Playing Hooky* On a Wednesday

I put the * in the title because technically, I wasn't playing hooky when I took half a day off on Wednesday: I had permission, and in fact I worked longer days the rest of the week to make up the time, so it wasn't even vacation time. But taking a five-hour break in the middle of the week felt like rule-breaking!

My friend S was staying up toward the north shore, so of course our plan for the day included Coveted Yarn and Woodman's. I picked her up at 10, and we went yarn-ward first, chatting all the way (it's three years since she moved, and keeping up online just isn't the same as being in person).

We had a good time wandering around Coveted, poking at this and that, and then learned that we had lucked out, since they had started their ninth anniversary sale the week before, and it was still going on. Which meant that they had a handout with a list of the yarns that were 20% off, and virtually everything else was 40% off. Yeep! So much for my idea of not buying (much). We went on with renewed purpose.

I took a picture of the tag on this scarf, the Preppie Scarf, since I liked the look of it; it's knit the long way, in alternating ridges, and seems like it might hit my preferred spot in the overlap of "interesting to knit" and "not too complicated." Good social knitting.

And I may use some of what I bought to make it, specifically the green in the center and the blue on the right, which are both Mirasol Nuna, a silk/merino/bamboo blend that is just so soft and lovely.

The light blue, on the other hand, is 2-ply Mongolian Cashmere from Jade Sapphire, an indulgence I can generally resist at $47.00. But at 40% off, that means I paid less than that for all three skeins together. A bargain I could not resist!

And yes, as soon as we got in the car, we were both taking pictures of what we bought to put on Instagram. Naturally.

From there, after a quick packie run* for pumpkin beer (not for me, obviously), we went to Woodman's for lunch. S was very excited about getting whole clams, not clam strips, and also had a pumpkin beer. Hey, why not?
*Or stop at the liquor store, if you're not from around here.

I asked S if there was anything else she could think of that she really wanted to do, and she asked how close we were to the ocean; she lives right by one of the Great Lakes, but was missing that ocean scent. A bit of research later, we drove a few miles to Manchester by the Sea, and stopped at Singing Sands beach. The day was cool and very breezy, but it was gorgeous.

And no, we couldn't hear the sands sing; the tide was pounding in, so maybe that was why.

But there were several people there walking their dogs, and S is a big dog lover, and she had a great time. I mean, I did too, but it's a pretty short drive for me, so it wasn't quite as novel. But I was happy to see her so happy.

It was a great day.