Eureka! (Part I)

My trip to Eureka Springs was awesome!

It started off super cool because E and I saw a hot air balloon as we were driving along the highway. I haven't seen a hot air balloon since I was about six or seven, so although I couldn't get a great picture of it, it lent an air of floaty magic and freedom to the whole trip.

E's parents have a crazy beautiful, airy house sitting in the forest outside of town, way way off the road where it's just gravel pathways through the woods. I don't want to rudely post pictures of their house, but the view from the back porch was epic. It just dropped down and you could see across what felt like the entire state. My camera couldn't even handle the awesome.

Eureka Springs is a cute town, too. It's got a hippy vibe and is very hilly and surrounded by forest and dangerously curvy roads that hug little mountain-feeling hills. My feeling about Eureka Springs is that everyone who lives there must have incredibly strong thighs from all the hill-climbing and narrow staircases you ascend and descend everywhere you go.

I just thought this shop was too cute! I guess it's kinda my style... but all the shops were very cute.

E, her mom Margy, and I grabbed some lunch at The Balcony Restaurant at the Basin (this virtual tour was taken right where we were sitting, with this steep view of all the shops beneath us!) where a guy playing a guitar with a tree drawn on it sang acoustic covers of Beatles songs, then we got cheesecake for desert across the street at Peace Love & Cheesecake. It was perfect.

Gavin came along into town with us. This was her first big outing. She got to sit in a basket of Neopolitan-colored yarn at a cute yarn shop downtown...

Pose against The Artery wall of paintings...

(I died!!! I love this picture.)

One woman offered to hold Gavin while I was taking pictures at the wall, which was kind of nice and interesting. I don't often go out and about with Blythes in a blatant way, but I felt fairly comfortable doing so with E and her mom since they didn't seem to be embarrassed by my desire to take dolly pics everywhere. There's just nothing so fun as having a girl along with you.

I did bring all four of my girls, because Margy is going to make me a custom BLYTHE CARRY BAG! Her workroom up there in the loft of their house is filled with lovely light and shelves and shelves of fabrics and projects and gosh, I don't even know what.

My Blythe carry bag is going to be so awesome, I could cry. It's going to hold up to three girls, I think, which is nutso, and it sounds like it's going to be insanely intricate and so handy for me, the girl who wants to bring a Blythe everywhere.

Margy's work is insane, too! Quilts by her hang everywhere in the house (I grew up sleeping under them at sleep-overs too). One of the artsy shops downtown carries tablerunners, bags, and adorable Christmas stockings made by her. She also has an Etsy shop where she sells beautiful knitting needle rolls, project bags, and all kinds of handy little carriers for crafty this-and-that. You can see how well-made, durable, and beautiful each of the things in her shop are. My bag is gonna be off any kind of hook, chain, hizzy, ledge, or hinge you can imagine!! I got to pick through her fabric baskets, and together we pieced together something with pink, green, maroon, stripes, paisley, and swirls... it was such a fun process that I can see how much joy she derives from creating these bags and rolls. I'm so excited! Even just the laid-out fabric looks so good, I can't imagine how great it'll look when it's put together and quilted and detailed.

E and I spent lots of time crocheting and knitting. E is a knitter like whoa... she was working on a golden-nutty brown hat.

Now, I can't knit... I learned the knit stitch once about four years ago, but forgot it quickly. Margy sat down and helped me re-learn that and also taught me how to purl, so I was able to sit and practice knitting and purling.

I think how I knit is English style? I hold the yarn in my right hand and loop it that way, and it's easier for me. I don't know if I'll ever be as good of a knitter as E, but I'm still excited (and also trying not to forget everything now that I'm home again).

I took a buttload of pics of my girls out in nature. I'll post those tomorrow!