It was an all around Artisan type of weekend around here.

Saturday was a bit of “Artisan Scrapbooks”…a couple of friends came over for a Creative Memories Get Together – a fun way to spend the afternoon. After they left I had planned on working on my Italy/Greece album; however, that didn’t happen – although I did get some organizing/inventory done on all my supplies for when I’m ready to focus on pages again. Maybe I’ll spend some time on the pages while waiting for The Knitting Olympics to begin.

Saturday was also a bit of an “Artisan Cooks” day – in the morning I made some one bowl wonder brownies for dessert (1 batch was traditional chocolate with a bit of cinnamon & mini chocolate chips, 1 was Mom’s “Swedish” version that are non-chocolate). Saturday evening I made a meatloaf & scalloped potatoes for a Sunday delivery to a woman from church who is going through chemo for breast cancer. The brownies did double duty – half the batch was our goodie for the Get Together & the rest of the batch went along with the meal for Shari.

Sunday was a bit of “Artisan Knits” with a bit of Local Tourist thrown in.

As I’ve been browsing some knitting blogs in the last couple of weeks (umm…more like lurking…must leave more comments!) I have been reading about a new yarn store on the south side of Chicago. After church, my friend Jennifer & I grabbed coffee from Starbucks & then headed south to check out My Sister’s Knits. We got there before the store opened – as soon as Carol & her goldens (Cody & Goldie) opened the doors we stepped into such a charming place! After a bit of puppy love with the beautiful goldens there was a lot of “oohs” & “aahs” at everything in the store – the yarns, the needles, the books, the wide assortment of sample purses/bags. Carol was extremely helpful & offered several pattern suggestions as we looked at yarns & bags. We both could have easily picked up “one of everything” but we restrained ourselves. In the end we both picked up yarn for felted bags (my first felted project). It’s a gray day here so I’m not bothering with pictures. My bag was filled with 3 skeins of Lamb’s Pride Bulky (amethyst, blue boy & aztec turquoise) for the felted bag & a set of circular needles for the project; 2 skeins of On Line Supersocke 100 (Summer colorway #790) – I don’t know what the project will be but the colorway was to pretty to leave behind; a new Chibi; and a tin of Knitter’s Little Helper hand balm. Carol also gave us a set of felting instructions since we haven’t done it before. As we were leaving Carol pointed us in the direction of a historic neighborhood so we checked it out – lots of lovely large houses on big lots and numerous styles, including Frank Lloyd Wright – an unexpected treat! While the shop is a bit farther than “local” I definitely plan on making regular trips down there to check out yarn & get new ideas. Thanks Carol for such a welcoming visit!

(Update: Some of the mentions for My Sister’s Knits were Nancy & Christine)

I’m not sure if I’ll get started on the felted bag before the Knitting Olympics or if I’ll wait till after that event. Speaking of the “KO” I did roll 2 of the skeins of the new yarn into balls & also did a bit of a test swatch – ready for the torch to be lit and the fun to begin.

Even though it has been a gray weekend here I did manage to snap this picture yesterday morning before it got too gray. My amaryllis has all the blooms open & I’ve forced open some blooms in the stalk that broke off a couple of weeks ago (just kept the stalk in a vase of water).