The Holy Trinity of Happiness

Today started out as an ordinary Sunday...I got up, got my coffee, did my weekly Where I Stand Sunday blog post and cuddled the Dooley dog. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do today and the usual domestic duties of grocery shopping and laundry were making me twitch. Boring, boring, boring.

So I called Leann and asked her if she wanted to go to the Detroit Institute of Arts with me. The DIA has been closed for a long long time for renovation and reopened this past weekend. Apparently everyone in the state of Michigan has decided to attend the reopening and Leann said she would rather take a hot poker to the eye then go when its so crowded. (Okay, so she didn't exactly say that, but that was the sentiment.) Besides, today is Leann's birthday and since she never feels the need to let anyone know about it, I've decided to publicly out her on my blog so the world will know that TODAY IS LEANN'S BIRTHDAY!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEANN!!! I HOPE YOU HAD A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY LEANN!!!!

So Leann decided she wanted to go do something fun with her husband SINCE ITS LEANN'S BIRTHDAY TODAY (HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEANN!!!) and since I still wasn't thrilled about doing laundry and grocery shopping (can't think of anyone who is), I decided to go haunt the bookstore. That's when Mary, hereafter known as Mary The Human Compass, called to say she got off work early and did I want to go do something. This is where today got fun.

When I attended the fiber expo/gun show (I only went to the fiber expo, honest) last month, I met a very nice man who is one of the owners of Artisan Knitworks in Grosse Pointe. I have been wanting to check the place out since then but alas, I am severely directionally challenged and didn't dare venture out there on my own. But with Mary The Human Compass's assistance, today turned out to be the perfect day!

And please note that today is Sunday. Any yarn store that is open on Sunday has already won major bonus points in my book. (Hint to all the other fabric and yarn stores out there: people who work during the week like to spend money on the weekends. I know, I know, its a well kept secret but we have money from working full time and if you are open when we can actually come and see you, we'll probably give you some of it.)

I gotta tell you, I'm moving into this yarn store. They don't know it yet but if you were there today too, you would be making the same plans. It is the prettiest yarn store I have ever been in in my life.

When you first walk in you are greeted by the boutique section of the store.


Everything is hand knit. There are sweaters, scarves, gloves, socks, hats, wraps, purses. Some are felted, some are knitted on teeny needles, some are made for going out on the town, some are cozy looking and some of it is crocheted. Yup, you got it people, a yarn store that is not snooty when it comes to crochet. They also get major points in my book for that one as well.

And once you get over the beauty of what yarn can be turned into you, you are greeted by the other half of the store where you find all this.




Mary The Human Compass and I just kind of stood there and stared - in silence. And if you know us, you know it must have been stunning because we never shut up.

All the yarn this place sells is handspun, hand dyed or both. And you can really tell. There is an energy and warmth to it that you just don't find in commercial yarn. (And I'm not knocking commercial yarn so don't give me that look.) Combine all this fibery goodness with the absolutely wonderful people that work there and let me tell you, its irresistable.

I bought this yarn (did you really think I would make it out of there without something? Yeah, right.)


Its super bulky and is going to make a wonderful warm squishy scarf. It should knit up really quick and the colors are way better in person. I have to thank Kathleen-the-Yarn-Winding- Goddess, that works at Artisan Knitworks for wrestling it into this neat little ball. Well, I really shouldn't use the adjective little because its anything but. Here's a picture of another ball of yarn next to it for scale.


The yarn on the left has 174 yards and the yarn on the right has 130. Its a mammoth beastie.

Kathleen-the-Yarn-Winding-Goddess had to break out the gigantic ball winder when winding it. The skein was kind of tangled and not really interested in cooperating. She was quite the determined person when it came to taming it and I thank her for that. I think that if I had attempted to do this at home (I have no ball winder), I would have been swearing. But not Kathleen, she was calm and cool and collected and thanks to her, I plan to start knitting with this tonight.

Mary picked up a really pretty skein of lighter weight yarn in a natural brown color that I was drooling over (well, I drooled over everything in there) and called me to tell me how great it is. She's crocheting it on a larger hook to give it an open lacy look. Kathleen-the-Yarn-Winding-Goddess also took care of Mary's yarn while we were there. You totally have to meet this chick, she's awesome.

We left there with a warm fuzzy feeling - and not just because we bought wool. We got to speak with the owner, Sandra, about classes. The woman even had me thinking that learning to knit a sweater was a good idea. I'm not sure how that happened, but its a testament to their knitting magical powers there. They are just too cool.

If you have a chance to visit them, you totally should. Nice people, seriously drool-worthy yarns and just the prettiest yarn store I've ever stepped foot in.

After we left there, Mary and I realized we were close to Greektown. So we went down there. We picked up some yummies at the Astoria bakery (where I picked up a killer fudge brownie cookie that I plan to devour after I'm done with this post) and made a super quick trip into the casino. (I spent $7 on the Wheel of Fortune slot machine. I am a completely unskilled gambler and rarely spend more then a couple bucks.)

It was a really nice day. So what's the Holy Trinity of Happiness you ask? Yarn, chocolate and friends.

Life doesn't get any sweeter then this....