Monday, April 30, 2007

Gettin' my Frolic on

Several of the Detroit Area Knitters took on Toronto this past weekend (including me, obviously!) for some serious yarn acquisition/knitting/tasty food consumption. Here's the recap:
We took the train out from Windsor Friday morning (of course getting a good 4 hours of knitting in the process) and arrived at the hotel, having gotten a great deal going as a group (more money for yarn, yes?) We spent most of the day messing around and knitting, then headed out to the Spotted Dick for more knitting and drinks. Sonya and I decided to act silly out front, as you can see.

That's the Ruffles scarf she's working on in the picture. My knitting was inside (still the top secret project, so...)

Saturday we hopped on the subway and a bus to get to the Knitter's Frolic. We decided to forgo the classes in favor of maximum shopping, which we achieved. My target was some Seasilk, which we have yet to locate in our area. It was plentiful, though it seemed to go fast. We took a break for a snack of sushi and other goodies, then who should we bump in to but the Harlot herself!


This is the point where Dana and Amby wish they had come with us, I suspect. My one (maybe there were more) embarrassing moment was when I turned around and whacked someone with my knitting bag, only to discover that it was Taiu Landra, of Koigu fame. As a total Koigu freak I should be flogged in public for this transgression!


(Angela, Beth and I outside the Frolic)

Although I spent far less than some of my companions (let's remember that Seasilk doesn't come cheap) I had a good haul from the Frolic. Behold!
Much pinkness (Koigu, Seasilk, and really cheap Opal on sale):


And some cheap but cute sock yarn:


After the Frolic we squoze in a trip to Romni Wools as we had been regaled with tales of its bigness from a fellow local knitter. It was freakishly huge- 6000 square feet, we were informed, with high ceilings and yarn crammed up to them. You had to walk sideways, I'm not kidding. (Sonya took pictures there, you'll have to take my word for it for now.) The best part was the sale room (yes room, not corner, basket, or cubby) in the basement in which we scored some bargains. For me, it was Touch Me (yes, Dana, it's purple!) for $9.90 a ball, and that's Canadian money too.


We about freaked. I also picked up a pair of pink Swallow casein needles, which I like but don't actually knit with. I haven't seen them in a couple of years, and I didn't have a pink pair!

(Me enjoying the sun at Lettuce Knit)

Sunday (gorgeous weather!!) we went up to Lettuce Knit, which I had been to before but the others hadn't, plus we learned of their fine selection of Go Knit bags. We all got one (or more). I have 3 now- 2 pink, 1 camo -they're so handy for socks. I also picked up the other skein of Seasilk I had almost bought at the Frolic (at their booth), a cute Lettuce Knit magnet,



and... yet another Lexie Barnes bag (a long needle case).



I think my Lexie Barnes levels are dangerously high, don't you?



The last little bit of drama was when we went to leave for the train back to Windsor (with much more to carry then when we arrived, naturally) and discovered no cab could reach us due to a Giant Parade of Sikhs downtown. Streets were closed and traffic was a dead stop. As the time of our departure began to draw dangerously close (the streetcars were stuck in traffic too, and no doubt the subway, even if we could have gotten all the bags down there, was crowded with no other options available) we made a run for it. Our faithful bellman ran along with us, dragging the overloaded cart of luggage with him. We must have looked crazy, but we made it to the train with minutes to spare. Whew!

6 comments:

Larjmarj said...

Looks like a good time was had by all. Sea silk sounds interesting, I might have to take a peek/sniff at it.

Amy said...

The pink yarn! Sooo pretty! And running into the harlot herself? What luck!

I didn't realize Toronto was only four hours from Windsor via train. I may have to look into this!

Dana said...

Holy crap, 9.90 a skein!! Major bargain for sure! We saw her in AA, so this was your time for greatness. Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend. I'll have to make sure to jump in on the next round. Love the seasilk too!

Shorty said...

I forgot about the pink Koigu! I feel like I bought way too much compared to you.

S.

Anonymous said...

You can never have too many Lexie Barnes Bags. Glad you had a good time. See ya later.... if I remember to sign up for the knitters night out. When is that this month.. the 4th or 11th.. hmm?

Scoutj said...

Such fun! And I love my GoKnit bags too. I can't keep them in stock in my shop! My favorite one is my medium sized one now.

I love that pink yarn too!