Getting settled in Texas Hill Country has been a busy, exhausting and exciting experience. The manly playhouse is still not started. The household boxes are all unpacked. Two storage units are still brimming and we must begin planning for yet another trip back to Dogpatch.
I couldn't resist a bit of indulgence last week to assuage my longing for companionship of knitters. Seeing the emails updating happenings at Gabriele's reminded me of those left behind. A visit to a yarn shop nearby sparked the need to touch some fibers and see others with similar obsessions.
Friendly owners encouraged me to join them for open knitting and mentioned the upcoming "yarn crawl", an annual event. It sounded like a great way to locate shops where I might find touchy feely satisfaction for my fingertips, so I signed up. I thought I might make my way to five or six of the shops closest to my comfort zone and that was the limit of my ambition. The Hill Country Yarn Crawl is a four day event. We were happily committed to attendance at a wedding three hours to the north in the middle of the four day weekend. On Friday morning, after Ol' Abner had vehemently declined my invitation to drive along with me, I set out on my trek.
A beautiful drive through the hill country crossing the Pedernales River three times, the Colorado River several times and wishing I had a driver so I might stop to taste some wine along the way. Oh yes, the hills are alive with vineyards and signs to aptly named wineries with tasting rooms. That will probably be a day trip for another time.
The Knitting Nest displayed a pattern for a knitted quilt using puzzle pieces as a tribute to those blessed with Autistic children. A demonstration of needle felting was taking place and delightful bits of whimsy were forming on the felter's block. I'm thinking a trip back to this shop may be in my plans. The staff was friendly and fun. They seemed to love the fibers as much as I. It's probably not a part of town I would like venturing into at night, but an afternoon would be well spent. I think I would love to spend a day just wondering around this part of the older area so near downtown.
On my second day, actually the last day of the yarn crawl, I hit the toll roads at the luxurious speed of 80 mph and made my way to the remaining shops on my list. I had managed to visit six of them on the previous Friday, so four seemed ever so manageable for my Monday drive. The first shop was just over seventy miles from my home, but I flew by car easily out to Paige, Texas. I am sure I've been there before. It's along the highway between Austin and Houston and I've never noticed the little town...actually an unmarked intersection. I turned down the listed street and found the most awesome shop and a whole flock of ladies chattering about their latest and their next projects while wearing the last one completed.
The last three shops were near central Austin. I drove down South Congress in awe of the view of downtown I love the most, and realized I had never noticed the Hill Country Weavers on the right side of the street just as the Texas Capitol Building comes into view. Again, this is probably not a shop for me during prime time, but daytime or weekend classes are definitely in the future here.
No doubt, a return to Wimberly, Greune and Comfort will be in the future. I loved those shops and the views around them. The Tinsmith's Wife in downtown Comfort was nestled among many other unique little shops and eateries. The Old Oaks Ranch was just that...a working ranch with a yarn shop and sculpture garden amid the pastures where alpacas and other beasts grazed. I'm thinking Ol' Abner would have enjoyed that stop, and perhaps he will one day soon!
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