Colorado Holiday

I arrived in Denver on Tuesday after a very early ride to the airport, chauffeured by a dear friend, and an uneventful flight. I had been advised to download the Mobile Passport Control (MPC) app onto my phone which permitted me to go into an express line through US Customs. If you plan any air travel to the US, I highly recommend this app. From the time I was dropped off to the time I went through security, US Customs, and arrived at my gate, it was only 20 minutes!

I got my preferred aisle seat but unfortunately because I was just ahead of an exit row, my seat didn’t recline. I did have some shut-eye in an upright position with my head cradled by a neck pillow.

 

I didn’t plan to check my carry-on sized bag but by the time my group boarded, all the overhead bins were full. Several passenger put both their hand luggage and carry on bag in the overhead bins thus hogging/taking up space for others’ small suitcases. 😡. Thus, my bag was checked on the jetway and was at the baggage carousel by the time I got there after disembarking the plane. The baggage claim  is probably a kilometre from my gate and I could have taken a train there but chose to walk after being seated for most of the previous 3.5h.

Francey was there to meet me and directed us to the shuttle that would take us the 116km to Fort Collins. We were both very glad to not have to deal with the Denver traffic and got a lot of catching up done on the ride.

Yesterday we visited a local yarn shop, Lambspun, that had a lot of indie yarns, and supplies for weaving, felting, knitting and crocheting. There, I bought three skeins of fingering weight Rowan Baby Cashsoft Merino yarn.

I want to make a mini-Hobbes - a companion for this guy I crocheted a few months ago.

The leftmost yarn is more of a midnight blue/black but will serve adequately as tiger stripes.

Today we headed to Loveland to shop at Colorado Cross Stitcher and The Loopy Ewe. Both businesses used to be under one roof in Fort Collins but a couple of years ago opened in separate locations in Loveland.

Colorado Cross Stitcher is now in an industrial office building.

The interior is vast. 

This is the first thing one sees to the right of the entrance - so many lovely sample pillows.

There are three main aisles.

The tables had most of the newly released patterns…

Many brands of threads, lots of beautiful samples on display. Everything was brightly lit. Collections were arranged by designer. 

I took this photo and didn’t realize it until I got back to Francey’s and looked at the photo that it is the original Smith sampler and the Scarlett House’s modern iteration of it.

They do a brisk mail-order business so everything is well organized for picking and packing. 

I did manage to find a couple (ahem) of things for purchase. Of course, a sunflower piece. 🌻

Two scrumptious fat eighths of 40ct hand-dyed Newcastle Linen - Country Mocha and Sapphire

I have admired this Kathy Barrick pattern for several years and bought it and the called-for WDW threads. There were also options for Gloriana and NPI but neither were variegated enough for my liking. DMC and Belle Soie were also offered as alternatives but I knew the DMC wouldn’t be variegated and the shop didn’t carry Belle Soie threads. 

I wanted a smaller tension hoop; this 3.5” one fit the bill.

The bee pins are for my Block Party bee project, the Sulky Petite thread is intended for an upcoming smalls exchange, and one can never have too many excellent No. 28 tapestry needles.

Our next stop was The Loopy Ewe.

This is also a vast space, well organized with many makes of yarn. I was very happy to see they had a sizeable stock of Urth Uneek yarns. They don’t look THAT impressive on the skein but they are dyed to stripe beautifully. This is the one I selected to make myself another Musselburgh hat.

This is what a Musselburgh hat can look like with this colourway (3005). I think my dyelot will be a bit brighter than the photo below.

Very pleased with all my newly-acquired goods, we ventured back to Fort Collins for lunch at the Olive Garden. 

It’s really pretty here in Francey’s neighbourhood.