I have good news and bad news. Bad news first. Due to heightened security issues, Cheyenne Mountain, the giant underground NORAD complex in Colorado no longer gives tours. Bummer. The good news is that I just found Boye's interchangeable knitting needles for under $50! Life is good again.
Wrights, the company that owns Boye, has a factory store on Route 20 in Sturbridge, Mass. They had lots of cheap ribbon and good stuff, but nothing compared to the find of the kit. Amber, a Boston blogger, had visited, but every other knitter in the area I had mentioned this too had responded with a blank stare and a request for a phone call if it turned out to be true.
Let this be my call: an entire set of interchangeable needles, from 2 to 15, for $47.50 plus tax. And let this be my warning: they won't last. The friendly knit maven there told me that when this bunch is gone, they won't be getting more. Or at least not reliably. Factory stores, you just never know. But right now they have them! Run, don't walk. I bought 3 sets.
No, just kidding. Only 2.
I have done no knitting recently. I got really excited about a tank top pattern that I am working with this gorgeous Stacy Charles Venus that is the color of abalone, mixed with cream cotton. I've never done lace before, so I am exceedingly proud of how fabulous it looks. Still, I haven't picked it up in a week. I shouldn't be admitting that here, in this forum, should I? Y'all must be thinking, "Well what's wrong with her? Are her thumbs broken?" No, just lazy.
I still plunge my hands every day into the Wings that is waiting for the perfect Aran pattern. My stash is getting out of control. It falls on my head every night. I was so good for so long! And then my sister just pushed me off the wagon, and now I'm waddling after it with 6 bags full of yarn around every arm.
I spent the last couple nights with my friend Noah, de San Francisco, de Boston, ahora de Berkshires. We had a fabulous time, sipping G&Ts on the wide front porch of the Red Lion Inn and waving at strangers. I left the land of Norman Rockwell this morning, although this area of central Mass is just as cute. I saw Smith University in Northampton, and stopped at a Saint Anne Shrine where statues wept. Not while I was watching, though.
I was going to put in a paragraph about where I'm off to next, but I don't rightly now. And it feels marvelous.
Honk honk! Just wanted to say hi, Bethany. You sound happy, and even though I always want to go to New England anyway, you make me really, really want to go there. I did go to Burlington, Vermont, once (in... 1991?) to see the Indigo Girls play, and the drive down from Montreal was fanTAStic.
You have a stash in your truck? Haha ha ha!
Posted by: alison | June 03, 2004 at 07:02 PM
Hmmm. Our NORAD (Sage Hill) in my city in Ontario (Canada) doesn't give tours anymore either. I've never gone anyway but I heard that they quit last summer. I just assumed it was a local decision and never made the connection with security everywhere.
Hey - everyone needs a stash. I never use mine but I do have one.
Sounds like you're having a great time. And I'm having a great time reading all about it.
Posted by: peggy | June 03, 2004 at 10:26 PM
Put the yarn in the wagon. It would prefer to ride anyway. Then you could always climb back on, up on top of the yarn stash. Just trying to be helpful, ya know.
Posted by: stonering | June 04, 2004 at 08:04 AM
Bethany I am really sorry about the nut museum all my friends were really bummed about it also. At least you got to eat the nut and keep the nutella. It was great seeing you and i hope your doing well. I'll see you back in SF sometime otherwise you are always welcome at my house.
Posted by: Noah Marincich | June 04, 2004 at 05:23 PM
Excellent stash building. My mom gave me a set of those needles, old ones...hers...Dept. store brand while I was visiting from MA. I lost them on the plane back. They fell out of my bag on takeoff, I guess, and were gone. I was so sad. Ugh, such the irresponsible child. Yup, that's me.
I hope you are coming back to NY. Cony Island and all...I could steal your second set of needles. ;)
Posted by: Kathleen | June 05, 2004 at 05:59 AM
pushed off the wagon, were you? Likely story. My sister and I do that same dance...SHE made me do it, really, I NEVER would have bought those shoes if left to my own devices....uh hunh. Thank God for Good Sisters, eh?
I love the idea that you are just on Walkabout...ENJOY!
Posted by: greta | June 06, 2004 at 03:17 PM