This past Saturday was wonderful! We started off very early in the morning by getting on the bus. With the help of the bus driver, we found our stop and walked along to the King Street Station in downtown Seattle where we arrived just as the organizer was picking up the tickets from the ticket counter. We checked in with her and Katie gave us some yarn for the KAL and a name badge so that we could all get our discounts while in Portland! The excitement was at one of many peaks for the day and every one stood or sat around the station talking. Many of us were meeting new friends, but there were also many who were talking with people they had known for some time. We all boarded the train together. I rode in the car that had a few non-knitters. During the trip down, I met Alyson, Jen, Tina, and 1 other knitter from the north end who I can’t seem to find. It was a relatively quiet ride down.
During the ride, both K & I worked on our KAL hats. The pattern, Charisa’s Lifestyle Hat pattern, was wonderful! I didn’t measure my knitting very well, so it doesn’t fit like I expected, but I will try this one again when I’m looking for anther hat pattern. I had only the ribbing left to finish when we disembarked the train.
In the station, we met many Portland knitters including Joan and Tracy. K & I spent most of the day walking around Portland with these 2 Oregonians. They knew the city well and so we never worried about exactly where we were. It was wonderful! We talked and had a wonderful time roaming the streets of Portland.
To begin with, we followed Charisa down to Knit Knot Studio where a couple of people in our group found the new Addi Click needles sets. When they found that they were not excluded from the 20% off, several ladies purchased them, including K. Then, we continued toward Knit Purl, stopping at Powell's Bookstore and Whole Foods. Both were wonderful. We didn’t find anything we needed at Powell's, but did buy some nuts and dried fruit for the trip home. Knit Purl had a beautiful selection of yarns, but I didn’t find much that was worth the price to me. I had already made a somewhat large purchase at Knit Knot, so I just bought 1 skein at Knit Purl. (There will be more on the stash acquisitions tomorrow.)
For lunch, we stopped at the Deschutes Brewery and Public House. Their burgers were great and well priced, too. After lunch we headed up toward Dublin Bay. Here, there were many from our group sitting near the fire, knitting and enjoying one another’s company. I did a little looking around the store, but then sat down. When most of the others were getting up to leave, I went with 3 others from the Sequim area. We went to the Little Green Grocer that was just around the corner for a sandwich to take on the train, and then continued on to meet up with everyone for the trip back. K had decided to go back to Knit Knot, so she met us at the station.
While we were waiting to board the train, one of our knitters decided to wind her large, lace weight yarn into a ball. Not having a swift or ball winder handy, she used a friend! This is just so typical of us knitters. We're always ready to lend a helping hand.
Back on board the train, we had 2 cars to ourselves, this time, so the noise was more than before. We all settled in and started the trek back north. Around 7:30, about a third of the way into the trip, everyone put their purchases out on their seats and then went to look at what everyone else had bought. It was fun to see and talk to others about it all. After returning to my seat, I finished the KAL hat and began to work on my sock project that I brought with me.
We arrived back at the station a little early. The husband of my friend, K, didn’t want us to have to stand in the cold so he had driven us to the Park & Ride that morning. So, we called to see how close he was to picking us up. He was still at home, as he thought the train came in an hour later. He left immediately and picked us up about 25 minutes later. It started snowing while we were in Portland and continued. Fortunately, it was not sticking to the road and we arrived home safely.
