Walters' Pumpkin Patch

We did our part for agritourism this fall. Instead of going on a vacation this year, THOMY and I threw ourselves into the mercy of a corn maze and wandered among the exotic varieties of pumpkins just north of El Dorado, KS.

Yeah, that's right, El Dorado. City of Gold. Black gold, in this case, and Friday we could smell the black gold from the refinery all during the drive through town. But I digress. Here are a few of the best photos from our foray.

Hopped Up

This weekend, I toured the Central Kansas Yarn Shop Hop: Nine yarn shops from Abilene to Winfield in three days...three hundred fifty-five miles, seven hours and three minutes of just drive time, according to Google Maps.

Of course, I had to take time to browse, shop, and eat. I brought my camera with me but never dragged it out of the bag, I was so gung-ho about my roap trip. So I've missed showing you all the ironwork for sale at an antique store, the decadent slice of chocolate mousse cake at Abilene's Kirby House (the wedge could've propped open a door), and the weird little scooter/pedal bike I saw weaving through traffic in Hutchinson.

The post is not without pictures, however. At each shop, a container of mini yarn balls--40 yards per ball--awaited shop hoppers. We were allowed to choose one at each shop, thus collecting enough to knit a Scrappy Lengthwise Scarf. In the last year or so, cowls have taken the place of scarves in my winter closet. So, with my yarn, I'll make a cowl in the scarf pattern's linen stitch. That's the plan, anyway, whenever I get around to it.

But now, a pretty little still life.



And another of my larger yarn haul.



Most of the shops also gave goody bags with truly goody stuff in them.



The purple box contains smaller compartments with lids to hold stitchmarkers, wee tiny scissors, used gum...etc.

At the shop in Winfield, I snagged a small, felted coin purse on sale and a test bottle of starch-substitute pressing aid.



And that was my weekend! I really wanted to find a video of someone riding one of those electric bike scooters as they were pedalling it, but all I could find was one like this. Yeah, it's a commercial, but see the pedals? How cool is that.