We spent three (3) lovely days on the Big Island where we had lots of fun finding yarn (and beer & camera) places. :) (Hey, since Hubby was generous enough to take me to the Big Island, I had to take him to a few pubs & whatever camera stores he had found! :))
We started out by hanging out at the airport for four (4!) hours as Hawaiian grounded most of its interisland fleet due to corrosion issues. At least I got a lot of knitting done while we were waiting (yup, I brought my sweater with me :P). :)
We finally flew out on a bigger plane and landed in Kona at around 1p. Since we were stuck at the airport for so long, our first stop was lunch at Kona Brewing Co. where we had a huge lunch and some good beer. With some food in our tummies, we were able to check out the following places before it closed (everything closes early on the Big Island - no late city nights here):
- Lighthaus Camera (Hubby says that he likes this one better than the one we have at home.)
- Quilt Passions, which was more a quilt store that also had a small room of non-local yarn. Since it didn't carry any local yarn and the cost of their yarn was comparable, if not a bit more than yarn I can find at home, I didn't pick up anything here.
- da Bead Shop where I was hoping to find some great beads for a pair of earrings or beads to make stitch markers but alas, this shop was more for pre-made jewelry. :(
- Island Yarn & Art Supplies, which was a great shop close to the Kona Costco. They had a nice selection of yarn and accessories on the 2nd floor. They also carried Ahualoa Alpaca yarn and some other locally hand dyed yarn but, I didn't pick up any because it was really expensive and/or it was simply too warm for items I'd want to use here. Here's what I did ended up picking up though ;):
They also carried Go Knit pouches which I was really excited to see. I heard a lot of knitters l-o-v-e these little bags and I was (seriously) thinking about picking one up. Unfortunately, when I saw it (I saw both a small and medium bags), it wasn't much to speak of (much less for the price of it!). :( It was basically an expensive ripstop nylon bag with a small strap (that you can open and close) on the inside to hold your working yarn and a longer strap (that also opens and closes) on the outside so you can either strap it onto your wrist, the side of your purse, armchair, etc. Basically, it was like a very small stuff sack. :( One of the ladies working at the store swore by it but, I simply couldn't bring myself to pick one up. :( Bummer ... looks like I'll just have to keep looking for the "perfect" project bag or make my own bag(s) for my knitting project(s). :P
Then, we drove over to the Kamuela where we stayed at the Waimea Country Lodge. It was really old but nice, clean, quite and very ... country ... no city lights around here! :P And, it was right next to Parker School which holds the Waimea Town Market (perfect because it starts at 7:30am!). Because we had such a huge lunch, we decided to skip dinner on our first night there.
The next day, we spent the morning at the Waimea Town Market to find Hawaiian Homegrown Wool where I picked up this:
Isn't it lovely?! I can't wait to make a scarf with this one! :) There was also some great food at the Town Market as well. :D We had an amazing fresh from the oven turkey and cheese croissant, (another amazing) BLT (in which the B (for bacon) was really fresh cut from the pig - no Hormel bacon here!), and a great cup of Kona coffee (for my hubby). I can't tell you how delicious it was ... just thinking about it makes me salivate! :P
Next, we headed out to Topstitch in KTA Super Store Shopping Center in Kamuela (it's literally located right next to the KTA Super Store). It's really a quilt shop with a small yarn section. Interestingly enough, the yarn is from the Yarn Basket (in Hilo). Since there was quite a small selection, I didn't pick up anything here as I was holding out to see what there was at the Yarn Basket. Plus, they didn't have any accessories to tempt me to pick up either. :P
After Topstitch, we took a long but scenic drive to Honoka'a to check out Vera's Treasures where they sell Hula Bunny Yarn. The drive was really nice; way nicer than the drive to Whistler. You could see tons of ranch land (lots and lots of rolling hills), Mauna Kea and the ocean for most of the drive. It was a really beautiful drive and day. :)
Vera's Treasures is a quaint antique shop although they didn't have a whole lot of Hula Bunny yarn. :( Since the yarn comes au naturale from the bunny, there were only three (3) colors: cream, dark grey, and light grey - bunny colors! :P At $28 a pop for a skein of ~248 yards each (and I had no idea as to what to use bunny yarn for), I ended up not picking up anything (even though the yarn was soooooo soft!) :(
Then we finally headed out to Hilo to check out the Yarn Basket. On the long drive to Hilo, what we found the most interesting thing was ... the speed limit signs. We'd see a sign that says 40 MPH maximum and about fifty (50) feet later, we'd see another sign that say 55 MPH, then about another fifty (50) feet after that, another sign that say 40 MPH maximum. This went on for miles and miles. It was so weird. :P
We finally hit Hilo and after getting a little lost, found the Yarn Basket (oddly enough, it's also located at the Hilo KTA Super Store Shopping Center). It's the oldest store on the Big Island. It's been there for about thirty (yup, I said 3-0) years and it was crammed from floor to ceiling with yarn and accessories. They've been in business so long that they had a lot of NOSs (new old stock). They also carried some Hawaiian Homegrown Wool but, since I already bought some from them directly at their booth at the Waimea Town Market, I decided to be safe and pick up some stitch markers (since I've managed to break half of my super cheap ones already) and not more yarn (my supervisor was with me after all :P):
I even (inadvertently) bought another cable needle. For some reason, I spaced out and thought I didn't get this one only to realize later (much too late), that I had bought the same one during my I Love Yarn Day Yarn - Oahu Yarn Crawl! :( Oh well, it can't hurt to have an extra cable needle, right? :P
Since we were in Hilo, we ate lunch at Cafe 100 (this is the Big Island's version of Zippy's.) They're known for their loco mocos so, that's what we had for lunch: a turkey loco moco for Hubby and a bacon (yeah, I wan't getting enough bacon that day) loco moco for me. :) Hubby was amazed ... in all the time we've been together (and we've been together a long time), he's never seen me eat a loco moco (as it's not my favorite local dish). So, how was it? Well, ... the food was ... ok (although I like Zippy's better). :P
Next, we headed out to Topstitch in KTA Super Store Shopping Center in Kamuela (it's literally located right next to the KTA Super Store). It's really a quilt shop with a small yarn section. Interestingly enough, the yarn is from the Yarn Basket (in Hilo). Since there was quite a small selection, I didn't pick up anything here as I was holding out to see what there was at the Yarn Basket. Plus, they didn't have any accessories to tempt me to pick up either. :P
After Topstitch, we took a long but scenic drive to Honoka'a to check out Vera's Treasures where they sell Hula Bunny Yarn. The drive was really nice; way nicer than the drive to Whistler. You could see tons of ranch land (lots and lots of rolling hills), Mauna Kea and the ocean for most of the drive. It was a really beautiful drive and day. :)
Vera's Treasures is a quaint antique shop although they didn't have a whole lot of Hula Bunny yarn. :( Since the yarn comes au naturale from the bunny, there were only three (3) colors: cream, dark grey, and light grey - bunny colors! :P At $28 a pop for a skein of ~248 yards each (and I had no idea as to what to use bunny yarn for), I ended up not picking up anything (even though the yarn was soooooo soft!) :(
Then we finally headed out to Hilo to check out the Yarn Basket. On the long drive to Hilo, what we found the most interesting thing was ... the speed limit signs. We'd see a sign that says 40 MPH maximum and about fifty (50) feet later, we'd see another sign that say 55 MPH, then about another fifty (50) feet after that, another sign that say 40 MPH maximum. This went on for miles and miles. It was so weird. :P
We finally hit Hilo and after getting a little lost, found the Yarn Basket (oddly enough, it's also located at the Hilo KTA Super Store Shopping Center). It's the oldest store on the Big Island. It's been there for about thirty (yup, I said 3-0) years and it was crammed from floor to ceiling with yarn and accessories. They've been in business so long that they had a lot of NOSs (new old stock). They also carried some Hawaiian Homegrown Wool but, since I already bought some from them directly at their booth at the Waimea Town Market, I decided to be safe and pick up some stitch markers (since I've managed to break half of my super cheap ones already) and not more yarn (my supervisor was with me after all :P):
Since we were in Hilo, we ate lunch at Cafe 100 (this is the Big Island's version of Zippy's.) They're known for their loco mocos so, that's what we had for lunch: a turkey loco moco for Hubby and a bacon (yeah, I wan't getting enough bacon that day) loco moco for me. :) Hubby was amazed ... in all the time we've been together (and we've been together a long time), he's never seen me eat a loco moco (as it's not my favorite local dish). So, how was it? Well, ... the food was ... ok (although I like Zippy's better). :P
We spent the rest of the day leisurely takimg pictures and checking out Hilo town, including visiting Rainbow Falls and Hilo Bay Books, a local used book store (although it was more like a regular bookstore than a used bookstore) before heading back to Kamuela. Oddly enough, on our way back to Kamuela, the speed limit signs were normal and weren't set fifty (50) feet apart from each other! :P We also decided to take the "scenic" route back (it was only four (4) miles long) and discovered that it wasn't scenic at all. Hubby said that he's never going to listen to me about taking "scenic" routes from now on unless he can check it out on Google Maps before we take it. :P lol :)
Then, we decided that we'd go to the Big Island Brewhaus for dinner. However, when we tried to pull into the driveway, we discovered that they were closed for renovations (for just that day)! :( Poor hubby ... he was really bummed because he really wanted to try out their beers. :( As a consolation prize, we went to KTA and got a poke bowl and a bottle of local wine for dinner. At least the poke bowl and wine was pretty good. :)
Then, we decided that we'd go to the Big Island Brewhaus for dinner. However, when we tried to pull into the driveway, we discovered that they were closed for renovations (for just that day)! :( Poor hubby ... he was really bummed because he really wanted to try out their beers. :( As a consolation prize, we went to KTA and got a poke bowl and a bottle of local wine for dinner. At least the poke bowl and wine was pretty good. :)
On our last day, we had breakfast at Hawaiian Style Cafe in Kamuela (at the recommendation of the hotel lobby clerk) before heading back to Kona. OMG ... the cafe served the largest portions ever! And it was also the best meal we had the whole time we were there! :) Hubby had a chicken katsu loco moco (to make up for his mediocre turkey one) and I had a smoked pork omelet (yup - just couldn't get enough pork! :P). It was a good thing that we decided to get there early in the morning (like around 8-ish) because by the time we left (like around 9-ish), there was a l-o-n-g line waiting to get in. :)
Then, we headed back to Kona to actually check out Kona town (it's really more like being in Waikiki; I'm glad we didn't end up staying there), do more picture taking, visit a local coffee farm (in which we met the sweetest kitty and saw the furriest chicken (ever)), and checked another coffee place before heading home. :)
Then, we headed back to Kona to actually check out Kona town (it's really more like being in Waikiki; I'm glad we didn't end up staying there), do more picture taking, visit a local coffee farm (in which we met the sweetest kitty and saw the furriest chicken (ever)), and checked another coffee place before heading home. :)
It was a great and relaxing trip! :) While we did go around a bit, we also had a lot of R&R time which we really needed. :) I'm so glad that I was able to visit the few other yarn shops we have in our state (now, I know what we really have out here). And, I really am so lucky to have such a sweet and loving hubby (who has ulterior motives to taking me on a yarn crawl :P). :) I'm definitely looking forward to my next yarn crawl - in Japan next year! :P
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