There and back again.

Warning: photos ahead. Some (like the one to the left) are linked to larger images because they look much, much better with some extra pixels. I'm back from my short vacation to the East Coast to see family and friends and I have plenty of photos to share. Buckle in and enjoy the photographic evidence of my love for the Mid-Atlantic and Philadelphia. TB lives in southern New Jersey, close to the tiny but surprisingly satisfying Cohanzick Zoo. This was our second visit and we were the only people there. The animals looked bored and came over to say hello when we walked by. Hello, darlings. Could you catch my good side please? Fabulous. "And I tell you, Maude, I couldn't *believe* what she told me next! She has some nerve, sitting there with *that* look on her face - you know the one I mean, and, well, ..." (Guest caption by my mother.) A relative who eats smal namals. On Saturday, we went to Haddonfield, NJ to check out reports of a yarn store downtown. Unfortunately, it was only after I got back that I checked my blogmail and found that Ashley was enjoying her own vacation nearby. A missed opportunity to meet one of my favorite bloggers -- I'm still kicking myself over that. (Well, kicking softly, because I had a rotten cold the whole weekend and was lousy company. I'm already concerned that the yarn stores I visited turned into tiny disease incubators and that anyone who bought yarn there walked away with a small, wooly bundle of plague. Hey! If you were at Loop in Philly or Woolplay in Haddonfield, NJ this weekend, wash your yarn. ) Haddonfield is a lovely little town. Expensive to live in, but charming and even overwhelming on a crisp day in the middle of the Fall Festival. It was almost too much quaintness for me to take. The stores had their Halloween window displays up (the second is definitely my favorite): The yarn store, Woolplay, is tiny. So tiny that I didn't take a photo inside because there was no way to do it without the shopladies seeing me. You can't tell from the outside, but the store is smaller than my living room and wedge-shaped, so this makes it feel even tinier. It does, however, have two large windows that let in tons of natural light and make the yarn look beautiful. The selection is very good; and by this I mean that the yarns are all of great quality. The store just doesn't have the space to offer a wide selection, unfortunately. I eyed some Karabella Aurora 8 and drooled over (see? plaaaague! plaaaaaaaaague!) the A.L. de Sauveterre yarns before I decided against buying anything. I'm looking for a very specific burgundy/merlot/more-red-than-purple color for a present and I just didn't see it there. But it is a great little store and if you're near Haddonfield it's worth a visit. On Sunday we went to Philadelphia. I love Philly, even though it has its problems and is (I think) becoming less of a trendy place to be. South Street has some fantastic murals, great hot chocolate at the Bean Cafe, and of course, South Street has Loop. I love Loop. I didn't think that all of the good things everyone says about Loop could be true, but they are. Loop is friendly. Loop is fun. Loop has well organized yarn. Loop has classes where people laugh constantly. Loop loves you. My cold was in full swing when I was there, so unfortunately I didn't socialize like I wanted to, but I was surprised at how friendly this place is. Most yarn stores are quiet places where women knit in a corner, the owner knits on a visible perch (a seat, not a fish), and conversations are held as a whisper. In Loop, a class on wire knitting (I think) was in full swing and people were laughing and having a grand old time. The storelady spoke to me in a normal voice, customers were talking and laughing, men were present and knitting (TB was impressed), and a family was shopping for yarn for baby's first sweater. It just felt so nice to be there. So nice that I bought sock yarn and scurried out before I contaminated any of those fine people. 2 skeins of Claudia Handpainted sockyarn in the "Argyle Socks" colorway for me (Does anyone know if this knits up as argyle? I didn't think to ask.) and a skein of black Opal for TB's Christmas socks. Let's not talk about how much Christmas knitting I have in front of me right now. As with all vacations, I didn't want to come back home. But at least I have some gorgeous socks in my future to keep me busy. Socktoberfest continues with the next post.