17 August, 2008

Acquisitions, Including Stash

Much of Bear-Moose is about eating. And drinking wine. And at least for me, drinking beer. And eating some more. My brother frequently expresses his amazement that his small children spend much of their day eating, talking about food, and telling him that they want food. But really, we're no better.

Bear-Moose always, always involves at least one trip to American Spoon Foods.



This year, I got away with just three jars: Tangy Ginger Grilling Sauce, Cherry Mustard (makes ham and turkey sandwiches so much better), and Ripe Olive Relish.

This year I took a drive up to Cross Village on M119. About five miles from Harbor Springs is Pond Hill Farm, a family owned and operated farm with a market and greenhouse. I bought two jars of goodies, but wanted to buy more.


Rhubarb chutney and pickled zucchini.

If you are ever in the Harbor Springs/Petoskey area, the ride up M119 is well worth the time and gas money. There's not a lot going on in Cross Village, but there is Three Pines Studio. Repeat after me—hand-dyed sock yarn.



Owner Joann Condino purchases the yarn from a spinner in East Jordan and dyes it herself. She hadn't even priced or tagged the yarn yet. "Do you knit socks?" she asked me when she saw me looking at yarn, and when I said yes, she invited me back into her workroom to look at the yarn she had just finished winding. Yummy. She had about five or six colorways, and in addition to these two, I really wanted two others. But I refrained.

In Petoskey I purchased shoes. I can't remember the name of the shop now, but they discount their shoes and move them to the basement when they get in new inventory. I went in for a pair of knock-around shoes to wear with jeans, and came out with three pairs.


Knock-around shoes on left, work shoes middle and right.

I also purchased two flower pots in Petoskey from Monarch Garden & Floral Design. Really cute shop.



The one on the left is for kitchen herbs, the one on the right is for the guest bedroom/craft room. (Craft room?! Yeah, craft room. More on that in a future post.)

Okay, so the purchases were adding up, but by this point I had only bought two skeins of yarn. Right? Wrong. I had gone to Alanson a few days earlier, to the Dutch Oven Yarn Shop. No hand-dyed sock yarn. But in the 50% off bin there was tweedy goodness...



... and some crazy fun yarn that was begging me to take it home and knit it into a hat for a small child.



I think after all these purchases it's pretty safe to say that I did my part in supporting the struggling Michigan economy this summer. I left Bear-Moose with five jars of delicious goods, three pairs of shoes, two flower pots, and six skeins of yarn.

And bought some more things on the way home.

In Gaylord I stopped for a sandwich at Subway. It was one of those tricky exits where there is a sign for food, but once you get off the highway you have to drive a bit. I ended up downtown, where lo and behold, I ran into a farmer's market. I justified this purchase by reminding myself that I didn't have any food in my refrigerator and I would likely not want to go to the grocery store after unpacking.



Besides, there's nothing better than locally grown produce. My favorites are the purple bell peppers and the patty pan squash.


Aren't these cool? I didn't know they even existed.


And this little guy is just too cute for his own good. Plus, "patty pan" is just fun to say.


And I bought some cherries for dessert.

That was it, I swear! I wasn't going to buy another thing.

But then I got to Houghton Lake. And I remembered that on the way to Bear-Moose, I had seen a sign for Arnie's Arts 'n' Crafts. And I started thinking that I might never, ever get to Houghton Lake again, in my entire life. In retrospect, I am sure that it was the yarn fumes (both those coming off my newly acquired stash but as well as fumes coming off the yarn at Arnie's as I got closer and closer to HL) that made me think such ridiculous thoughts. But there was no stopping a madwoman. I was going to Arnie's.

Arnie's is huge. No, not huge—ginormous. Most of its square footage is devoted to scrapbookers, so it could have been worse. The yarn selection was diverse, to say the least. Noro Kureyon and Lion Brand Mohair within a foot or two of each other. You know, that sort of store.

More stash. I think this Lamb's Pride Worsted wants to be a Foliage.



Some more sock yarn. Not hand-dyed, but still pretty. Only 40% wool content. Will it be too itchy for a muggle? We'll just have to see. (Yeah, you know who you are!)



All these thoughts of wool and produce made me want to stop at Uncle John's, but the day was just too hot. Better left for the fall. And then I can wear some fingerless mitts... made out of that awesome navy Donegal tweed!

4 comments:

Marissa said...

OK, next year, I'm vacationing with YOU!!!!
Awesome shopping excursion. I approve every one of your purchases, and find them entirely justified.
Looks like you had a fun trip, hurray!

san said...

Those preserves look soooo delicious! And I love the shoes.

She Knits Socks said...

I found your blog through Ravelry. I wish I had gone shopping with you. You found some really great things. That fresh produce looks yummy, but the sock yarn was the prize!

Ria said...

Sounds like a great trip! That sock yarn was a find! How were the veggies? I grow purple peppers 'cause they are my daughter's favorite not-hot pepper ( and lets face it i love having my mouth on fire, but sometimes a plain pepper is good too.) patty pans are her favorite squash and they are very versatile. i think she eats them 'cause they are so cute!

Ria (tonyfan20 on ravelry)