What a great night with the Mariners from start to finish and cast on to bind off!
With Pat behind the wheel, Claudia, Sophia and I headed out of Bellingham down Interstate 5 to Seattle and Safeco Field with a stop in Lynwood for a late lunch/early dinner. With just two traffic slowdowns, we arrived shortly after the gates opened. We exited the parking garage following the crowd headed for the skywalk over to the stadium. Suddenly the people in line stopped and we noticed some were headed down the stairs to the street exit to cross over and others were queued in front of a metal detector. The Safeco Field employee stationed there said, “Are you special?” and we all answered, “YES! We Are Special!” He made a joke about I was the Queen of the group because I had a cane. Actually, it’s a trekking pole that I use occasionally because I have a balance disorder. I have no trouble walking and can maneuver stairs better than most! Then he scanned our tickets (Thanks, Claudia!), gave us directions to the elevator on the other side of the skywalk, and we moved through the scanner. It was only when we got to the other side and compared notes that we realized his question really was “Are you special needs?” We had come through the handicapped entrance! After we stopped laughing, we decided that we will always travel with trekking poles! Short cut with VIP treatment!
Then we meandered through the yarn vendors! Awesome! Chatted with our favorite folks from Apple Yarns in Bellingham —
Listened to Barb Demorest from Knitted Knockers being interviewed by Josh from 97.3 FM KIRO Radio! Go, Barb!
Stopped by Churchmouse Yarns and Tea, and fell in love with their four-color Seahawks Hat kit.
Since the kit makes two hats,
Pat and I decided to split this purchase. I had vowed to buy no yarn this trip, but splitting with Pat doesn’t count as “buying yarn.” It’s just “splitting with Pat.” So I hadn’t broken my vow … yet!
I have just cleaned out my stash closet getting ready for the Stash Sale next month at Apple Yarns, so the last thing I needed was more yarn! I already have 49 projects with yarns and patterns in project bags logged into my queue on Ravelry! But all my “I’m not buying yarn” mantras were to no avail!
I saw this at The Celtic Knot Yarns booth and I couldn’t put it down (100% of the softest merino wool you’ve ever laid hands on) —
so I had to pay for it.
Then on to the Pacific Fabrics booth — Huckleberry Knits!!!! Love this yarn —
to make these must haves —
Claudia and Sophia were on a buying binge, too, with yarn they couldn’t resist. Since Sophia lives on Vancouver Island and is a permanent resident of Canada, we’re thinking the customs officials may have a few questions for her later! And even though Claudia works in a yarn shop, she rose to the occasion and bought more yarn! We finally bought a bottle of water ($5.00 each!!! Yikes!!) and headed to our seats in the nosebleed section. No kidding! Only three rows of seats behind us at the top of Safeco Field.
We had missed the ceremonial first pitch by the President of Noro Yarns —
But arrived in time to see the Mariners take to the field —
It was fun to be in a sea of knitters! With Claudia and Sophia working away on their projects —
and Pat busy on her shawl —
Oh, wait! She wasn’t knitting. She was watching the Reds game on her phone! But when that East Coast game was over, she joined the crowd —
In addition to the knitters to my left and the knitter to my right, there were knitters behind me —
and knitters in front of me —
People in our row (including Sophia and Claudia) went back down to the yarn vendors and returned several times. Since Pat and I were in seat numbers 1 and 2, we were “stand up/sit down” at least 10 times! One time we stood to let people out and Pat turned to me and asked, “Where’s my water bottle? It was in the cup holder until those folks made us stand to let them out!” I helped her search the area. My bottle of $5.00 water was in its cup holder, but hers was no where to be found. Then I turned to her, about to tell her she just lost about $2.50 worth of water, when I spotted her half-empty bottle of water — held in the bend of her left elbow!
To add to the subdued excitement of knitting, the Mariners had two of these —
Alas, it was not meant to be. The Mariners lost to Arizona.
But the trip home was lots of laughs, too. The conversation went something like this —
Sophia, our token Canadian, from the back seat, “Pat, move over a lane to the left. This will soon be two lanes only.”
Pat, driving, “OK. Thanks, Sophia.”
A half-mile later. Pat, driving, “Sophia, should a move over another lane?”
Sophia, from the back seat, “No, you’re fine, Pat. It’s two lanes through this construction.”
Pat, driving, “Wow, Sophia! How did you know that?”
Sophia, from the back seat, “I read the signs.”
…Yes, Gabriella, we do “crack each other up!”
Twisted Stitcher 