WARNING: This is a VERY long blogging post, please get your favorite beverage and a snack before starting, don't say I haven't warned you! ;)
Friday we left Montreal around midnight to Toronto, the ride up was great, we sang songs obnouxiously loud to keep us awake while I knitted alot. We did stop in a truck stop about an hour away from Toronto to sleep for two hours. Imagine about 50 trucks all lined up and our little sport's car, also it was pretty funny to see me stretched in the back seat (small sport's car and I'm 5'9"!) while Carl slept in the driver's seat. Luckily we got to check in the B&B at 9:30am and we went to bed asap, after a short nap we hit the streets and started shopping. LOL!
Toronto is our favorite spending place and don't worry we did that very well. In three days we visited three yarn shops!!! Lettuce Knit is a very cute shop. The place is small but packed with fibers in every available space. Rogue was on show in the window and I was not the only one to check it from every angle. (Lucky me I even got to see a 2nd Rogue on sunday at Romni, it was of course worn by it's designer) :) Megan was a delight to meet, she has the cutest toddler too, made me wish we had brought Lucas along for them to play together. ;)
Romni Wools, what more can be said about Romni? It's heaven on Earth, filled with fibers of all sorts everywhere. I believe I touched each and every ball of yarn before deciding what I would bring home with me. LOL! The basement was full of rovings and yarns on cones, Carl was having too much fun with a spinning wheel so we had to go back to the main floor. This trip was a great excuse for Carl to get back into knitting, he had told me he wanted to start a project and since an aran sweater is a tad difficult (for me it is, he would probably love knitting cables all over silly guy) I went and suggested him to start out with a scarf. Yes, I know a boring scarf but it will be his to knit and wear proudly, not it's not on tree trunk needles nor does it include eyelash yarn. :) As for myself, each time I enter a yarn store all the lists I can make myself disappear. I see all that is offered and just want to bring it home with me, after all Toronto has GREAT yarn shops compared to Montreal. People here are happy, friendly, helping, interested in knowing you and wanting you to want to come back to the store. I almost hated meeting the Toronto knitters as they were, of course, all friendly, happy, wanting you to move to TO and buy yarn forever. LOL! One good thing about being at Romni is that I got to feel some fibers I had only seen online. I now know that I prefer the touch of Fleece Artist's Lady Godiva more than the Silken which surprised me but only once you touch it can you know. It was funny we I met people at Romni and we would talk up right away, I asked if they would attend the Knit Wit book lauch party and they sure did. :) Makes me think I might not be all that shy anymore, well at least not with knitters. LOL!
The Naked Sheep, oh what a lovely shop! So cute, so pink, so girly, makes me want to attend their wednesdays S&B meetings. The shop had a gorgeous selection of yarns and bags, oh dear I really has to resist very hard to not buy one of their cute bags shaped like a brown paper bag. I kept going back to them but I was strong and resisted, not a very smart move as with the yarn I bought this weekend a new bag would have been perfect to tote my new loot! LOL! We were tempted to sit and knit all day on their comfy couch but really we had too much to see in the short time our weekend in TO was. This shop is sure to be on our yarn shops to go to list from now on. Actually all the shops we went to this weekend we will have to go back to when in Toronto, they each had their charms. :) There are still a few yarn shops like Village Yarns and Knitomatic that I hope to visit someday.
Now for the saturday evening Knit Wit party. WELL.... it was FABULOUS, many knitters, designers (appareing in the book were: Amy and Amy, Jenna, Jillian, Kate, Kathy, Nathalie, Stephannie, Véronik) and Amy all made us feel welcome. I sure am happy I brought my french canadian accent with me as at least 2 person knew I had to be that quirky Montreal/Quebec girl when hearing me talk. LOL! It was such a great event to meet fellow bloggers and hint, I mean BEG, those who didn't blog to start. I saw Shannon, Kathy and Kate whom all blogged in the past and reminded them pretty clearly (no subtle ~Jo~ here) to get back to blogging as *I* miss reading them. Also isn't it more fun to read a blog when you actually met the person? Waves to Aven and Chelle! :) Just like isn't it more fun to buy books, patterns from designers you have met, it's like you know they are nice and worth encouraging! LOL! It was funny too to realize how you can envision how people are from their writting and they turn up to be even better. I had a great time meeting tons of new people and hope to get a chance to attend another great big knitters meeting like that some day.
Hope everyone had fun at the Knit Wit party, I didn't have time or the guts to say hi to everyone, I did enjoy myself immensely. :)
Thank you Amy for all your hard work on the book and preparing for the party (you have to try her guacamole recipe!!!), it was tons of fun and MADE our weekend. Sunday we stayed a little longer in the city and Carl and I bumped into the Knitty team of walkers that were participating in the Run for the Cure, I think they were treating themselves with some yarn shopping. teehee! ;) On the way home we stopped by Ottawa with the intention of sleeping there but after supper we still had enough energy to drive home and surprise the kids by being home a day early.
Off to go play garage sales with Lucas! LOL! Tomorrow Carl and I celebrate 7 years of being together and this weekend was our little romantic get away. It was worth it and only wished we could have stayed a week instead of a weekend. LOL!
Do I get the prize of the longest post ever? ;)
hugs,
Posted by Jo at October 4, 2004 02:10 PM