Monday, April 28, 2008
Yeah I am into acronyms lately! ;op Haha!
But actually picked this one up from Mrs. Purls who texted me to tell NCEE "Hello"...I was like who is "Niecy"?!? Well that would be the North Carolina Ebony Elite sistahs!! :oD
We gathered with each other again to do our Yarnsploration in Winston Salem!
**Warning: Picture Heavy Post = super long entry**
When we arrived in downtown WS the Art Unleashed! Pet Parade & Festival was going on and it look liked this 
Folks were walking around everywhere and Trade Street was closed off. Beautiful art and lots of booths! Even an area to get a chair massage (I was tempted briefly! ;op)
Our lovely hostess Renee greeted us wearing her lovely Summertime Tunic!!
And then the rest of the gang arrived!
Even little Baby Ryan
who we all made the baby blanket for back in January at our last gathering. Precious!! He was such a sweetie!! Before we could even begin yarn shop hopping, of course we had to eat!
We went to a really great restaurant called Sweet Potatoes! If you are ever in WS you MUST go!!! GAWD food and so affordable!! Just look at the menu! Did you see the desserts too?!? *whew*
So there was good people
and good food going on!
We had fried green tomatoes and okra for starters. And the mambo chicken (bottom two) was awesome!! I also had a taste of Desiree's sweet potatoes hot brown (top right) which is sliced turkey with mushrooms, diced tomatoes, crumbled bacon and cheddar cheese sauce atop a warm sweet potato biscuit Did y'all read that?!? I gotta get that next time!!! And of course we had sweet potato french fries!! YUM!
Over lunch I noticed our mommy-to-be Toni knitted a very nice bag (beautiful lined too! check out her blog for all the specs) and the cutest sweater wrap!!
I absolutely did not forget our two best little girls that were with us too! 
Nayomi & Lela had their cute little faces painted at the festival too :o)
And while on Trade St. during the festival we briefly stopped in a shop called Body and Soul.
Here are the little mementos I walked away with 
I thought these were unique items I wouldn't come across anytime soon, so I had to take them with me ;o) As you can see I had a thing for hearts that afternoon!
Our next stop was to our first yarn shop visit at
Here is the NCEE crew during this trip - Desiree, Toni, Debora, Renee, Wendy, and Nik
This shop, as the name implies, sells fabric for quilting and also supplies for needle pointing along with knitting of course!
I was quickly drawn into the variety of yarns they offered. There was lots of Araucania, and I loved the brown ones in Loa that is a boucle yarn which I normally don't go for at all, but didn't pick it up since I wasn't sure what to knit up with it...any suggestions??
As well as, beautiful bright spring/summer color yarns in Mountain Colors and Colinette was stocked too.
And of course my 2nd yarn luv was there too!
I heard of the Malabrigo being sold in natural just never saw it in person! And yes! I resisted!! ;op
Believe it or not I actually put myself on a temporary yarn diet (notice the key word ;op as I am not sure how long it will last). But I really need to go on a 'fiber fast' until I can get thru some of what I already have!
With that being said I saw this WIP at the front table as soon as I walked in.
and it is no surprise why I was quickly drawn to it ;o) Haha! It is the Noro sock yarn being worked up in lace. Well shoot! I already have that yarn in my stash so all I needed was the pattern
Got it now! ;oD Can't wait to CO on for it soon!
Next stop was to
Knit Picky is a nice shop that is in a quaint house with a great set up
I lurve that big soft red leather couch! They also had the cutest mini wheel! And I really liked how the yarn was organized.
The biggest treat was getting to see Nikki and Kim again, that I briefly meet earlier this month at the Yarn Harlot book signing
Nik had me dying laughing, the day before we met up, in saying that they would be our 'Albino Ebony Elite sistahs' LOL!
It was so great seeing them again and really wish I had more time to spend with them just sittin' & knittin'. Definitely will make that work out next time!!
I did pick up a few more things here as well
I got my lovely shawl pin there, another lantern moon project bag in silver, and some more knit klips!
I was so proud of myself that I stuck to my no yarn fast! :oD Yah!!
It did get very warm later on in the day and after we worked off our wonderful lunch and worked out our credit cards we got a cool sweet treat :o)
I scream! U scream! We all scream for ice cream!! Yah! :oD And this was my ice cream!
Moravian sugar cookie with fresh cut strawberries, caramel, whip cream with a sugar cone on top! Yep! That hit the spot!
I must say Renee really gave us a great visit to WS! 
Thanks so much for being our hostess with the mostess!! ;op It is always great to get together with NCEE!
On the way back up the highway towards home I couldn't pass up the opportunity to stop in at the Rack Room Outlet! And got these
See! It isn't yarn!! Haha!! And I am still getting my GW on! ;op
That ice cream looks so good...
I cannot believe you resisted the natural Malabrigo. Imagine, custom dyed Malabrigo, made with your own hands...
That food looks delicious! I mean really good! You got my mouth watering!
Your shawl looks fabulous! I love the pattern! You look so glamorous!
Work it out!
Thanks for dropping by and lots of lovely pics u got there!
Hope to see more of your FO soon. :D
Cute shoes very GW!
Those look like fun yarn shops too!
You know you got me feenin for some icecream right now right... that mess looked soooooooo good!
Des
This looks like it was such a fun day. My daughter was in the pet parade with her puppy. I really can't wait to go to W-S for a yarn crawl now. Such fun!