Who: Kayak Woman, Mouse, Commander, Radical Betty

Where: Alanson, Harbor Springs, Petoskey, Mackinaw City

The Dutch Oven and Yarn Shop in Alanson has, hands down, the most comprehensive selection of yarns in the north country and the octo-women were blown away by the buttons. Not sure where they got blown to. But. I bought one button for $8.50 for my wire and bead knitted bracelet. Mouse bought buttons and The Commander went wild and bought yarn for a hat. We also got some coffee and a Mouse breakfast and few baked goods to take home. Next we were off to a store of unknown name, purportedly in Harbor Springs. We could not find any yarn shop but Radical Betty asked just the right passer-by, who told us it had moved to Petoskey. Harbor Springs wasn’t a wasted trip though. We found a frog store there. Couldn’t begin to afford anything in it, but. Then we headed over to Petoskey, stopping at the Indian art gallery/store along the way. I won’t say what was purchased there ;-).

Commander and Mouse in Alanson, Frog Gallery, Indian Hills Gallery

We looked for a Chinese wedding basket at the basket store in Petoskey but didn’t find one. Headed up to search for the yarn store and found it right down the street from the Mitchell Street pub. Not as much inventory at that store but lots of spinning wheels and some big looms. A bit of initial age discrimination was dispelled when the youngest of our party was observed answering all of our questions about roving and sock yarn and spinning and whatever. We had lunch at the Mitchell Street Pub and then went next door to Ethnic Creations, thinking maybe there’d be a Chinese basket. No such thing but Mouse emerged with a skirt and two pairs of earrings.

Radical Betty disappears into a Petoskey yarn store, Mitchell St. Pub, frog guards Ethnic Creations

We were tiring out by this time but we still had one more stop to make, in Mackinaw City. This time, we had a name (Cynthia’s) and a vague description (“it’s in a house”) but no address. But Mackinaw City is a small town and we found it. Owned by a Beaumont Hospital nurse, this place is jam-packed with yarn and all kinds of colorful stuff. Eye candy. I think Mouse emerged with some more yarn. I refused to purchase anything more. I want to finish the socks I started yesterday to determine exactly how knitting fits into my life at this time. One more stop (besides paying the bridge toll) was gasoline. We stopped at a British Petroleum and I got out of the car and found myself back in about the seventies! Was this pump self-serve? How did I operate it? Where did you put the credit card?

Cynthia’s in Mackinaw City, and pumping gas in the twilight zone

Well, that’s the nitty gritty. Mouse’s Nest may have some more eloquently expressed opinions. Are the octo-women hooked (again) on knitting? We’ll see…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 16th, 2006 at 7:40 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.