A better week and a Yarn Trail idea

Thank you so much for your comments after my last post.  It's quite amazing how a little comment from some kind person in cyber space can help lift the spirits and help keep you afloat.

You will be happy to hear that things are going great this week and a lot of that is because hubby has been home to help out.  That means that I've been sleeping better and I have someone to share the parenting duties with.  Hubby also took the kids out the other day and I was sent off for a massage so I'm a new and revived woman!

We have been to the movies again and then went out to dinner afterwards which was a bit of a novelty.  If we do go out it's usually for breakfast or lunch, rarely dinner so I'm sure the kids will be excused for arm wrestling at the table.

I like to let the kids experience different things and places as it helps develop the social skills which don't come easily to them.  We live in such a café culture and I want them to get used to the fact that some places you order at the counter and others offer table service.  

It might not seem a big thing to some people but it's little details like that which can confuse and stress them so I to make it as casual and easy for them as possible.

It was also a gorgeous summer's evening too so we took the opportunity of going for a walk along the edge of the Mooloolaba River near Point Cartwright after dinner.

There's a path which follows the river to its mouth and the surf which is where we wandered.  There were a few trawlers coming in and going out as well as some fishermen out in their boats hoping for a good catch on a beautiful, balmy evening.

I have to say that the path wasn't well lit so we were lucky that the moon was close to full which gave us enough light to see.

We've got a couple of quiet days left now until hubby goes back to work and most of the school supplies have been bought so it will just be doing what makes us happy for the last week of the holidays.

A couple of weeks ago, in the middle of my struggles, a germ of an idea was created and it's something that I'm pretty excited about.

I've decided to begin my own personal Yarn Trail (well that's what I'm calling it as it sounds better than finding yarn shops).

I usually buy my yarn online or sometimes at the craft superstores like Spotlight.  The only problem with doing that is that I'm limited in the stock that's available in the superstores.  There's usually only certain brands and a lot of it is acrylic.  There's obviously much more choice online but I can't see the actual colours or squish the balls to find out if I like the feel of them.

I read a couple of blog posts from some lovely people in the UK who go to local yarn shops and decided that I needed to find out where they are near me.  It's also an excuse for me to get out of the house more which is one thing I want and need to do this year. 

I'm giving myself a radius of about one and a half to two hours drive from my house so that I can drop the kids at school, explore and be home for school pick up.  Of course I'm not always going to go this far.  In my brief research I have found that there are many possibilities within a half hour drive so I'll definitely see what some of them have to offer.

So my yarn trail started in the township of Maleny the other day when I had my much needed day out.  It's an artisan town in the hinterland and an old dairy farming area.  It's a place I used to know well as I went to high school here but hadn't visited in quite awhile so I decided it was time to get to know one of my old haunts again.

The first place I went to was the Arts and Crafts shop which is where the many talented people of the Maleny Arts and Crafts collective can sell their wares.

Inside is a treasure trove of quilts, sewn items, pottery, paintings, woodworking, knitting, and crochet items, all made from the talented people of the area.

After a brief look at some of the gorgeous pottery and wood items, I headed straight to the back to the fibre section.  There were some beautiful shawls and scarves on display but as I was just starting out on my yarn trail, I was on the lookout for... well...yarn.  

I did find a small shelf with some beautiful hand dyed yarn but nothing really jumped out at me that made me want to buy.  I think some of it was hand spun too but not all of the labels stated this.  Most of it just said hand dyed.

As it's only about a 20 minute drive from home I can always drive up periodically when I want to get out of the house and see if there's some new stock that will appeal.

Another shop that had potential was Sapling Textiles but the yarn stock was very limited.  In fact I think there was only about 20 balls in a small corner but if it's fabric you want, oh my!  The silks were gorgeous and it's definitely not your run of the mill fabric shop.  I think if I sewed more than crocheted I would nearly send us broke buying some of the gorgeous fabric that was in here.

I also called into Maleny Magic Patchworks and Quilts on the way home as it wasn't far out of my way.  If you're after quilting fabric then this is certainly the place to go as the range was pretty amazing but unfortunately they had no yarn except for a couple of scarf kits.

I didn't expect there to be much yarn in a quilting shop but I'm treating it like a treasure hunt because I know some quilting places stock yarn as well.  All was not lost though as the friendly and very helpful lady who ran the shop told me about a certain yarn I had never heard of.

More on that next week though because as a quirk of fate would have it, that tiny little comment the lady made is sending me off on my next yarn trail adventure.

I also won't be going on my yarn trail each week either.  If  I did that I would accumulate a stash of yarn bigger that my house and send us broke in the process!!  I'll just be toddling off every now and then when I am able so I can see this going on for years so it will be more of a slow rambling yarn trail.

Happy weekend everyone.

xx Susan