Rainy Saturday - In Detail

The other day, some friends and I decided to share our day in pictures. This is something we’ve done a couple of times now, and always with interesting results. This time around, our “day” fell on the same day as the Kitchener-Waterloo knitter’s fair. I wasn’t sure I would go, but felt like I had to do something picture-worthy. And if I’m going to take all kinds of pictures and tell stories, then I might as well blog it. Here is my apology in advance for a VERY long post. Feel free to skim.

After lounging about all that morning, I decided to get in the car and drive to Kitchener-Waterloo for the fair. It was a chilly, rainy day, but the roads weren’t bad.

I started to take the most direct route to the fair, but saw signs that directed me differently, and I ended up taking the route I knew best, past my old stomping grounds in Guelph. I loved being back on roads I knew and have driven dozens of times.

I arrived at Bingeman’s without incident, and my first thought as I drove into the parking lot was, “I’ve been here before”. I can’t remember why – I think maybe there must have been an Engineering career fair or something way back when.

As I’d had such a long, lazy morning, I didn’t arrive at the fair until almost three. So I didn’t get to check out any of the workshops the website had mentioned, but there was still plenty to see.

I guess in previous years, the vendors had all been in one big room, and the place was jam-packed. This was the first year they expanded to two rooms, and everything was well-spaced, with wide aisles. There were lots of deals to be had, but I was fairly restrained. But not saintly.

I wandered both rooms, visiting every stall with varying degrees of interest. I had just wandered into my last stall, and was thinking it was weird that I hadn’t found the Linda’s Craftique booth, when I heard Linda call out my name. I turned around to find that I was, in fact, in her booth. It was nice to see a few familiar faces (and familiar F.O.s).

It continued to pour all day, which didn’t really bother the knitters, as they scurried from hall to car laden with fibre and tools.

I stayed right up to the end, at 4:30 (partly in hopes that some vendors might suddenly decide to lighten their loads home and offer ridiculous deals) then headed back to my car in the suddenly empty parking lot.

I was a bit confuddled to find a satellite dish in the middle of some bushes by my car. Next to… nothing at all. Okay.

Then it was back on the road for me. Despite the rain, it was a lovely drive along familiar roads.

I love driving back roads at this time of year. Even better is a couple of weeks from now, when the leaves have started to change, and the world is awash with sunset colours.

But this time of year is lovely, too, with the rich browns and yellows of the fields, all on a backdrop of lush greenness.

And every now and then, in the distance, or – more startlingly – suddenly in a field flashing by, you can see bright sheets of brilliant yellow canola.

Yes, I know I probably took too many pictures, but I don’t get out this way nearly often enough these days.

I didn’t even notice the big windmill behind this house until I was going through the photo files later at home.

I took the long, slow way back to Guelph, and then through the city, driving along roads that took me back in time about nine years.

It’s been bothering me that I couldn’t remember the name of the street I lived on in second year, so I swung by that way to remind myself that it was “Keats Crescent”.

I drove south on highway 6, past the lawn furniture/camping equipment place that has life size dinosaur statues. (no idea)

And when I got home, I drooled over my purchases. I got some lovely green roving, a spool, and this beautiful niddy noddy.

I think I became interested in spinning mainly for the beautiful tools and their fun names.

After playing with my new toys, I got dinner together. The last of my homemade tomato sauce over shell pasta with plenty of parmesan.

Then I flaked out on the couch. I was not alone.

Harrow Fair

A couple of weekends ago - Labour Day weekend, in fact - I paid my second annual visit to the Harrow Fair.

I wasn't terribly surprised to find that not a whole lot has changed in the past year.  There were the same giant sunflowers.

 

The same very, very tall sunflowers.

I did notice the Lego category, which was new to me.

And last year, I don't remember seeing quite so many categories for flower arrangements.  They included 'Best single red rose in a white vase - 10" division', and the one below, 'People put flowers in the darnedest things'.

Those 'darned' things included a soup can, an old banjo or guitar, and a bedpan.

The critters were pretty much the same.  Though I'd imagine they were the next generation, as they were advertised for sale by the pound in many cases.

 

  

 

I didn't see one of these last year - a display on knitting and crocheting.

I guess I was still developing my 'fibre art radar' last Labour Day.

Unfortunately, the turkey was not one of little Kiona's highlights.  While she found it hilarious when I or her mum would 'gobble' at her, it was not at all funny when a giant, ugly bird did it face-to-face.

This was just before things got a little teary.

Which leads me to the biggest difference between last year and this year.

Last year (please note bulge):

 

And this year (please note bulge is now walking and has developed high levels of cuteness):

 

Who knows what next year will bring.

Surprise

The second project that I finished up this weekend was this little bluey greeny item.

 

If it looks vaguely familiar, that's because yes, I did just make another one of these.  But it also means that you saw it on Ravelry, because I have been a bad, bad blogger.  

Okay, here's my first:

 

These are both Baby Surprise Jackets, knit from Knitpicks Felici sock yarn.  It's wonderfully soft and perfect for baby projects.  The socks are cable rib socks, from the "Better than Booties" collection from Interweave knits. 

The pink/blue/green (Coney Island colourway) jacket and bootees went to my cousin's new little one, Tristan, out in Edmonton.  The blue/green/brown (Schooner colourway) is destined for an as-yet unknown baby, due in about three weeks.

These are really cute, fast projects, and I can see myself doing plenty more in the future.  I do have to say that I did not have much luck following Elizabeth Zimmerman's pattern.  The style of writing there just didn't click for me.  It was the Baby Surprise Notes by Dawn Adcock that made it possible for me to knit - and enjoy knitting - these jackets.  The notes don't give you the pattern - that, you still need to buy or borrow.  But they give you the pattern instructions line by line, more like a modern pattern. 

Which, yes, may be a bit of spoon feeding, but apparently, that's what I need, so I'm glad it's available.

I know!  Two posts in two days!   Crazy!

Wee Things

There's really only one thing a picture like this can mean to a knitter.  Things have been finished!

I spent most of the weekend seaming, weaving in ends, sewing on buttons, and blocking.  I rarely left the couch, which was pretty much the plan going into the weekend, after a somewhat hellacious Friday spent hopping from one waiting room to the next, as I tried to deal with a messed up cornea.  Which, by the way, was made much worse by doctor number two (of three) scraping at it because he thought there was something on my eye.  Turns out, he was seeing a scratch and misinterpreting it as some kind of foreign material.  Thanks, doc!  Oh, well.  He did send me off to an ophthamologist, who gave me very good eyedrops.

Anyway - knitting!  The first project I finished up was my pair of Embossed Leaves socks.



These were knit out of some lovely hand dyed yarn from Sunnyside Ellen's etsy shop.  The yarn was dyed to give a gradual descent into darker shades.  I started with the lighter end, as the socks were knit top-down.  I was a bit disappointed that I never made it to the darkest green shades.

If I did this again, I'd likely choose a toe-up and go the other way, since I'd rather see more of the darker green.  But that's really the only disappointment, and it's a minor one.

The pattern was easy to memorize, and gives really lovely results.  It also gave me the chance to try a star toe for the first time, as shown in the awkward photograph above.

The only really unusual thing about these socks was the way I finished them up.  I used a nine inch circular needle.

 

Apparently, this is a new offering from Hiya Hiya, and Linda my LYSO of Linda's Craftique was kind enough to let me try this out.  I admit that it's a bit awkward at first, as the needles themselves (as opposed to the cable) are very short.  I think that a lot of people just wouldn't enjoy using these, but it works for me just because I happen to hold my needles just right for them. 

They're ideal for a purse knitting project, and I like them well enough that I've used them to cast on for my next sock project.  Which are the Uptown Boot Socks from Favorite Socks (that's really hard to type without the "u", by the way), in safety orange.

Up next - more finished stuff!

For me!

I won a contest!

A couple of weeks ago, I added a comment to 1600 others to congratulate Sheri at The Loopy Ewe on her second anniversary.  And I was chosen as one of sixteen winners, much to my shock and amazement.

The package arrived today, and was just a fabulous way to celebrate a beautiful, cool summer day.



I knew the yarn would be yummy, so I left it as the last thing to be unwrapped.  What a fun little package.  There's a Loopy Ewe mini tote bag with a little tag that reads "Sock yarns don't count as stash!" and a cute little pin.  The pattern is for Making Tracks socks, by Wendy.  This is one I'll definitely be trying out.  Sorry it's not really in the picture, but here's the Ravelry link.



And then there was the yarn.  Oh, the yarn.


There is a skein of Wollmeise in a vibrant, yummy fall colourway called Campari Orange.



It feels lovely and soft, and seems to be a thinner yarn than most of the sock yarns I've used.  I may actually need to swatch to make sure I use this to the best of its abilities.  And since this is "the" yarn right now, I want to make sure I get the most out of it.


But as lovely as the Wollmeise is, I have to admit that I've fallen for the Yarn Love Juliet.



I doubt I would ever have picked out this colourway on my own.  But as soon as I held it in my hands, I knew it was the colourway I never knew I always wanted.


It's all my favourite colours and combinations rolled into one.  It has the warm, toasty fall colours, the rich brown, and the bright, sunny-skies-blue. 



And if you happen to know what I do for a living, you'll know why the name of the colourway is particularly appropriate and cracks me up.


Thanks to Sheri and the Loopy Ewe!

In a Spin

I'm still not entirely sure how it happened.  I was in Romni Wools, picking up some yarn for a very special project (not sure if I can blog about it yet) and I wandered down to the basement.  This is where the sales rooms are, full of bins and boxes that you can dig and dive through in hopes of finding treasure.  On the way to the sales rooms, you pass by the spinning supplies: wheels, roving, spindles, and miscellaneous mysterious gadgets.  I rarely give these a second glance, beyond making sure my sleeve doesn't catch on anything as I move along.

So I still don't really know how I came to be standing at the checkout, paying for this:



And this:



I haven't been really all that interested in spinning. It just seemed the slow way to get yarn.  But I'm finding that I'm enjoying the movement and the feel of the fibre in my hands.  And it's rewarding to start with a bag of fuzzy blue intestines, and end up with a cute little skein like this.

Clover

As usual in my world ‘tomorrow’ is a flexible term.


So, the most lasting memory of the cottage? Was one I brought back with me in a very real, very physical form.



This is Clover.

When we arrived at the cottage, there was a box of cat food and a note left on the kitchen island. “Please feed the stray cat and call the Humane Society”. Various clues led us to believe that the cottage owners probably don’t visit the place between renters, and so the note was most likely from the group who had rented the cottage the week previous.

The stray cat in question showed up that day, and he was a very friendly, warm kitty. The next day he brought his girl. And the day after that, we’d apparently cleared the security check, and they brought the kids.




We were in the back of beyond, not close to any municipality that had a humane society, and we know that they don’t come to pick up strays anymore in any case. So we just continued to feed them and let them hang out on the deck with us.



A few days into the week, the grey kitten wasn’t around anymore. There was no one in any of the nearby cottages, so we were left to conclude that something had happened to her.

At the end of the week, I couldn’t stand to leave the second kitten to a similar fate. So Clover came home with me.



But Sebastian is a one-cat cat. And he’s that cat. A new home was found for Clover after only a week. It was hard to see her go, but I’m confident that the person who came to pick her up will give her a wonderful, loving home.



So all’s well that ends well. I just hope our next cottage doesn’t come with similar residents. It’s too hard on my heart.