Wool and Wine

Oregon's Yamhill Valley has much to offer, especially for those interested in wool and wine. Start with Woodland Woolworks in Carlton for all things knitting, spinning and weaving. Yippee!

Then the wine areas, such as Domaine Drouhin Oregon's manicured vineyards.

The tasting room manager gave us an informative tour of the vineyard and winery, which concluded with a comparison tasting of the winery's Oregon and French wines. Our friend Michael took very seriously his job as wine taster and research assistant.

At the Carlton Winemakers Studio, we tasted one fabulous wine after another from several wine makers. A dinner at the studio featured J. Daan wines, made by the young and talented Justin Van Zanten and his wife, Megan.

Two New Yarn Stores

Two new yarn stores in nearby Lakewood opened in recent weeks: Yorkshire Yarns and Shibori Dragon Knits. Based on my first scouting, both shops are spacious, well-stocked with space for more and with space for knitting groups or classes. And the people at each seem interested in stocking what knitters want. Each carries basic, all-purpose yarn (Cascade 220, Encore, for example) plus some of the more luxurious yarns (Luisa Harding, Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Artyarns, for example). Yorkshire Yarns has a lot — a lot — of sock yarn. Shibori Dragon carries Mountain Colors.

My only complaint is that I can't find my way around Lakewood easily.