Day 28: Adventures

Today my mother and I drove to Minneapolis to yarn shop hop and visit all the pretty new architecture. I've been pretty excited to do this since before break, as I a) love Minneapolis and b) love hanging out with my mom. BUT driving anywhere with my mom is always an...adventure. Today was no exception.

Since we go through St. Paul anyway we decided to hit one of the fancy yarn shops in Maple Grove, the Yarnery. Damn this place is fancy. Every fiber imaginable, even buffalo! Buffalo! I know! Did you know bisson have really soft coats? I didn't untill today. (But guess how much 50 grams of buffalo yarn cost...$61! Yikes!) I am getting ahead of myself here. This place is a little out of the way and a lot of tricky to get to. My Mom, bless her soul, was having an off day, which means, because it was kinda humid out, her lungs were restricting the amount of oxygen that could get to her brain. Less oxygen to the brain means less brain function, less brain function means WE COULDN'T SEEM TO FIND GRAND AVENUE. Oh Mom. She babbled on about a shortcut someone had told her about after we missed the exit for the fifth time and had stopped to look at the map in a random creepy parking lot for the third time. I must give her credit though, had I been driving, I probably would've lost my shit and driven us into the Mississippi River. Finally, I turned on the navigation system and punched in the address. Huh, who knew the car could give you directions. Apparently, poor Darlene (what we named the voice lady on the GPS) had just been growing cobwebs all this time. I love Darlene for being completely unassuming and understanding. For always recalculating the route no matter how many times my Mom missed the turn had to circle around the block again. And again. My poor Mother felt so bad for wasting so much time fiddling around, trying to get to the silly Yarnery. Bless her.

So! To yarn! I had my first experience with Koigu. You know, the Premium Painter's Palette stuff. It's like cocaine for knitters. What I'm trying to say is that I went to worship at the alter of Koigu and I am converted. I got me some. It is beautiful. I cannot stop looking at it. Pictures to come. I also picked up a pattern for a pretty nifty Entrelac hat. Am I obsessed with that technique much? I think so. After the Yarnery, it was off to Depth of Field Yarn. While the Yarnery could be considered your luxury, hour long massage, chocolate cherry raspeberry creamy yum yum yarn shop, Depth of Field is your bread and butter, every day is my birthday, you are my soulmate yarn shop. They stock all the basics with a kick ass sale loft. Picked up 2 skeins Plymoth Sockotta and another set of size 1 needles. Bored yet?

Minneapolis has seen a bit of an architecture boom recently. Four new buildings have gone up, all designed by world-renowned architects. There's the Guthrie Theater designed by Jean Nouvel, the Walker Arts Center designed by Herzog and de Meuron, the Minneapolis Public Library designed by Cesar Pelli and the Minneapolis Institute of Art designed by Michael Graves. I was really looking forward to seeing any of these buildings. But because of all the time spent trying to get to Grand Ave, we only had time for the Walker. Nonetheless, it is awesome. I don't understand why traffic doesn't stop constanly on Hennepin, as driver's stare in awe at this feat of design. Such eye candy. I wanted to take pictures. Really I did. BUT MY FUCKING JAW WAS KILLING ME. Stupid me brought along no Advil. Stupid, stupid. It was dark too and the busy traffic scared me and there was no place to park and did I mention my jaw hurt? I'll be home again in three weeks and then we'll try to have a grand architecture tour.

I think that's enough for one day.