I recently went to the 14th Annual Knitter's Frolic, at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto. It's an outing I look forward to, every year. The folks from the Downtown Knit Collective do know how to throw a party, I tell you.
And the party favours are pretty special, too
I came home with:
A bottle of Soak, in the flora scent
The book, "Wrapped in Lace", by Margaret Stove
A beautiful skein of Diamond Luxury Collection Pure Silk Lace
Some undyed silk hankies, which I had to rescue from the opinionated one -- seems she was intent on needle felting them...
And some beautiful merino/silk sliver in a colourway called "Cinnamon" -- yummy
What'd you bring home?
My friends at the Library Knitting group wanted to know how a pair of slippers turned out. And they had good reason to ask. I had showed them the aforementioned footwear when they looked more like clown shoes than slippers. Weeks ago. Fear of Felting had immobilized me. Again.
Well. I finally got them felted up. Did I save them for Wednesday night. Of course not. That would be sensible. And a little heartless. I took them to the recipient, as there was a decidedly blue mood in the air, at her house. I figured that slippers would help. I was right.
I did, however, have the presence of mind (this time, at least) to take a picture:
I just love the way a pile of yarn ends looks. It says, "Finished project!" every time.
Next up, a new little pocket for my cell phone, designed and finished in a flash, by me
If you'd like to make one for yourself, you can download this pdf of the instructions.
And, while it's not nearly a finished object, there is some progress on the red wrap that I started in January
I have a finished object that isn't really knitting, but it is finished. Really finished.
These are the devilled eggs that I made for my church's annual salad luncheon. Aren't they beautiful? The salad luncheon was Wednesday, and now they are naught but a memory. Sigh.
On a parting note, this next one is definitely finished, too.
I ask you, does this look like the face of a criminal?
Looks so innocent enjoying that sunbeam, doesn't she? My innocent-looking little kitty had recently been to the vet to have some dental work done, and the vet's parting words were, "Don't give her much to eat. She won't be hungry and will likely be a little nauseous from the anaesthetic."
In a morphine- and hunger- fuelled fog, she set out on a midnight raid. My furry little angel turned half a pan of corn bread into this
Finished, indeed.
The Royal Wedding was respresented in the shop window, and the Friday night knitters got to be guests at the party!
Ooo, squee! I got to dress up!
I needed a hat.
Check.
Gloves?
Check. And check.
And the festivities began!
There was tea with china teacups. And saucers.
And cupcakes (Thanks Mary, they were dee-lish!)
Some of us even dressed up.
Sue had an escort in tux
And, in the end, we enjoyed the ceremony again, sniffled a little ( it was a beautiful wedding), and sent the Royal Newlyweds off on their honeymoon, with nothing to show on our part, but the leftovers of a wonderful knit night.
Oh -- and before I forget. To the Cambridges -- Congratulations!
After a perfect day at the Gather, in Port Hope, I thought I should show you what I, umm... gathered.
A Wellington sock yarn blank in the colourway Wellington Flame
100g of Border Leicester locks, from Shepherd's Hill Farm, in Campbellford
One of Heidi's famous batts. This one's a scrummy blue, with sparkly banana fibres throughout.
Handpainted roving by the Dye Wizard, Jared -- a thirteen-year-old with a remarkable eye for colour.
A 50g batt of natural black lambswool blended with beautiful sea-coloured silk. Can't remember the name of the shop.
Black superwash blended with copper coloured firestar, from Dyeing for Colour
And one steamable niddy noddy, courtesy of Heidi at Sheep and Spindle
All this fibre shopping has me looking forward to the Knitters' Frolic.
Wanno go?
This past Saturday, I hopped into my car, picked up Sue and Beth, and headed off to Port Hope for the annual fibrefest known as 'A Gathering of Handspinners', presented by the Great Pine Ridge Spinners and Weavers and the Northumberland Hooks and Needles Guild.
I look forward to this day all year.
This is one of those meet-ups that I can never explain to normal people. How do you explain, to the average person-on-the-street, that you're off to investigate fleece?
Fleece? Like sweat-suits, right?
No. Fleece. Like giving a sheep a haircut, then turning it into yarn.
Yeah, right. Everyone knows that fleece is made out of pop bottles.
Sigh.
Never mind.
Saturday, I spent rummaging through raw fleeces, poking through prepped rovings and examining new equipment with all the joy and excitement of a 15-year-old boy, being introduced to his first HEMI.
I got to meet wildlife:
The little bunny and his lovely steward belong to Sylvia.
I was offered food and drink:
I said, "Hello," to the father of my favourite drop spindles:
(That would be, the one and only, Alvin Ramer! Best crafter of spinning and fibre prep equipment I know.)
I met more friends there:
That's Reagan, extolling the joys and virtues of her Bosworth spindle to Beth and Sue.
And Heidi, the brains behind Sheep and Spindle fibres.
That's Heidi, on the left. (Don't you just love her hair?) She's initiating a new spindle spinner.
One of the neat things about the Gathering is the socks. Many spinners and knitters who attend, like to demonstrate their ability with the wool and needles. The results are beautiful and myriad:
Beautiful. Every pair.
I saw many, many beautiful yarns being spun up from some glorious natural and dyed fleeces. This one, by Mara, was just amazing. She told me that she started with a natural gray fleece (I can't remember the breed), and then dyed it with coreopsis flowers. From the freezer.
Isn't that gorgeous? I think so.
Mara also invited me to come and check out the Great Pine Ridge Spinners and Weavers. I think I just might.
At around 1pm, there was a door prize draw. The prize table was loaded, this year
After the draw, (No, I didn't win anything.) I started touring the hall, determined to go home with something truly special. Not difficult, here.
There was Rose Haven Farm
and Wellington Fibres
and the lovely ladies from Dyeing for Colour
And many, many, other, wonderful enablers fleece providers -- hence the big smiles on my girls and me.
Too soon, it was time to go back out into the rain and head home
After we dropped Beth off, Sue commented on feeling cold. So we did what any self-respecting, cold and damp Canadian would
Sue looks warmer, already.
Tomorrow, I'll show you what goodies I acquired.
Having purchased the perfect bookcase, I spent the next two weeks waiting for the perfect time to assemble it. Truth be told, I was hoping that the elves would come in the middle of the night and do it for me. I would provide them with hand-knitted hats and sweaters made of finest silk and alpaca, as payment.
Since my world continued to be elfless and my patience was wearing thin, I did the only thing left to me.
I opened the box.
Upside down.
Hmm.
That's better.
According to the pictograms, one must first collect two naked, pudgy, bald gentlemen. In shoes. Give one of them a hammer and the other gets a pencil. Then one may begin.
Now, I've done the IKEA two step once or twice in my life and I know that the one thing required for success is to REMAIN CALM. Uhh, no, wait. Stay organized. Yeah, that's it. Stay organized. To that end, I gathered up the required tools and enlisted the aid of some kitchen equipment:
Muffin tins?!
When there are 18 small fastening devices involved, the only way to stay sane and get the silly thing built, is to organize said panoply of small bits. Muffin tins serve well nigh perfectly.
See? Organized.
I followed instructions. I found the required parts. I tapped fasteners in the appropriate places
Her Most Serene Highness inspected teh troops. And teh equipmints.
And did NOT approve.
I hammered and screwdrivered (phillips AND flat, thankyouverymuch)
I did battle with drawer assemblies, and I was victorious!
Very soon, the only thing left, was to fill it.
Perfect.
You might remember this:
My sunroom studio -- almost perfect. The chairs are comfy, the table is sturdy, the windowsills are handy for the putting down of coffee mugs and glasses of lemonade.
But something was missing.
Back in the fall, when I made this space, I had intended to get a bookshelf. I have a fair few knitting books, and tools that I need to have close to hand when I'm up to my elbows in yarn. I was on a mission and on a budget. I tried, for weeks, to scare one up for free. No luck. Then I went to the thrift stores. There were a couple of beautiful bookcases, but they weren't for sale. I started contemplating where I might find a book case close to home. There was one at Canadian Tire, but the budget whinged. Loudly and immediately. We tried Home Depot. But that one was too-o-o big. Definitely Not a Good Thing.
I waited, patiently. It began to feel like I would always be tripping over books in my bedroom. And like I would always have to go somewhere else to retrieve the info I needed, five minutes after sitting down to knit. It was getting frustrating.
A couple of weeks ago, as I was finishing up a class at the yarn shop, I got a phone call from the Man o' my Dreams. "Any plans for the rest of the day?" he asked.
"Nope," said I, "Whatcha got in mind?"
"Let's go to IKEA."
When one gets to be a certain age (40-something), with certain life responsibilities (kids, mortgage, gassy cats), IKEA is as close to a theme park as one is likely to get. So, off we headed to the Big City, for a visit to the Theme Park for Furniture.
After weaving our way through herds of slow-moving furniture shoppers (and their fleet-footed, agile offspring), we found the book case display floor.
There was the venerable Billy
There was Expedit
There was Expedit, again
And then!
Smadal
A bookcase I could live with, under budget! And, at 5 feet 6 inches, relatively easy to get home, too. (You do not want to be taking a seven foot bookcase home in a Corolla. Trust me.)
Now, for the fun part.
Anybody got a screwdriver?
A very nice beginning knitter that I know, needs some encouragement. I think that good tools always help to engender confidence in what one does, so I dug out my stash of beads
and found perfect gems for adorning knitting needles
Then I got out some wire and some findings, a stray bit of interesting ribbon, and made these.
I hope she likes them.
I have been making facebook comments about cleaning, for some time, now. Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm a 'notional' housekeeper. (Thanks, Warner, for the term.) I clean when the notion strikes me. Well. My sunroom had been living as an unintended dumping ground, for stuff with no home, for quite a while. In a house of 1150 square feet, there really isn't space for a room with no job, except to collect homeless 'stuff'. So, my notion set me to reclaim my space. My vision is for a cozy, sunny, room, in which to knit, spin, teach a little, and just be. Definitely a happy place.
And not just for me. This will be a good place to unwind and let the busy-ness of life go away for a while. The tea kettle is fifteen feet away in the kitchen, and do you see the little green block in the corner of the window?
That's the bird feeder that got neglected for a couple of years, while we filled the room up, so that you couldn't get to the window. And that's a copy of the National Audubon Society Guide to North American Birds (Eastern Region).
And this is a little parade of who's been visiting:
We have a pair of Cardinals
Mister
and Miss. (Yes, I know the pictures look a little funky. I took them from inside the sunroom. Reflections are inevitable.)
Goldfinches and Slate Coloured Juncos
Also about a million Chickadees, that are all too fast to have their portraits taken, and we've had one sighting of a Hairy Woodpecker.
Oh, yes. We also have these portly little gaffers
I can't begin to tell you how joyful it makes me to sip a cup of tea, spin a little (or knit), and watch the show, just outside of my sunroom window. And I'm starting to be a little excited about the possibility of sharing that joy with other people.
Oh, my. Birdies don't do command performances.
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