Wholly Craft! - Columbus, OH

Yesterday was a seriously happy day. I mean.. most of my days are pretty happy lately... aside from the obvious stress of being on the road (long drives, too much stuff with too little space, missing my apartment, missing my family, missing my friends and not having a KITCHEN). But.. really I feel very lucky to be making a living doing what I love, with the one I love. That aside, as I was was saying, yesterday was a very happy day. It was set into motion by a fantastic shop we found in Columbus called "WHOLLY CRAFT!" I mean, seriously, just

the title is enough to make a craftaholic like me smile.

I first stumbled upon this lovely little shop while I was looking for LYS in Columbus. I found a great new shop, WonderKnit, and while exploring their website I found a link to their neighbor... Wholly Craft. The shop was filled with so many things that made me smile. The first joyful item we stumbled upon was Shanon Gerard's Plushtash. When JD held it up under his nose I screamed.. "Why didn't I think of that!" The woman behind the counter said "we hear that often." JD is obsessed with the idea of a sweet moustache. I can't believe I never thought of crocheting him one.

Next.... I found a perfect little tree purse by In Hope. I know I have way too many bags/purses with me on the road. But I couldn't pass this up. Trees always made me happy... and it was the perfect size! I love big bags, but I always fill them with too much junk. (the girls in the dressing room started calling me CVS) This new clutch will help me simplify.

I slowly made my way through the bits of whimsy to a small craft supply section in the back. I bought, a set of vintage circular needles (mostly because I loved the packaging), a big vintage belt buckle making kit, two used books on crewel designs, and a blue plastic hoop . I've recently

been drooling over the trees at Wool and Hoop. Unfortunately they didn't have any tree kits left. We'll see if I can actually find the time play with the techniques in these books.

While I was going through the crafty goodness... JD came up with tears in his eyes. He had found something that sent him over the edge of enjoyment. This squirrel print by Berkley Illustration had him on the floor laughing. He especially loved the tie. I had been worried he would be bored at this shop, so seeing him so happy made me even more happy. We bought the 5X7 print for his niece Olyvia. She loves his rendition of the Aladdin song "A Whole New World" called "A Whole New Squirrel" so we figured this was the perfect gift.

I had to stop myself from buying any more. Sometimes I wonder wether selling my own hand made crafts makes me as happy as buying goodies others have made. I guess I think supporting other artists is great cause it keeps the whole hand made movement in motion.

We did end up at the yarn shop next door. The woman behind the counter (who I think was the owner) was chatting with one of the customers about her new book... "Pints and Purls - Portable Projects for the Social Knitter" It's not out in stores yet... but the customer had pre-ordered her copy on Amazon. I loved hearing them talk about the process of publishing the book. I was able to flip through it, and it looks like something I'd love. I've done my best to convert the non-knitting members of my cast, but I still get crap from those who don't

understand my addiction. I find bringing a skein to the hotel bar to be very normal. I even brought my Innovations Knitting machine to the hotel bar in Toronto. (ok - that might have been a bit much, but I was excited to try it out) I feel like this book might actually validate my addiction. I ended up with a few skeins from Wonderknit. I bought 1 skein of Loop-d-loop Fern in white (I've already started a lovely drop stitch scarf), and two skeins of Frog Tree Chunky Alpaca.

To top off my lovely day... I started and finished a new shrug when I got home from work. We have a cast party tonight and I really wanted to wear a new dress... but I didn't have a sweater that matched. Problem solved! I used some left over Brown Sheep Burly Spun in Dark

Charcoal and some sparkly grey and white label-less yarn I bought downstairs at Romni Wools. I've never knit a shrug, and I completely improvised the design... but it totally worked! I finished it in under 2 hours, and I'm super happy with the way it turned out! (please excuse the awkward cell phone pic with the lovely hotel carpet background)

PHEW - Thats it! Yesterday was a long wonderful day!