The Knitter’s Frolic

I had never been to the Knitter’s Frolic before and didn’t think I would be able to go this year. I have heard other knitters rave about this for a few years but have never made it myself due to location and timing. I thought I was going to be in Ottawa and didn’t make any plans to get there for this year. But then Sean decided he would be really sweet and drive me there (I promised I wouldn’t make him stay for longer than an hour).

For those of you that don’t know the Knitter’s Frolic is mainly the vendor area where a lot of yarn stores from Toronto and the surrounding area as well as local-ish dyers and small fibre providers. You can also take some classes on various subjects. We went for the market place and there were a lot of yarn fumes. I am surprised at how well behaved I was (I think Sean was too). I only made three purchases.

My first purchase was something I have been searching for quite some time and is the reason you haven’t seen any progress on the related project for some time. I have the 1.5mm needles needed to knit the borders and the centre of the Queen Ring Shawl but not the edging as the extra cord is just too much. Therefore I have found 1.5mm needles with a cord that makes the total length 20″ which should be perfect for knitting the edging. 

My second purchase is a Japanese stitchionary which from what I gather from the chatboards Ravelry is a very coveted item. This was my first opportunity to actually look at a few and now I know why! You really don’t need to know any Japanese to use them as all the patterns are charted. Also if you don’t know what one of the charted stitches stands for you can look up the stitches at the back of the book and they have pictures showing you how to do the stitches! The stitch patterns are amazing and complicated. We really don’t appear to have anything comparable here in North America that I have found yet. The Japanese pattern magazines were also stunning but sadly you need to be able to read Japanese to be able to knit the gorgeous and complicated patterns. I will definitely be purchasing more of these stitchionaries!

The third and last purchase was one I had been eyeing and contemplating almost the whole time we were there. It is a beautiful cone of alpaca lace weight yarn with almost 5000 yards in a nice grey. The tipping point to getting it was when Sean said he would pay for half (I know right? How lucky am I that he took me there in the first place and then to top it off he bought me some yarn). 

So I made him a delicious margarita when we got home.

My package has arrived

I joined a swap on ravelry and went to pick up my package today. There were a bunch of lovely treats inside including some delicious merino sock yarn by Mountain Colours and “The Monk in the Garden” a book about Gregor Mendel who is considered the father of genetics and the reason punnett squares exist. There was also chocolate with caramel inside (swoon), the most awesome stitch markers in the world (including a little owl), another measuring tape (I can never have enough of those as I am always misplacing them) and some toys for Piper!

I am looking forward to reading the book as I can remember being introduced to Mendel in Grade 11 and thought punnett squares were awesome. Piper I’m sure is looking forward to getting her beak on those toys!

randomness

There is not too much going on knit-wise to show pictures of at the moment. The Bean’s sweater is getting close to completion. That will be a finished object to show off soon.

Not so long ago I bought myself a new knitting book about designing sweaters, Knitwear Design Workshop by Shirley Paden. I’m finding it excellent as it shows you how to do a lot of the math (which is good if you want to make patterns with multiple sizes). It also shows you how to design for different sweater body types, sleeves, necklines, collars etc as well as skirts and dressed amoung other things. It should be an excellent resource. One of my favorite things this book includes is all the measurements you should take and how exactly to take them. It also seems very well suited to my learning style which is both visual and very logical.

Dinner on Thursday was an experiment that turned out excellent! We had lamb chops that were soaked in red wine overnight and then patted in Madras seasoning for a crust and seared before being put in the oven. Since madras seasoning is spicy I made a nice cooling mango pineapple salsa with tomato, onion and fresh cilantro. The vegies were potatoes, carrots, onion and raisins with fennel, mustard and coriander seeds amoung other spices. The lamb was extremely tender.

The tomato plants are growing like weeds. I think it might be time to transplant them!

Some Piper cuteness. She insisted on keeping her “hat” on for the photo shoot.