Sunday, September 13, 2009

Kitchener bounty

So Saturday dawned bright and beautiful, so I wished my husband a good trip, and headed out. (he was heading out later that day to go to Germany - he's in the beer industry and had a beer trade show to attend. Drinktec. That's calling a spade a spade, I believe. A week of drink and beer relating things. And yet, he's not staying for Oktoberfest which starts the day after he leaves. (It's not like he's never been before...)

I of course, had important things to do - it was the Kitchener Knitter's Fair, and I met the bus at 8:00am in Aurora, and we arrived in Kitchener at 10am.

First off, the bus ride was fun as always, with raffles and draws and other things to keep us occupied. I won two draws, and scored huge! A skein of Fleece Artist Sea Wool in the most beautiful colours, and Deb Gemmel's Cabin Fever Hat book! So happy with these!. I also did some knitting, starting a new pair of cotton stretch socks. This is how much knitting one can do on a round trip to Kitchener from Aurora, while still talking, and helping with draw prizes, and ogling everyone else's purchases.

I met Susan as pre-arranged, and finally met up with Deirdre, after having her paged. Sorry Deirdre, but I was spending so much time looking out for you, I was missing all the good stuff in the booths! But it was great finally meeting you! We chatted for a bit, I explained some jewellery making tips, and we both headed off again. Deirdre, I want to see pictures of the necklace you plan on making!

As always, the fair was crowded. Some booths were hard to get near, let alone get inside off, but we managed. We started with a fairly quick perusal of the place, then got more intense at many of the booths.

Shall We Knit had some amazing stuff - both for sale and on display. I managed to score this: 5 skeins of pure softness. Yes, that tag reads 100% Baby Llama. Baby llama people! My God it's beautiful. My first thought was a scarf for my husband, but he's gone off for a week of drinktec, leaving me with kid, swimming lessons, basketball practices, and other such things. I may keep this for myself...

I was potentially looking for a cardigan/coat type of pattern - something for outdoors in fall, or indoors in winter when it's chilly. You can always count of Fleece Artist for what you need. This is the Mo Jacket. A very simple jacket, perfect for my aesthetic. Pretty sure I got it at Camilla Valley Farms. I love these muted jewel tones. Susan was under strict orders not to let me buy variegated yarn for a sweater, after the blue/brown feather and fan sweater debacle, but we both agreed that this would work out okay. And look - it's already wound into balls - I ah, um, wanted to show my Mom how my ball winder and swift worked, and this was nearby, so I wound it. It's not like I was going to knit it or anything... Okay, fine. I've started the jacket. My olive green cotton/rayon cardi is on hold. What with fall coming, mohair is so much more practical, right? Have I convinced anyone? No, I didn't think so. So I'm fickle. I admit it. Then later, I found some more mohair, same meterage, at Dye Version in some stunning greens, so I now will have two Mo Jackets...

I also picked up some buttons - these dark horn ones will go perfectly with the jewel toned mohair.

And these ones are antler. The toggles are deer antler and the rounds are cross section of moose antler. They feel marvelous, and will look great with something, I'm sure...

There's more, but I think I might stretch this out for a day or so... Next up, the bling...

7 comments:

Philosophical Karen said...

So glad you got something from Shall We Knit, my local yarn store. I didn't buy anything from them at the fair, but I actually bought two skeins of that exact same yarn (even the same colour, if your second photo is accurate) at Shall We Knit the night before the fair. Yeah, the night before the fair. Cari told me if I bought it at the store, it wouldn't count towards my fair budget. And I fell for it, haha.

Anonymous said...

Love your choices, though I'm sure there's more to show, right?!! Can't wait to see the bling.....
I think the Guild needs another combined knitting/bead workshop (hint hint) to share your expertise.

Carol said...

Let me guess....you bought some bead knittingkits,right? I almost did, but got waylaid by the Zen Garden....

deirdre said...

ooohhhh, baby alpaca.... I did fondle that stuff, and it's like buttah - it should SO be for you...

and it was kind of cool being paged - Lord knows I never win door prizes or anything, so it was like winning a prize of a different kind...

Anonymous said...

Darn, I missed the purchasing of the green mohair and new buttons!!! Rats!

But I can attest, dear readers, that yes, there is some bling that was scored by Curler.

Anonymous said...

what a surprise - bling..... I only wonder if her total purchases rivalled our dear Joan D's.
:o)
The mohair looks amazing - can't wait to see it knit up.

Brenda said...

Kitchener was a wonderful day. Glad yo enjoyed it too. Almost everyone in our group purchased the Cabin Fever hat book. Such a great reference tool.