The vacation posts will now come to a consumptive close. I hadn't intended to buy fabric, but Center Diamond was right across the street from the Farmer's Market in Cannon Beach and the steering wheel seemed to swing itself into the parking lot.The stack will one day be a Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt, the sort where the fabric does all the talking, helping to distract from the crazy seams and corners that don't quite meet. The Japanese cottons were just too pretty to resist. A blanket made up of a collection of these would be lovely thing! All my ideas and plans.

I bought this yarn cake from the local Cannon Beach yarn store, Coastal Yarns. I thought it was a very appropriate Oregon souvenir yarn. It wasn't until I got home and Maria told me that Blue Moon Fiber Arts is out of Scapoose. We drove through Scapoose. I said Scapoose out loud several times because it was so fun. I tried to temper my disappointment by convincing myself that they wouldn't have a brick and mortar store front.

After our unsuccessful attempt at locating the Goonies house in Astoria, I passed by Custom Threads, a fabric and yarn store combination with a real small town feel - they were fitting a guy for a tuxedo in the back room, it was great! I picked some delicious skeins of Merino et Soie from Naturally. I cannot resist wool and silk.

The final yarn store stop was the amazing Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks in Portland. I met the lovely owner Heather as well as the store angora rabbit. They had those shopping basket-cart contraptions and a cafe! It doesn't take a lot to get me excited. And I tell you, I am a sucker for the mohair locks, it is my secret ambition to one day have a small herd of Angora goats. And live in a canary yellow gypsy caravan.

Because yellow is happiness, as seen in this lovely skein of sock yarn from Portland area Happiest Girl! Dyeworks.

And if I don't improve on my spindle technique sometime soon, I might need to get my wheel back from it's long-term loan (I know it hasn't been all that long) because this roving from Abstract Fiber was just too gorgeous to resist. I can just see the yarn all lovely and plied together!

What sets Abundant Yarns apart is not only do they dye their own yarns on site, but if you're local, you could prep your roving on their huge drum carder or learn how to dye - right there. No one had to twist my arm to buy some of the store yarn, the DK wool just called to me, its inky blue-black appropriately named Thestral. And since I am knitting traveling scarves, I chose a koigu-equivalent in the colorway Berry Picker. It's hard to believe that I hardly even scratched the surface of Portland's yarn offerings. Next trip!

When in Portland, go to Powell's. They call themselves a City of Books and it is massive and overwhelming. We stayed mainly in the kids section with Mr. Knitsonya and I making exploratory trips. In fact even when you're not in town, you should shop there - I have a "Support Independent Bookstores" thing. Can't you tell?

I also have a thing for meeting blog friends and I was lucky enough to meet up with the lovely (and adorable) Susan. We missed out when I was visiting New York last year and I almost thought it would have to be third times a charm, but luckily we were able to grab a coffee. And take the requisite blogger photo. She gifted me a pair of earrings to add to my ever-growing sulu-design collection. Now to lure her down for a San Francisco visit!

They were juicy and delicious. Straight from the vine, the box, on oatmeal and in cobbler. We enjoyed the bounty.

Taking photos - Some big picturesque rock, I couldn't help myself.

Enjoying the weather - Sunscreen one day, to rain coats the next.

Biking on the sand - Up and down the beach. Such fun.

And just being together.

Luckily my return corresponded with the Road Trip of these lovely ladies and some of the local gals made the drive up to San Francisco. And even though I've mulled it over, I've decided that there is no non-sappy way of putting this: If only all of you, who read this blog, who comment, whose blog I read, or flickr stream I look at - my community - could come over for an afternoon. A cup of tea and something to nibble. That would be lovely.

Well I'm back from the fifteen hundred miles odyssey across Oregon: two adults, three kids, one dog, and two rats (a long story). I'm breaking down the recap into a couple of posts, but I had to post this photo for Susan.

I know, scant supply. The reason being two projects of the never ending variety. But I did crank out this section of my Traveling Scarf, part of Becky's knit, swap, switch, round-a-bout, robin along.

We'll be doing some traveling of our own as we roll out on a road trip to Cannon Beach, Oregon. I know one or two Portland area bloggers I'd love to have a canelé with. Or Seattle ones for that matter.

Spending three hours in the ER after a fall on the playground. Seven stitches (three inside, four outside) yes, the tooth went right through. No fun.

Waking up to find your theater seats featured on Ready Made, Apartment Therapy, Craft and Boing Boing. This happening after a week of zero blogging, typical. Don't mind the scramble of furious posting to make up for lost time.

Taking care of myself with acupuncture, nutrition consulting and eating breakfast. Making a project of it seems to aid the old motivation.

A while back I picked up some doilies at the thrift store with the idea of using them as wall art. Alice's post about making her own crochet doilies re-inspired me.

After a shot of vibrant color, I ironed them out and up they went on the studio wall, using thumb tacks at first, then tiny 1/4 inch nails to secure the circumference. I was aiming for perfect, doily roundness, but as it is looks more organic, like humongous single-cell organisms.