My Weekend

My weekend was completely unsanctified. Designated Knitter and I had a vacation (Yes, I know it was Palm Sunday).

About a month ago, she heard that Stephanie Pearl McPhee, a.k.a. The Yarn Harlot, was going to be doing a book signing in Ann Arbor. So, I checked with my dad to see if we could stay at their lake house, which made me feel like I was 12 again. "Dad, can I have a friend spend the night?" I half-expected him to say "You know you aren't allowed to have friends over when we're not home!" But he said it was okay. My husband even begrudgingly agreed, because he always needs more challenges during Holy Week.

The trip was fraught with challenges. Just across the Michigan border, DK's car decided to have a flare up of an old repair problem (kind of like car Herpes, I guess), so we took it back and took the van. That night when we were knittin' and surfin' (she has a really cool cell phone that has a modem), and I realized I was getting hits on my blog from Time Magazine's website, so I started freaking out that the article was out and hoping that nothing was phrased so I would be stoned as a heretic or anything. It didn't even occur to me to look AT their website for the article.

So with that, we managed to get some sleep.

The next morning, we decided to go to Jackson to look for the magazine. But of course, we were going to Panera first....if we could find it. It is amazing how little I pay attention to things now when I am sitting in the backseat. So after about 4 trips around some of the less fine neighborhoods of Jackson, we called and got directions.

Then, we went to the yarn shop in Jackson, The Dropped Stitch (it was a nice place. Good selection of various types of yarn), and took off for the yarn shop in Brooklyn, Trees of a Feather, which is a cute little place in the coffee company building. One little room, but with baskets up the walls, and a great stock of Cascade 220 (especially the heathers), Noro, and a few others. I found a gorgeous yarn for a present I want to do for my mom (this is not an easy woman to shop for, let alone find a color that she would really seem to like). It was perfect.

We went to lunch in a little local joint, and right after we ordered, we got a call from the Dropped Stitch saying I'd left my knitting bag there (because its not a vacation if I don't leave something somewhere), and they were closing at 3:00. It was 2:15. So we requested our food to go, downed our soup, and dashed back to Jackson (here I was thinking we'd have everything done by noon and be able to knit all day). We managed to get that, and then we started driving home, and I missed the freeway, and we drove halfway to Ann Arbor before we realized what I did. And so back to Jackson....and once we got there, we realized...we have to get a magazine!

Here's the thing...I remember growing up when every aisle at the store had Time, Newsweek, and US News and World Reports....remember? Actually, I'd swear it was still like that five years ago. Nope. Not anymore. All of the magazines in every checkout line were chick magazines, tabloids, and other celebrity rags. The gigantic store of Meijer didn't have an issue of TIME anywhere in the whole dang store. Walgreen had one, kind of hidden, and it was dated April 2nd, so I assumed the link on the website (which was from the writer's blog) was early (have you ever noticed how bizarrely weekly magazines date their magazines? This is really strange considering how it has to do with current events, don't you think? I feel like Andy Rooney all of a sudden)

But, from 4 pm to 11 pm, we knitted and watched three movies (and seeing how the next day was Opening Day, one MUST watch Bull Durham. We couldn't get the Spanish subtitles off. In Spanish, the movie would've been rated PG...very conservative translator).

The next day took us to Ann Arbor. Out of any town I've been in, Ann Arbor reminds me the most of the West Coast, especially towns like Santa Barbara. I really love it. And it doesn't hurt anything that that it now has an IKEA close by. Oh, it was like a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I love IKEA. I got plates. I needed plates. But I coveted so much more.

If you don't know what IKEA is, it is a 3 story home store with inexpensive furniture and housewares that are still pretty cool....a two story playroom where they watch the kids for you, and a restaurant where they serve Swedish meatballs and lingonberry sauce. I really don't know how to describe it otherwise. But it is also a veritable madhouse on weekends (when we lived in California, and my son was little, we would spell out things. He caught on to the spelling of Ikea pretty quickly. So we'd just say we were going to Sweden).

So then off to the library. It turns out there must be something in the air because the poor Yarn Harlot had bad things happening to her from the moment she woke up in Cleveland at 3 in the morning. The hotel forgot to call her a taxi, she came within 30 seconds of missing her plane to Chicago, then when she switched to go to Detroit (who planned this thing???) The plane circled Detroit a few times and went back to Chicago, so she had to wait for another flight. Whining that she missed her flight and her cell phone went dead, the guy she was sitting next to, Brad, offered to drive her to Ann Arbor from Detroit. Thanks Brad...I'm glad you're not a psychopath.

But, she was 2 1/2 hours late, so I got to explore downtown Ann Arbor and that was nice. But she did show up (thanks to Polly who pointed out that I forgot to mention that fact. This blog is apparently catching the frenetic mood I had!). She was good and very funny. She took pictures of us and sock. We didn't literally get to meet her. The meeting room was already full, so we were upstairs where they had a big screen projector, and we had to get the Designated Knitter home to finish laundry and catch the end of the Cardinals/Mets opener.

We also went to Whole Foods, where I got organic oranges that were cheaper than regular oranges in Fort Wayne...and then we raced home. The fog was still over my brain apparently, because I wouldn't be surprised if Designated Knitter refused to ever drive with me again.

Believe it or not, it was fun and relaxing, despite all the hurrying and getting lost! I'm ready for the next trip!!!!