Portland Yarn Score

There are, apparently, a lot of knitters in Portland, Oregon; there are, apparently, a lot of yarn stores in Portland. I was there this past week to do two readings. I didn't have a lot of down time, and down time is always iffy with a baby, but I did manage to get to a yarn store, KnitPurl, which was in walking distance of my hotel, Ace Hotel, which I stayed in during my last stay in Portland. The Ace is lovely, quirky, in the middle of everything.



I bought Koigu PPPM in colorway 326. I know: it isn't rare or local or hard to find or coveted. It is, in the sock-knitting world, abundant. I wanted, however, to start a new practice: that is, I wanted to start buying "souvenir" yarn during my travels. This colorway complimented the hotel postcard and seemed like a perfect way to remember my stay in Portland. Although I've knit socks with Koigu before, I have always knit gift socks with Koigu. These socks will be for me; these socks will be mine.

I wish I had time to get to Angelika's Yarn Store, which I have ordered from in the past, but it was too far, and we had no time.

Manly and I absolutely adored Portland. We loved Powell's Bookstore, which sells (get ready!) Malabrigo yarn in all weights and has a whole aisle devoted to knitting books. I was on a budget, so I didn't score any Malabrigo or knitting books. We loved the food carts. We adored our friends there. We loved the sky. We loved the coffee. We want to move there.

At the airport, on our way back to Chicago, I saw many a needle knitting.