I’m back! We had a lovely trip out to the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia; the weather was a tad warm (39 degrees Celsius which converts to damned hot Fahrenheit.) but it beat cold and rainy. Mike’s folks’ anniversary garden party was a success; lots of friends from B.C. and some from Saskatchewan (from where they retired about ten years ago). All of the in-laws’ descendants were there: 6 kids, 6 spouses, 14 grandchildren, 2 great-grandchildren, and two rather serious girlfriends. Mike and Andy got in a couple of golf games with Mike’s dad, and I hung out at the pool and did a wee bit of shopping. I had four days in Calgary before we went to Vernon (small city where Mike’s folks live when they’re not in Mexico for the winter), and it was great! I drove around the city like I knew where I was going, went to the zoo, picked up Geoff at the airport, and found a couple of wool shops. Pictures in a minute. The funniest part of the trip (if you find burocracy amusing) (and I do) was trying to retrieve Geoff’s trombone from customs. He did not have a receipt for it (having bought it online 4 years ago) and they thought that he was trying to import it into the country without paying duty. So, we had to find Fedex (using an out-of-date map of the airport industrial area) to pick up the customs declaration form, drive around to find the actual customs office, sign documents declaring that he owned the t-bone before he took it to the U.S., drive back to Fedex and rescue the poor trombone. What a schmozz. He took way too much stuff down with him for this contract. I’m hoping he packs lighter when he goes back in August.
Shopping? Well, yes, I did.
First stop was Gina Brown’s.
4 balls of Lang Mille Colori. Half wool, half acrylic, beautiful colourways. Christmas knitting underway. The book is actually from the Knitting Room. I had the nicest time at the Knitting Room; I didn’t get the lady’s name, but we had a lovely visit and I tried to convince her to try toe up socks. (Not that I have done a lot of them, but it is one of my knitterly missions on earth to help people avoid grafting of toes whenever possible. If I hate grafting, I see no reason why anyone else should pretend to like it.) I have been through the book many times, and knit almost every shawl and scarf in my imagination. Question: If anyone out there in my readership of, what is it now, four or five? has knit any of these seamen’s scarves, can you tell me if the ones based on stocking stitch tend to roll? They always look nice and flat in the pictures, but my reality is sometimes different. Just curious.
I also picked up a bit of yarn there.
I see this as Eugen Beugler’s Lace Dream from here, peacock feathers and so forth. I also picked up this:
which amazes me by being 1375 yards all in one skein (I have a low amazement threshhold). I’m not quite sure what it will become; possibly something from Cheryl Oberle’s Folk Shawls.
When I left the zoo on Tuesday, I made an illegal right turn (gotta love out-of-province plates) and headed up to Make One Yarn Studio. They have been in the throes of a major renovation, so my first trip there on Saturday was just a quick recon and to meet Sandra and Amy. Sadly, I missed Cooper, who, if you can believe his press pictures, is just about the cutest darned chocolate lab in existence, but not much help with painting and stocking shelves. Go figure. Amy invited me to the Knit Night on Tuesday, but I thought it would be kind of rude to be out knitting when Mike showed up in town. Did I mention that they sell wool there?
The colour sucks in this picture. It’s a warm camel-coloured alpaca and silk sportweight (my photography skills are sketchy at best) and I have no idea what it will become, but it’s fun to pet and stroke.
Oh yeah. I also hit the Beehive, which is sadly siteless. Once again, a nice chat and some fibres that I’d never heard of, let alone touched before. This was the take:
Rayon and cotton; will become an open-mesh sort of scarf. The colours are nicer up close or in person:
That was all in Calgary. It didn’t seem like enough, so when I got to Kelowna (just down the road from Vernon) I made Mike and Andy sit in the car while I checked out the Art of Yarn. This is such a cool little store; you must go. It is in a nifty area of trendy boutiques and restaurants, and is jammed to the ceiling with, well, yarn and etceteras. It is so jammed that they are moving across the street to a bigger store. Once again, I was remiss in getting names, but the second time I went there (my driver got bored the first time and I had to go back- he thought half an hour should be enough; silly man.) I spoke with a lady who was originally from Toronto, spent many years in Switzerland, and moved to Kelowna seven years ago so her kids could see what it was like to live in Canada. People’s stories are fascinating! In between grilling her for her life’s details, I found this:
Silky wool (Elsebeth Lavold), enough for a cabled sweater of some sort, and half price. Woo hoo!
Then, for a scarf of some description:
The astute among you will notice that this is my favourite colour. Mostly acrylic, but just enough mohair to make it soft and interesting.
Oh, and to do a couple of things out of Victorian Lace Today,
I have always wanted to do something with this, hence the splurge. The biggest decision was colour.
Whew! Now that I see it all in one place, I feel silly. Will I ever get it all knit? Not likely, but the satisfaction is in the potential. Man, do I ever have potential sitting in front of me. And no, I still haven’t put the button on the Magallanes. Maybe later.
There was much mirth and merriment on our trip, (Andy was legal drinking age for about 12 hours while we were in Alberta on the way out to B.C.) and now that we have been joined at home by Geoff and his girlfriend (who are both on vacation from their cruise ship jobs) I don’t know when I’ll get any serious knitting done. (I have done 14 loads of laundry since we got home two days ago, and just started on Geoff’s this morning.) I’ll just grab time when I can, and try to feed the family so they don’t suspect I’m doing nothing else domestic.
Ta ta for now!
Sounds like you had a wonderful trip…such gorgeous goodies you brought home from some beautiful country! I’m looking forward to seeing some of your projects.
Welcome back!
What a great trip! I like that; “the satisfaction is in the potential.” Welcome back, glad you’re home!
Sounds like a wonderful journey! Glad to hear you made it all home safe and sound. :0)
Wow. What wonderful additions to your stash–and I’m jealous about your deal on Silky Wool. It sounds like you had a good time.
As for the seaman’s scarf, I made two Susan scarves (p. 75) from a wool-tencel mix (Acela from Brooks Farm), and they turned out fine. Most of the scarves in the book have seed stitch borders, and so they lay flat. The one you show is garter stitch with no border, but that shouldn’t roll either (nor should Fenna). I steamed the center ribbing a little, but just to get out some wrinkles from jamming it into a plastic bag. I’m really pleased with these scarves, and I’ll probably make one for me in a while.
Hi… it sounds funny to say I missed you, but I did! I’m glad you had a nice vacation and your new yarn looks a lot like some of what I am trying to get to: I couldn’t resist the Silky Wool last time I got to Webs, but haven’t yet figured out what it wants to be.
As for the Kid Silk Haze, it is lovely to look at, but I ended up calling a friend and begging her to take it…. it is not my type of knitting. She was happy to oblige, and I just wanted it out of my house because it looked so pretty I kept thinking I’d try again, and ever time I did I hated working with it. (Maybe it’s the eyes… just turned 60 and find I use the Ott lite for all knitting, sewing, even reading these days.)
Fortunately, I keep busy knitting for grandbabies these days… small projects, finished and worn, give me a great sense of staisfaction. I’m knitting one for each of them out of Louet gems, and love the yarn, which is superwash merino. (My daughter is a knitter and would be happy with any yarn, but my daughter-in-law is a firm believer in “If it doesn’t go in the washer, Tessa doesn’t wear or use it.)