Makai Pt.2

After a month of playing cat and mouse, I'm nearly up to date with posting... Nearly. The overflow will continue to trickle into the first week-ish of October. In order to facilitate this plan, I'm gonna crunch a bit more into this post than I do typcally; please excuse my rambling. You may recall, I made a trip to Wyoming at the begining of summer. Well, I went back.

This time, I brought Mike with me. We decided to take a slightly different route than I had previously; we flew into Denver, Co, then drove. On our way, we dropped off in Fort Collins for some local vegetarian fare.

If you are ever in the area, I can't reccomend this BBQ pulled jackfruit sandwich highly enough. This thing is DELICIOUS! Like, I would go back just to eat lunch, delicious. The Reuben is also good (we made have stopped both on the way out and the way home), but it can't compare to Chicago Diner's version.

As luck would have it, there is a yarn store about a block from the restaurant; to close not to stop-by. It's very clearly marked, as you can see. Even if you miss the sign, you're sure to notice the welcome wagon greeting patrons outside the shop.

While we were visiting, we chatted with Elaine, the store owner about Chicago (she's a transplant from the area) and the variety of yarn she carries on her shop. A LOT of the yarn is spun from the fleeces of her own animals! I've never been in a store quite like hers. It's pretty darn special. I left with two hanks of sock yarn graciously contributed by Mr. Smokey Lonesome.

Mike's getting socks from these, so it's possible I'll have to order more to make a pair for myself. What do you think?

After we finished frolicking around Ft. Collins, we made our way to Casper. Why, you ask, the quick turn-around back to WY? My buddy Mak arrived, and I couldn't wait to meet him!

Look at us, instant friends! His mom said I could share him with you. It's beyond cool to be able to show you a baby with a knit after posting so many one dimensional sweater photos!

Aren't they gorgeous?

I only teased Makai with his blanket on this trip. It wasn't quite ready for him, so I brought it back to IL for finishing touches. To start, I had to put his name on it. See, my sister's name is Hallie, (pronounced like Halle Berry, not Hailey). It's a family name and relatively uncommon, which I, being given the most typica/popular 80's name ever, have always been jealous of. The downside to being called something unusual, like Hallie or Makai, is that growing up, she could never find anything with her name on it. You know the stuff I'm talking about, bracelets, stickers, etc...important things to small children.

I also decided to back the blanket in a minky fleece, for extra snuggly-ness. This was my first time sewing on knitting, aside from zipper installation, and it was a bit tricky until I came across The Purl Bee's tutorial

The pattern I used is Sweet Remnants,
except I continued knitting until my square was 4x4. It's a really great little blanket. I dont have any yarn details, because I'm blogging on-the-go this afternoon, but I'll be sure to add them to my ravelry page. I hope you have a wonderful weekend! See you soon.