A day trip – craft style

On Wednesday, my friend and I went on a day trip to St. Cloud (which is about 30 miles away). We had no timeline and no rules. What a fun way to spend a day.

It started out as a trip to Hobby Lobby (in Waite Park which is next to St. Cloud) – to get one skein of yarn for me. My lucky friend had gift cards to use. I rarely go shopping because it’s a bit hard with my oxygen in tow. However, this time I outdid myself. I put the inogen (portable oxygen) in the shopping cart and walked a good portion of the store – for about an hour and a half. (It was the first time standing that long for me in the past two years. WooHoo! )

Believe it or not, I only bought one skein of yarn – the one I went to get. None of the yarn was on sale so it stayed at the store. I did find a lot of other bargains, though, including acrylic paints (on clearance); sketching paper (on clearance); gold and silver leaf finish (on clearance); graphic markers; a drawing book; and soap base. (at 40% off).

After all that, we needed a break. After searching for a bit, we stopped and had a nice lunch at Panda Express.

The next stop was Art As You Like It (Waite Park), a place where you can paint ceramics or on canvas, as well as other projects. In the case of ceramics, the store then finishes the object (fired in the kiln) and you pick it up a week or so later. There were several people busy working on projects. We had a nice chat with the owner about art in general and her business. I am quite sure we will find a reason to return.

The final stop was at Rocking Horse Farm, south of St. Cloud. The store is about knitting, yarn and many things more. They feature knitting machines, sell many needlecraft related items and teach classes (locally and across the country) on all sorts of needlecraft processes and methods. The owners showed us around the large building – with walls and shelves lined with yarn – and we chatted with them about various items – for about an hour. Again, we will likely be returning – for a class and likely for yarn (since they have yarn for my knitting machine that I have not yet used!).

I must say that the owners of the last two stores were very kind and generously shared their time with us.

Oh – but that wasn’t the last stop. We did find a garage sale on the way home. I didn’t find anything but one must look.

Thanks for reading. I hope you will return.