Frolic-ing through fields of...

well, yarn, of course...

Just in from the DKC Knitters' Frolic, and my goodness, how it has grown! I last went maybe 6 - 7 years ago? And it was in a church, I think, downtown, maybe 15 - 20 vendors, some workshops - just a nice, small, local-feeling kind of event.

Today's yarn-stravaganza was held at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto, with over 70 vendors selling all manner of yarns and tools and books and just STUFF - way overwhelming! And of course I forgot my camera, so you will have to rely on others' reports for the visuals...

But I started off with a 9a.m. drop spindling class, taught by Lorraine Smith, who was just wonderful (the link takes you to a recent article she wrote for Knitty)!
I have tried this before with absolutely no success, but for some reason this time there was a little more clicking happening. Maybe it was the new drop spindle I had to buy for the class, made from cocobolo wood:.

Maybe it was the myriad of fibres we were invited to play with, ranging from shetland wool to merino to alpaca to silk/wool hand carded rolags...

or maybe it was finally explained to me in such a way that I GOT IT... yes, I made some kaka yarn:


Actually, there are some patches in the second attempt, the bicolour, that look like real yarn - very exciting!

So a very satisfying morning - and then, of course, there were the vendors...

and I was SO GOOD - so well behaved, so restrained...

I HAD to get this - the colours are just too rich, too wonderful, and the jacket will be the perfect thing with my 'uniform' of jeans and t's:


I think this is the jacket that Tanya was working on in a KAL at her LYS...
And, of course, the mandatory sock yarn purchase... because, as we all know, sock yarn doesn't count as stash... and this is one I don't see in shops, so it was totally okay:
The yarn is from Seacoast Handpainted Yarns, and the colourway is Sea/Sky/Sand - how summery is that?

You know, for someone with only two feet, I seem to have an awful lot of potential socks...

The other thought that crossed my mind was how much smaller the world seems because of blogs. They seem to create an overfamiliarity which strikes me as kind of funny. I poked around the Lettuce Knit booth, saw some scrumptious yarn which I did NOT buy (although it pained me physically to put it down) after asking the price - I then realized that I was speaking to Laura Chau of Cosmicpluto Knits! fame and was all set to start chatting with her when I thought for a second, hell, I don't really know her, I just read her blog faithfully, but I feel like I know her. She doesn't know me. I wonder how many well-known bloggers find themselves facing people who think they know them so well, and how they feel about it. This sort of instant comfort must be nice on some level, but maybe a little unnerving, too... I don't know, just wondering...

so there's my Saturday morning - came home to find that Maggie had eaten a WHOLE loaf of bread and an ENTIRE package of hot dogs buns, while foregoing the cookies and chocolate on the same counter - she is the Carb Queen, and unfortunately, on her hind legs, is tall enough to reach right to the back of the counter... naughty girl...

one Bemidji done for Artisan Knitworks, another blocking and the third of this batch about to be cast on - pics tomorrow - I must go and spindle... I'm so afraid I'll forget, and it won't work anymore!