon and a homemade carrot cake (thankyou thankyou thankyou, Carrie!) followed by some wonderful gifts.  Thanks to everyone that made my birthday one to remember.  It was perfect!  ~ Melissa

The Artful Ewe

Our trip yesterday turned out to be a huge success.  I decided to share our adventure in 2 separate posts since I think (and I'm sure all 4 of us are in agreement here) that The Artful Ewe in Port Gamble is worthy of so much praise that it would be a shame to lump the rest of our stops into the love fest that's about to follow!  Excuse me for gushing....

We dressed for the inclement weather that we woke up to early yesterday morning, but by the time we met in Edmonds to catch the ferry across Puget Sound to Kingston, the sun was shining and brilliant and we were all wishing we had worn something different.  The drive to Port Gamble is a quick one, about 10 minutes, and it is definitely one of those towns where if you blink you'd miss the entire thing.  I think their saving grace is that there's a sharp 90 degree turn that you have to slow way down for, which gives you time to notice this adorable single street of shops.  Here's where you'll find Heidi's store.

Of course, the cameras popped out as soon as I stopped the car.  I hope Kelli got some pictures that she wants to share.  There was so much to look at from the minute we opened the door and were greeted by sweet Gracie.



Resting after welcoming the Knitwits

Dozer would think he died and went to heaven if we could fix him up a bed such as Gracie's!  I think my jaw literally dropped open when I stepped inside Heidi's store.  If you can imagine the absolute perfect fibery shop, and then multiply it times 100, I'm not even sure that would measure up to what you find once your eyes adjust to the overwhelming amount of beauty everywhere you look.  Heidi said she was fairly wiped out on stock since she had just been to Madrona a few weeks back, so I can't even imagine what the place is like when it's full.  There were beautiful hand spun and hand dyed hanks of yarn along every wall, loose fiber for spinning piled here, there and everywhere, and works in progress with knitting needles still in them on display throughout.  All items for sale were displayed like works of art ~ I drifted through the shop for almost an hour just looking at everything ~ noticing something new each time I circled that I hadn't seen the time before.


Baaaa-sking in the sunlight



My favorite picture

Seeing how things were displayed and how Heidi makes use of every little nook and cranny in her cute shop gave me so much inspiration for my knitting attic and how I want it to feel when it's finished.  I hope my friends that come to sit and knit with me feel as welcome as we did in her shop and don't want to leave when it's time to go home.

We would all love to have stayed and hunkered down in the back of the shop in her comfy chairs, with the sunshine streaming in, and just sit and knit the rest of the day away.  We'll definitely be back again, and The Artful Ewe will probably be our first and last stop of the day, so we can plan to stay a bit longer.  Thanks, Heidi, for creating such a wonderful, inspiring space for fiber lovers to come and shop, visit and dream.  I can't wait to come back!  Oh, and thanks for spinning up the amazing Alpaca that I finally chose to bring home with me ~ I'll let you know what I decide to make with it!



Elemental Affects Natural Shetland Fingering




Handmade shawl pin & buttons and new lace needles

And thanks Kelli, Trudy and Sherry (in your amazing coat of many colors) for coming along ~ you make the adventures all the more fun!  Can't wait for our next excursion....where to, ladies?