Kitchener - part one

What a hoot! This year's trip was a ton of fun, although my day didn't start out so great... I was running late (there was line up at the bank and at Tim Horton's which threw my split second timing all to hell). I was to meet everyone at the King Road Kiss and Ride to get on the bus at 8:30am. Between the line ups, and the doofuses in front of me that insisted on driving the speed limit, I was still on King Road at 8:30! I pull into the parking lot, and no bus. Crap! I've missed it. I drive around, and lo! I see a group of ladies waiting. Yes! The bus is later than I am! Excellent! So the bus pulls up a few minutes later, we join the Barrie Guild on board, and off we go. Between draw prizes (which I didn't win) and knitting and talking, the trip seemed to take no time, and we pulled up to Bingemans. Once in, the crowds were amazing. People everywhere. I decided to take the quick(ish) trip through the whole place to see what was there, then go back and seriously start in. Well, my quickish trip took me an hour or so, and then I started at Brenda Franklin's Beading booth. (One can fall very hard at this place...) Who do I meet up with, buying beads, patterns and needles? Stephanie and Rachel H! (They tried to blame their beading purchases on me. They saw the bracelets I'm working on at my house last month, and somehow, it's all my fault. Ladies, you were happily ensconced, with patterns in hand before I even showed up. Not my fault.) So we started from there, and hit every booth for varying amounts of time. I left them for a bit at Gemini Fibres for a bit. I ran into Wannietta;

this is what happens when two bloggers meet. We had a nice chat, and then it was off again. I ran into Carol in her grey silk Tomato (sorry, no picture, and I regret that, because the sweater was bee-yoo-ti-ful!)) and a few others I knew. When I got back to Stephanie and Rachel, Steph seemed to be carrying more bags than before. It seems she fell for some undyed silk roving (delicious), and she found the perfect colourway for her Garter Stitch Jacket. The PERFECT colourway, as we discovered, after checking out every other vendor with Fleece Artist. We wandered through the booths, sniffing, fondling and in some cases buying yarn. I bought some luscious sock yarn from the Sweet Sheep, and then when we were talking, realized that the owner is none other than Mama E, a regular commenter on Steph's site. This is how we get introduced: "Mama E, meet Curlerchik and Rachel H". We all knew. So Emma took this picture of a blogger and her commenters:
Not ten feet away was the Philosopher's Yarn booth. (How Ann could wear that beautiful but warm wool shawl in that place is beyond me. I was cooking in lightweight cotton!) Rachel saw their canvas tote bag, and we figured that it would be the perfect size to carry around her Hitchhiker spinning wheel. (actually, I didn't know the size, but she currently uses a Lee Valley tote, and I do know the size of that, so I was somewhat helpful, I think.) But, you only got the toe if you bought yarn. So we convinced the wavering Stephanie that she really needed to buy the Crossword Puzzle Sweater Kit. (she really wanted to, but needed extra convincing). By buying it, and getting the tote, she would have been helping Rachel, and Stephanie is nothing but helpful to her friends, so the tote came with us, along with the Puzzle Sweater Kit.

While there, we started talking to someone who was happily telling Stephanie that she took the plunge and opened her wool store. I glanced at her business card and gasped. "Never Enough Wool? Port Perry? You're never open when I need you to be!" Nice way to introduce yourself to someone... I pass by her store twice every weekend. We drive through Port Perry on the way to the cottage, but we leave too late on Fridays, and she's closed, and she isn't open on Sunday when we stop at Dairy Queen RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET. How's this for customer service? She gave me her card, told me to phone her when I was passing through, and she'd meet me at the store. Oh, I will Carol, I will. Now that I know I can get inside, you won't have to wipe off the nose marks I've been leaving on your window, looking inside...
Rachel and I were debating whether or not we needed to get out the dart gun to stop Stephanie from buying everything she saw, however, no one was doing anything to stop us. Rachel HAD to have the box of Hickory fibre from Wellington Fibres. Not only was this fibre outstanding, and calling to her, it comes in this very cool brown box with a jute handle. I don't spin, and I wanted the box. Rachel wavered, but I basically told her she needed the box. (She got me back, don't worry). Then there was the scarf kit at Lindenhof Wool Mill with the sample pack of fibres, in colours that were just made for her, and I kind of decided that her Need Factor for this kit was high. Actually, the Need Factor was very high, and the scarf kit had to be hers. The only problem was that Lindenhof was only doing cash business there, and we had to scramble to get her enough cash. Steph cam through with the needed $20, so crisis was averted. However, I promised Lucky Canuck that I would grab her some Lindenhof sock yarn, and by then I was out of cash and using plastic, so Lucky? I'm sorry. But! the good news! Lindenhof is opening a Toronto location - 102 Ossington Avenue, between Queen West and Dundas! September 13 at 11am. So Lucky? you're in luck! (and now, you'll be buying ME Lindenhof sock yarn...)

So far, I had been doing well - they've been buying and I've been telling them they need to buy, and I've been keeping my wallet safely hidden away. Then we reach a booth that had hand dyed, lambswool, cashmere and dehaired angora. Fabulous colours,and they had a knitted up Soleil from Knitty. We tried to resist. Really, we did. Stephanie and Rachel were successful in both resisting and in convincing me that I needed some. So I bought it. My Need Factor seemed to be high at that booth.

A few more quick trips to some booths, and that was it. Stephanie and Rachel went off to grab some food and hit the highway, I headed back to the bus for food and some organization of the purchases. All in all, fun, fun, fun! Meeting great people, buying fabulous stuff, and keeping to my pan of only getting stuff I can't easily get locally. Lucky, we missed you this year - you'd better plan for next year.

One of the funniest parts of the day was hearing Nancy's name called as a door prize winner. Nancy has whacked me on the arm for three years straight now, because I always seem to win a prize. My year to get her back. I found her at a booth buying the most luscious Polworth Aran sweater kit, whacked her on the arm and said "I've been waiting 3 years to do this!". She knew immediately that she had won a prize. And here's your dose of irony for the week - Nancy is enamoured of the beaded bracelets - and she wins a beaded bracelet kit from Brenda Franklin!

All in all a great weekend. A tiring day, a nice dinner with my husband, and picking up my son on Sunday. He had a great time, and it was hard to drag him away from his Nanny. (She didn't want to let him go either).

I'll post the stash enhancements tomorrow. Oh, and Steph and Rachel? That Lambswool/cashmere/angora blend? already wound and ready for Soleil. But that beaded necklace kit keeps pushing it's way to the front...