OHMYGODANDIWASLIKEWHEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Okay. So. Yeah. Montgomery Mills is definitely worth a visit.

Evidently, "open daily" means "open M-F" - so when I stopped by on weekends it was all closed up. Being that it's in a very old building, it just kind of looked like it'd been closed for some time.

Wrong.

I ran over there at lunch, and after I parked I was met by a newly-shorn bundle of golden-retriever-mix-puppyish goodness (good sign #1). Very sweet doggy who just wanted to play. I walked through the sales office and into what looked like the factory from An Officer and a Gentleman. To the left was an enclosed room where I could see a woman with a bandana tied around her head - talking on her cell phone and operating a whirly-gig-type spinning thingy. The adjoining room was filled with closed boxes, a calico cat napping on one of them (good sign #2).

To the right was the shopping area - shelves and boxes and bins of yarn - Inca cottons, merino, silk, mohair, all kinds of blends - all made in-house. 70% or so was undyed, and those that did have color were very natural earthy tones (black, gray, musk). There was a wall of their many colors of balled merino (Cascade-ish), and some bins of Red Heart and some eyelash, but mostly the room was filled with glorious ropes of lovliness. Everything was sold by the pound, and from what I could tell they had pretty darn nice prices. Never bought by the pound before.

It's definintely a no-frills place - lots of magic marker on cardboard indicating yarn type and prices, and the needles and patterns looked like they'd been there since 1977. But I have been planning (in my mind) an aran sweater for some time, and this looks like the place to go digging for the supplies. All I need is a totebag and my wallet - I'm not buying yarn...I'm exercising!

I was very good though - no purchases. Gotta get through Tubey first and get another sweater going for Joe. But after that, it's on!