Shop Hop until you drop

I went to Needle Nook yesterday because I needed to pick up yarn for a Sooper Sekrit Project I'll be taunting you about later, and since I was there I went ahead and picked up a passport for Shop Hop Atlanta. I figured I might only make it by a couple of shops, but since I needed to buy yarn anyway, why not at least get in the drawing? Then I showed the passport to my husband, who read the rules and promptly said "are you crazy? You need to go to all eight stores so you can be in the drawing for the grand prize" -- a $100 gift certificate from each store for a total of $800 in yarn.

I am a lucky girl.

I had a prior engagement in Woodstock yesterday, so I managed to hit Strings and Strands on the way there. I found the perfect yarn for a project I need to get cracking on -- my brother is getting married next month, and my soon-to-be nieces love guinea pigs, so I'll be crocheting them guinea pigs as a bribe to like me a welcome-to-the-family gift. Then to Woodstock and The Whole Nine Yarns, and sadly by this point I was showing signs of yarn fatigue. A nice employee asked if she could help me, and I sort of stared at her with this glazed-over look on my face, and she asked if I was shop-hopping. I ended up getting the yarn to make the adorable fingerless mitts in TWNY's newsletter this month.

Today I set out to Main Street Yarns and Fibers all the way in Watkinsville. I spent a lot of the trip getting lost, but the part I got to spend at the store was awesome -- why must this shop be so far away from me? I picked out some flashy, shiny yarn that has my name all over it and got to meet the shop's pet rooster. Everyone made me feel very welcome and I spent a while just relaxing and enjoying not being in the car. I even was able to fill up the tank for $3.99 a gallon on the way home, so I'd call it a very successful day (there are so many things wrong with that sentence that I don't even know where to start).

I have the rest of my trips mostly planned out and I should be done next Saturday. That grand prize is mine! (See, I'm practicing positive thinking!)