LYS Search

For some of you more seasoned parents, a trip outside the four walls of your house may not be a big deal. You’ve done it a million times before and have developed a routine. That’s not the case around this house. We’re only seven + weeks old – baby and new mommy! Therefore, for me, a trip outside the house by myself with my newborn brings on more fear than I’ve experienced in quite a long time. Well, at least since my contractions started…

Iain and I have been practising leaving the house for a walk, solo, at least once a day, usually up to the post office as it’s an in and out journey and he sometimes gets fussy if the stroller stops for too long. DH is on parental leave until September 24th and I’ve been relying on the two of us to cope with Iain for outings. However, September is just around the corner and I do not want to be too scared to leave the house once DH goes back to work or I’ll go stir crazy which isn’t going to create a happy place for either Iain or me. Iain and I are getting pretty good with the short post office runs and, usually, he is happily napping by the time we get home so I race in the house and grab the leash and Para and we go for another, more Border Collie related, walk. Iain is not a big napper so the stroller nap is a miracle each time!

Last Wednesday, Iain and I went for our first driving outing alone. I had been searching (via the printed yellow pages and the Net) for a yarn store and found a lovely website at Gaspereau Valley Fibres. A couple of weeks ago, DH and I were in the same yarn store’s vicinity when my sister and her fiance were visiting. However, for some reason we ended up at the Gaspereau Vineyard winery and not the yarn store. Go figure? I should clarify – they ended up at the winery. I ended up at the winery parking lot, nursing Iain in the back of the camper. Don’t feel sorry for me though. I had a good book and I don’t like wine so I was pretty content. Besides, DH managed to hunter gather some peanut maple brittle for me as well as the wine he bought for himself – yum!

With the previous weeks recce, and the desire to have really cool blogiversary prizes, I felt Iain and I should be able to go this trip alone. DH has been painting almost ever since we arrived (you will be hearing about DH and painting for awhile, by the way. I can’t wait to show you Iain’s room!) and I didn’t really want to interrupt the painting for a, let's face it, really Patty oriented trip.

Off Iain and I went. We did well. It’s about a 45 minute drive from our house and, on the way, we found a gas station and managed to get extra water put into the van when the water alarm light was going off (the usual 1988 VW camper van adventures). Most importantly, I found the yarn store without a hitch.

I must tell you that, if you are ever in this area or planning a Nova Scotia tour and you are a knitter or fibre enthusiast at all, you cannot miss this store. I was the only customer during my visit, which worked out well as Iain needed to be nursed during most of my visit (I don’t mind nursing in public but some of the public isn’t comfortable with it and that can make me uncomfortable). The owner is a lovely and kind lady and I felt very comfortable there with my baby – now an important consideration for any LYS visit.

I could rave about the huge Fleece Artist selection (and the fact that she will be at the store in September for a workshop and to showcase some of her work), the sock yarn, the rovings (even though I don’t use it, I really appreciate it). I won’t though, that would just be mean to those of you not living in Nova Scotia. There were hugemungous (new Patty word for the week) baskets full of fibre! I had to sit down and catch my breath a couple of times and, luckily, the owner didn’t notice the drooling and slightly hysterical laughter…

Also in stock are a variety of organic yarns such as Green Mountain Spinnery and the cotton for the nursing sweater I was looking at awhile ago is even softer than I’d imagined.

It’s the kind of store where I can spend a period of time enjoying myself but will need to go back a couple of times to get a full and complete sense of the wonder.

It was a great day and I made it back home to find a happily sleeping baby in the back seat (Iain barely tolerates his car seat so we were practising that too). Our first day out was a success! And, don’t you find it appropriate that mommy and baby’s first foray out together was to a yarn shop?

Seeing as this was a pretty text heavy post, here is Iain Daniel, attempting to steal the hearts of knitters world-wide!