We’re back from our trip to Eugene, OR. It was so much fun!!! I was having so much fun that I pretty much forgot to take pictures (I’ll do better next time!) but I think I managed to catch the highlights.

This was my first trip to Eugene and I was so excited to go because a good friend of mine, Nikki, lives there and invited me (many times) for a visit. When I found out that the Black Sheep Gathering was the same weekend that she had off from school I figured that would be the perfect time to visit.

In exchange for taking Adrienne and me to the Fiber Festival (and letting us stay in her house!) Nikki requested knitting lessons! We were only too pleased to comply.

Knitting on the Quad

I’ve taught tried to teach a couple of people to knit before but I thought I was pretty much a failure because it didn’t seem to stick. Not so with Nikki! She was the most enthusiastic knitting student I have ever seen! The absolute best part of our trip was the 2-hour post lunch sitting in the grass and knitting sessions that we staged everyday we were there!

Nikki had her 1st hat finished in no time!

Yeah!!

Nikki took us on a tour of downtown Eugene and the University of Oregon campus where they were in full swing getting ready for the Olympic Track and Field Trials.

This great statue is right on the campus:

Jebediah Springfield!

Apparently the Springfield right outside Eugene is one of many Springfields which inspired the home of the Simpsons. Moe’s Tavern is located here and also this statue which both appear in the show! How exciting!

The other exciting thing we found on campus was an all marble bathroom in the downstairs of the admin building. Sorry, no pictures but it was just as awesome as you are imagining.

I was really impressed with the squirrels, they are HUGE and very friendly

We had excellent food everywhere that we ate in Eugene but this really cool mural was on one of Nikki’s favorite places: The Bier Stein

We went there twice

Eugene is known for its diverse flora. There are a million different plants and trees that thrive there. I really liked this tree:

I think it is Gingko?

We hiked the bluff! You drive up part-way and then it is only a 1/2 mile hike but since it’s the only high spot in town you can see forever. It was really cool and there were lots of friendly hikers enjoying the nice weather with us.

Soaking up the sun and the view!

As a thank you I knit these mitts for Nikki:

They match the hat I made her last year and still didn’t take a picture of. Oops.

The Fiber Festival was pretty overwhelming at first. Adrienne and I just wandered around yarn-struck all the time that we were there on Friday. I did take some pictures of sheep though!

Jacobs Sheep - I did not know they had these weird horns.

This alpaca is named Stephen Colbert.

We did better on Saturday. We met up with our Grandma and Uncle (why don’t I have pictures?!), I bought lots of yarn (but Adrienne didn’t buy any!!! More on that later) and watched a knitting machine demonstration. I really really really want a knitting machine now.

We also saw more alpacas:

And just when I thought I was going to get out of the Fiber Festival with tons more yarn than Adrienne she went and bought infinity worth of yarn in the form of….

A Spinning Wheel!

This was a huge leap of faith because Adrienne hadn’t even ever spun on a spinning wheel before, just a drop spindle. She was totally making yarn within the hour of getting the wheel out of the box!

Proof

She spun a whole bobbin’s worth of yarn while we were sitting in Nikki’s yard!

Eugene was great and seeing my friend Nikki pretty much -made- my summer. The weather was sunny and hot (maybe a bit too hot for Alaskan me). I had such a good time!!!

Thank you Nikki! You ROCK!!!

by alligator on June 26, 2008