Northeast Yarn Tour: Part 1 - PEI

This vacation was punctuated with really enjoyable trips to a number of great yarn shops throughout Maine and on Prince Edward Island. My sister and I dragged my boyfriend along on a romp through Green Gables house and environs, taking tons of photos of ourselves with all the Anne statues and informative signs we could find.

I realize we look incredibly goofy in that last one, but we were pretending to be terrified of ghosts in the Haunted Woods. I think maybe we succeeded.

We also had a wonderful visit to the Belfast Mini-Mills , after we finished touring all of the Anne of Green Gables and other L.M. Montgomery sites. What a fun place! The owners were so sweet, and we had a fantastic tour of their production room, where we got to feel qiviut fibers, watch the carders in action, check out a felting press, and have a demonstration of the coolest yarn-related tool I've ever seen; this air gun (not this exact one, but the link shows you a photo) allows you to cross two yarn ends, and then it bursts apart the plies at the cross point so they can twist up on each other to create a join that is far more smooth than a regular knot. It was like the fastest spit-splice on earth, without the danger of drool staining the yarn.

We also enjoyed some delicious pies and scones in the tea shop on the property, and we got to watch their resident beekeeper checking the combs. It was so cool to see the entire cottage industry in 2 rooms on this property, where they take the fiber from animal to finished product. I would definitely recommend a visit if you're ever in Belfast, PEI.
Want to see what I bought?

Actually, Knitterboi bought this for me so that I can knit him a pair of socks. This is Specialty Sock Yarn (80% superwash wool/20% nylon) in a navy-gray colorway. I have two skeins balled up and the socks are in progress.

I chose two other skeins, one in this fantastic, though hard to photograph, bright red colorway and the other in natural, neutral browns for some colorwork. I still have to choose between mittens, socks, and a hat. I'm leaning towards some fancy mittens for next winter.
Next time, some Maine highlights, including the Portland yarn crawl extravaganza!