My Happy Place

I mentioned before that my main reason for visiting visit Fort Collins is to spend time with Ryan, followed closely by plenty of good eating and drinking around town. There is a third reason, or maybe it's even tied for second place - visiting The Loopy Ewe in person.

I've shopped online at TLE for years, beginning when they were located in St. Louis. I continued to buy yarn from them after they moved to Fort Collins. Five years ago Ryan chose Colorado State University for grad. school, and while I was incredibly happy for him, I was a bit sad that he would be moving 1700 miles away. My sadness was assuaged somewhat after I visited The Loopy Ewe in person. It is truly a marvelous yarn store.

Ryan usually goes with me, and he has turned out to be an excellent yarn-chooser. He pushes me to try new colors and combinations that I would never choose myself. I've bought some yarn just because he picked it out, but still with a bit of doubt. Despite my skepticism, I've always come to love it. The yarn for my Match & Move is the latest example. I was sure that there was no way I would enjoy knitting with the variegated brown, black, and white Wollmeise, but now it's one of my all-time favorites. So what did he choose this time?

Lots of good stuff, and we had loads of fun picking it out!

I bought too much to fit into my suitcase, so Loopy shipped it for me. 

It arrived here at home before I did, and it was like Christmas when I opened the box.

There will be a Hitchhiker or two, possibly with two colors, and maybe the beaded cast-off that Kym used on her One Week/Close to You. There will be a couple pairs of fingerless gloves for Ryan. Some of it will marinate in my stash until it tells me what it wants to be. I might knit another Match & Move with those wild bright pink and variegated pink, green, and black Hedgehog Fibers skeins that Ryan picked out and practically dared me to buy. He even chose a new knitting bag.

It was wonderful, and even though I don't need yarn, I bought plenty that I wanted. No matter what I make with these skeins, the projects will be special because they'll remind me of the terrific time I had with Ryan, yarn-chooser extraordinaire.