A Yarn Story in Bath, England

If you've been following my Instagram account, you know that I recently took a trip to London and Paris. The trip was a rather last-minute affair made possible by my best friend, Alex. His company sent him to London for work, and he paid my plane fare so that I could come along. Since I didn't have to pay for airfare or hotel, I was able to see and do some amazing things. Thanks, Alex! I would not have been able to travel at this time in my life without his support.

I'll only be focusing on one facet of my trip here on this blog. Check my Instagram for more pictures!

One of the amazing things I did was take a day trip out of London and around England. On that day trip, I ended up in Bath. The tour bus dropped us off in a fairly touristy area of bath, right next to a famous abbey and the baths that were built during the Roman takeover of the area.

The Roman baths were fairly expensive to enter, so I decided to pass. I did take a nice tour of the abbey. It was interesting to see the beautiful carvings inside.

We had limited time in Bath, so many folks from my tour group decided to stay in the touristy area. For both better and worse, I'm a rather adventurous person. I wanted to see more of what Bath was like away from the hubbub. And so, despite the very real possibility of accidentally getting lost and/or missing my tour's departure, I wandered off.

Looking around at all of the buildings was amazing. They are all made out of the same kind of stone, even the houses. Houses in the United States are often made out of wood, or metal and concrete in the case of downtown Seattle apartments. I had never seen so many stone buildings all together.

I decided that I needed a destination. Hmm... restaurant? No, not enough time. Not enough time to go through a Jane Austen tour, either (besides, she hated Bath). Figuratively crossing my fingers, I typed "yarn store" into Google Maps.

Wouldn't you know it... there was a yarn store in walking distance! I immediately began hoofing it up the hill.

Thus, I came upon an English yarn store! I was excited to go inside and see how it would compare to the yarn stores I'm familiar with.

The store was very similar to those in Seattle. They even had some of the same local brands that I am familiar with, brands from Oregon and Washington! The women running the shop were very friendly. I found out that one of them was originally from Portland, Oregon. It's a small world after all!

I didn't have much room in my luggage for souvenirs, seeing as I had only brought a backpack and a purse with me. However, I wanted to get a small gift for my cat sitter, Ariel of Stariel Knits. Here is what I chose: a mini-skein that I could squish in somewhere.

After leaving the store, I realized that I needed to hurry down the hill. I walked quickly and took a few photos as I went.

Happily, I managed to get to my tour bus on time! Traveling abroad for the first time was a truly amazing experience. I will be able to look back on it with joy for the rest of my life. I even managed to go to a yarn store! Life can be so good.

Quick Stop-in at Fiber Gallery

Although there are many delightful yarn stores in my area, my very favorite yarn store in Seattle is Fiber Gallery. They are very crochet friendly and offer many yarns that I love. I forgot to take pictures of the inside of the store since I was *ahem* distracted by yarn romance. Oh darn, I guess I'll have to go back sometime and take pictures ;)

Sadly, the owner of Fiber Gallery is selling the business. I really hope that it continues to maintain its awesomeness. Since I want to savor every moment of current Fiber Gallery goodness, I visited the store this past weekend with my friend Jodi who had never visited a yarn store before. Yep, you read that right, it was her first trip to a yarn store! She bought some neat Berroco and Malabrigo goodies. I walked away with Cascade Eco Wool for a special project that I'll be mentioning soon.

Fiber Gallery is located on my very favorite street in all of Seattle because of its fabulous stores and eateries. Tragically, the street was recently rocked by a gas explosion about a block away from the yarn store that caused a lot of property damage. It completely destroyed one of my very favorite coffee spots, Neptune Coffee. Not only that, but The Greenwood Space Travel Supply Company, storefront and financial support for the writing and kid-centered programs offered by The Bureau of Fearless Inquiry, was also damaged. What a horrible thing to happen to such a lovely neighborhood.

In this difficult time I am very happy to support my local yarn store and to get a friend hooked on local yarn stores as well.