Friday, January 15, 2010

Knit by Train!

"I’m goin’ on the Yarn Train,
To Portland City…
Gonna buy some yarn there,
To make somethin’ pretty… "
-from the Yarn Train Song by Katie, theknittingmama

Tomorrow has an adventure that is a Northwest knitter's dream come true: a magical yarn crawl that starts in Seattle, Washington, and arrives in Portland, Oregon, by Amtrak train.

No boss. No kids. Just you and over 125 like-minded knitters with three blissful hours to knit, chat, and mingle while viewing gorgeous Northwest landscape outside your window. What heaven!

Wait, it gets even better:

Upon arrival in in the Rose City train station you are greeted by Portland knitters bearing Voodoo Doughnuts and love. If you're in the know you will have pre-ordered a Voodoo Maple Bacon Bar to eat when you arrive.

You first gather in the station to see if you've won a doorprize and then you're off to explore Portland's Pearl District with lots of yarn shops, restaurants, Whole Foods, and Powell's City of Books. There are three yarn stores in the Pearl District and two easily accessible-by-bus yarn stores just across the river.

While in Portland you can be on your own or with a group from the train. You can even have a Portland knitter join your group to show you around. There will have been some Portland knitters who traveled to Seattle just to take the train with you to their fair city. They will have special name tags so you will know who they are.

Shop 'til you drop but don't forget to head back to the station 'cause the train heads back to Seattle at 6:15 sharp. Knit your way back to Seattle with a 9:45 arrival.

The Snohomish Knitters Guild has put up an informative page that has a Pearl District walking map with yarn stores marked. There's even a You Tube video with Katie's ukulele yarn train song.

If you are a Portland knitter and have the time tomorrow, go greet the yarn train around 11 a.m. at Union Station.

No matter where you live, maybe next year you'll want to fly to Seattle to take the train to Portland. Knit on!

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for posting about our event - I can't wait! I also can't believe how many of us are going this year. We'll fill up almost the whole train! No sleep for me tonight... ;) Too excited!

Cindy said...

That sounds like a blast! I'm going to keep an eye out for this event next year.

Sharon said...

Me, too, Cindy! It sounds like so much fun! Maybe we could get Amtrak to add a few extra cars for next year's trip.

Right now I'm craving one of those doughnuts!

Annette said...

That sounds like such fun and I'm not even a knitter!

Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment:)

Erin Wallace said...

The thing that makes me the most jealous are the Voodoo donuts! I've always wanted to go there. Portland seems like such and amazingly cool city!

Cynthia Stockdon said...

It sounds like heaven!

Audrey said...

That sounds like a blast!! What a really great idea - now if only I knew how to knit :)

Cindy said...

better yet, let's get a trip going from Portland to Seattle. It may need to be an overnighter for maximum fun. I've never been yarn shopping in Seattle. I'll bet they even have a donut shop!

verification word: tramp (whuuuut?)

Sharon said...

Interesting idea, Cindy!

Yes, it might have to be an overnighter because there evidently aren't too many yarn stores in the downtown core area of Seattle. Also, I'm not sure of the train schedule and whether the one day trip could be done in reverse.

Maybe a yarn store or two in Seattle would sponsor a pajama party! If we had to add on the cost of a hotel stay, it would cut into the yarn budget.

Perhaps Amtrak should hire someone to dream up and coordinate yarn train crawls all over the country. It might be a source of new revenue!

fookaDESIGNS said...

WOW! sounds like a blast!

Thanks for the nice comment on my blog. All the best!

Fern said...

Most disgusting donuts I've ever seen in my life!!! Eeewwww :)

Sharon said...

31 Everything, that's what I thought, too--until I tried one.

Those maple bacon bars are in fact amazingly good! Unless you're a vegetarian, of course.