Dallas!

I’d been to Dallas twice before, but this was the first time I’d actually driven around. It is HUGE! And the sheer number of yarn stores is staggering. We were in town because DH had a work thing and we decided it was a good excuse to visit friends. So I only had time to visit one store, the Sassy Spinster. It is a combination yarn/fiber store, and I think the back is Susan’s studio. Susan is the very nice owner of the store. She made me feel welcome, and was perfectly willing to let me roam the store while I killed time waiting for DH.

Sassy Spinster was quite a bit more girly than some of the stores I’d been too lately, the fake cats on the quilts threw me off a bit. (Is that kitten sleeping, or dead? Oh, it’s not real. Thank goodness.) But don’t let that fool you. This store has a great selection of yarn, not to mention a really impressive range in the fiber department. I ended up with some lama fiber, a little bag of cotton samples, some bamboo and a mix of angora, silk, alpaca and merino. The lama fiber was from a local lama farm. I’ve no idea what I’m going to do with it but it seemed too cool to walk away from.

I wish I’d taken notes because I’m having a hard time remembering all the different fibers. I can tell you there was hemp, and camel, and baby camel mixed with silk, and tussah silk, and bamboo made using the chemical process, and bamboo made using the other process (I don’t remember what that was), and firestar sparkle, and natural brown merino with a bit of lanolin in it and dyed merino without. There was dog hair, people. DOG hair.

There were wheels and looms for sale. I am still contemplating the triangle loom. You end up with triangle bits of cloth and then put them together in a geometry problem sort of way. I am afraid I’d end up with a lot of ponchos.

Friday night we went to the Galleria. We met up with V&K and M&L and had dinner at Five Guys, and then we played at a neat teashop where I bought way too much loose-leaf tea. Then we went to V&K’s house and hung out and played Killer Bunnies. It’s a rather complicated game, but once you have played a hand it makes more sense. And it’s wonderfully silly.

Saturday V went and did early Father’s day things while DH and I and K and his family went to see Spamalot. DH and I had already seen it, but K and some of his family hadn’t. I think there had been some changes since I’d seen it a few years ago, and I’d forgotten how much I loved the “Song That Goes Like This”. That evening V&K, M&L, and DH and I went to the Studio Movie Grill and saw Green Lantern.

Green Lantern was fun, reminded me of Thor. Not disappointing, just not perfect. The antagonist was too sympathetic for me. I want my comic-book movies to be the Good Guys vs. the Bad Guys. Not the Sometimes Good, Looking for Himself Guy vs. the Guy Who Got the Short End of the Stick One Too Many Times and Is Tired of Doing the Right Thing. I don’t mind the hero being less than heroic occasionally while he is finding his way, but I’m really looking for a bad guy, the kind you love to hate.

Studio Movie Grill would have been great, if I didn’t know and love Alamo Drafthouse. The food was very tasty, but the whole experience was more dinner theater, rather than a movie with food. People were talking, not a lot, but way more than at a Tinseltown, and they’d have been kicked out of Alamo. I guess the super overkill intros at Alamo actually work. And the wait staff did not understand dropping off food quickly and being out of the way during important scenes. After the movie we visited M&L’s house and stayed up talking until way too late.

Sunday was breakfast/lunch at Taco Bueno, then heading back to Austin. We had dinner at my parents’; listened to the CD I got my dad for Father’s Day and ate the cake my sister made for him. Then packed up the dog and headed home to crash out.

And I’ll put up pictures of the Sassy Spinster and the fiber and tea next time.