yay yarn!
Yesterday was the TTC Knitalong, which I have been eagerly waiting for since registration opened up in early June. Erin, Kara, Lynn, Ilana and I all made it onto Team Intarsia together, so the day was bound to be fun regardless. I left my house around 9:30 am and drove to York Mills station, where I could park for the day for only $4, bought a day pass and met up with Ilana to catch the 95 bus to Creative Yarns in Scarborough, our first stop for the day. We met up with the rest of the team there, chatted with fellow knitters and ogled all the pretty yarns. Some of my friends made their first purchases of the day there, but I was on a mission to acquire yarn for the Ink cardigan I've been dying to make, and didn't find what I was looking for there.
From Creative Yarns, we got on a very crowded bus, then rode the subway for a bit, then got on another bus to the Purple Purl. (Sidenote: while waiting for the second bus, there was a cute guy standing near us, reading one of the Song of Ice and Fire books, which, besides being nice eye candy, reminded me of the tumblr that used to be dedicated to hot guys reading, but I think is now defunct. Which, really, is a shame, because who doesn't enjoy hot guys reading?!) The Purple Purl is where I bought the yarn for my sweater at last year's TTC Knitalong, and I love the employees there. They're super nice and helpful and always so welcoming to everyone. If their store wasn't in pretty much the exact opposite corner of the city from where I live, I'd probably be there much more often. Yesterday they put out cold punch, fruit, and other snacks for us, which were definitely welcome at that point in the day. While the heat "broke" yesterday, that only means it didn't feel like walking into an oven as soon as you left any air conditioned building. It was still hot, even if just normal summer heat, and airflow was not great on the buses or streetcars. So any time I could have something cold to drink and something to munch on, I was definitely happier.
Anyway, I was able to continue my self-created tradition of buying myself yarn for a sweater at the Purl on the TTC Knitalong yesterday. I found some gorgeous Tanis Blue Label fingering weight in their Stormy colorway, and it just called out to me. I knew that was what I wanted to make my cardigan out of. There were two slight problems with this. The first was that, even though I had a bit of money to spend (thanks to bonjour_cupcake, who sent a little birthday money my way because she is so nice, and my in-laws, who are giving us money when they come visit next week because Brad talked to them about helping me get yarn for my birthday), I didn't have enough to buy all of the yarn that I needed for the cardigan. So I asked the girls if they would help me buy the last skein, intending to offer to pay them back, but Lynn grabbed the skein and said she would buy it for me as a birthday gift, which was really sweet of her. The second slight problem is that they only had 3 skeins in that colorway, which at 420 yards each put me at a total of 1260 yards, and the pattern calls for 1400. But the ladies at the store said they could let me know when another skein comes in, and I'll be able to go pick it up later. They just advised me to wait on starting the project until I get that last skein, because all of their colorways are hand-dyed, meaning the next one I get may not be exactly the same color as the ones I've already bought. But it's also possible that I won't need the full 1400 yards for the size I'm making, so I may be okay with what I have. Then Ilana bought me a set of needles that I also needed for the cardigan, which was super sweet of her as well. I am really lucky to have such awesome friends who do such nice things for me! :)
After the Purple Purl, we went on a very slow-moving and hot streetcar to get to Romni, our next stop. There was so little air flow on the streetcar that several of us felt a bit like death by the time we got there, so Ilana and I ducked out to the nearby Starbucks so she could get an iced coffee. I had brought my water bottle with me, so I asked the barista if he would put some ice and water in it for me, and was so grateful for the cold liquid when I got it back. Frozen water is such a simple thing, but when you're super hot, it's pretty much the best. Honestly, I must have refilled my water bottle at least 3 times yesterday, and I was constantly drinking more, but I still ended up with a wicked headache from the heat. :-/ Anyway, Ilana and I had a little time to browse Romni's cavernous basement before we needed to head to our final store, and I was able to find the other set of needles I needed for the cardigan. Romni gave out free gifts to everyone, which included a tiny sheep(!) and a couple samples of delicate wash.
Our final stop of the day was Americo, which I had never been to before, but they were very nice to all of us as well. They gave out a free skein of their 100% llama laceweight yarn to each person on the Knitalong who was there that day, and we're talking a seriously big skein here, too (over 700 yards)! Plus they gave out pretty hefty discounts on any purchases made there as well. It was so nice, and I think everyone was really impressed. After all the yarn shopping was done, all the teams met up at the Rivoli, where prizes were given out. All of the participants' names were put into envelopes for each team, and then names were drawn at random to distribute the prizes, 4 per team. I did not win any prizes, but Lynn won some gorgeous indigodragonfly yarn. Ilana had also won a prize at the Purple Purl, so two people I know got cool things. Erin was also given a certificate recognizing the fact that she finished her wedding shrug during the Knitalong.
Enough talking, right? I know you just want to see the pictures.
Kara, Lynn and Ilana taking a little rest at Americo.
Erin working hard to finish the wedding shrug! (She did finish it shortly afterwards, and modeled it for us at the Rivoli.)
This one's a bit dark because the window was behind us, but it's Ilana and me sitting on the floor of Americo because we were both tiiiired by that point. (Also, I didn't take any pictures until Americo, so that's why there are none from the earlier stops.)
A clearer picture of me and Ilana at the Rivoli, waiting for prizes to be announced.
My new acquisitions! The three skeins in the middle are the Tanis stormy that will become my Ink cardigan. I love the colorway and I'm so excited to be able to get started on it!
Free sheep from Romni! He is adorable, and I think I will bring him to work with me in September and put him on my desk there. However, he needs a name first. Any suggestions?
And this is the free llama laceweight from Americo, after I spent an hour or so winding the two hanks by hand earlier today. :p But I'm really excited about this yarn and all the possibilities for pretty pretty things I can make from it.
After prizes were given out, I accompanied a few other Toronto knitters back to their place in order to pick up some cake pans I'd agreed to buy from them. They're moving soon and so have been posting a lot of their stuff in one of the threads on Ravelry; I knew I would see them at the Knitalong, but it didn't make sense for them to carry the pans around with them all day, so we'd just agreed to meet up afterwards. They had two round cake pans and a 13x9 baking pan, plus they'd found a muffin tin they had thought missing and no longer needed, so they threw that in for free as well! Yay bakeware! However, because of that detour, I didn't get home until after 8 pm, and I was absolutely exhausted. I made myself a bagel and a handful of green beans for dinner, then seriously just sat on the couch doing nothing for a few minutes until Brad came over to watch some tv. We watched a little bit of the Amazing Race Canada, but I went to bed shortly after 9:30 because I was so beat. I then proceeded to sleep until 8 am, and it was glorious.
So my actual birthday is on Tuesday, but I feel like yesterday was pretty much everything I wanted it to be, and I can't ask for more than that. I had a fantastic time hitting up all the yarn stores, spending time with my friends, meeting and chatting with other Toronto knitters, getting birthday gifts in the form of yarn and needles from the girls, etc. Tuesday will probably be very low key, but I'm okay with that. 29 isn't a particularly big birthday anyway; I'm sure next year we'll do something big and exciting for 30. For now, I just feel grateful that Brad, his parents and my friends were all able to help make this year's TTC Knitalong as awesome as it was for me, and that's a pretty great birthday celebration even if it was a few days before my actual birthday. Plus, Brad is going to make me eggs benedict on Tuesday, and I can't wait! :D Hope you guys are all doing well, and that it's not as godawful hot near you as it's been here this past week!
From Creative Yarns, we got on a very crowded bus, then rode the subway for a bit, then got on another bus to the Purple Purl. (Sidenote: while waiting for the second bus, there was a cute guy standing near us, reading one of the Song of Ice and Fire books, which, besides being nice eye candy, reminded me of the tumblr that used to be dedicated to hot guys reading, but I think is now defunct. Which, really, is a shame, because who doesn't enjoy hot guys reading?!) The Purple Purl is where I bought the yarn for my sweater at last year's TTC Knitalong, and I love the employees there. They're super nice and helpful and always so welcoming to everyone. If their store wasn't in pretty much the exact opposite corner of the city from where I live, I'd probably be there much more often. Yesterday they put out cold punch, fruit, and other snacks for us, which were definitely welcome at that point in the day. While the heat "broke" yesterday, that only means it didn't feel like walking into an oven as soon as you left any air conditioned building. It was still hot, even if just normal summer heat, and airflow was not great on the buses or streetcars. So any time I could have something cold to drink and something to munch on, I was definitely happier.
Anyway, I was able to continue my self-created tradition of buying myself yarn for a sweater at the Purl on the TTC Knitalong yesterday. I found some gorgeous Tanis Blue Label fingering weight in their Stormy colorway, and it just called out to me. I knew that was what I wanted to make my cardigan out of. There were two slight problems with this. The first was that, even though I had a bit of money to spend (thanks to bonjour_cupcake, who sent a little birthday money my way because she is so nice, and my in-laws, who are giving us money when they come visit next week because Brad talked to them about helping me get yarn for my birthday), I didn't have enough to buy all of the yarn that I needed for the cardigan. So I asked the girls if they would help me buy the last skein, intending to offer to pay them back, but Lynn grabbed the skein and said she would buy it for me as a birthday gift, which was really sweet of her. The second slight problem is that they only had 3 skeins in that colorway, which at 420 yards each put me at a total of 1260 yards, and the pattern calls for 1400. But the ladies at the store said they could let me know when another skein comes in, and I'll be able to go pick it up later. They just advised me to wait on starting the project until I get that last skein, because all of their colorways are hand-dyed, meaning the next one I get may not be exactly the same color as the ones I've already bought. But it's also possible that I won't need the full 1400 yards for the size I'm making, so I may be okay with what I have. Then Ilana bought me a set of needles that I also needed for the cardigan, which was super sweet of her as well. I am really lucky to have such awesome friends who do such nice things for me! :)
After the Purple Purl, we went on a very slow-moving and hot streetcar to get to Romni, our next stop. There was so little air flow on the streetcar that several of us felt a bit like death by the time we got there, so Ilana and I ducked out to the nearby Starbucks so she could get an iced coffee. I had brought my water bottle with me, so I asked the barista if he would put some ice and water in it for me, and was so grateful for the cold liquid when I got it back. Frozen water is such a simple thing, but when you're super hot, it's pretty much the best. Honestly, I must have refilled my water bottle at least 3 times yesterday, and I was constantly drinking more, but I still ended up with a wicked headache from the heat. :-/ Anyway, Ilana and I had a little time to browse Romni's cavernous basement before we needed to head to our final store, and I was able to find the other set of needles I needed for the cardigan. Romni gave out free gifts to everyone, which included a tiny sheep(!) and a couple samples of delicate wash.
Our final stop of the day was Americo, which I had never been to before, but they were very nice to all of us as well. They gave out a free skein of their 100% llama laceweight yarn to each person on the Knitalong who was there that day, and we're talking a seriously big skein here, too (over 700 yards)! Plus they gave out pretty hefty discounts on any purchases made there as well. It was so nice, and I think everyone was really impressed. After all the yarn shopping was done, all the teams met up at the Rivoli, where prizes were given out. All of the participants' names were put into envelopes for each team, and then names were drawn at random to distribute the prizes, 4 per team. I did not win any prizes, but Lynn won some gorgeous indigodragonfly yarn. Ilana had also won a prize at the Purple Purl, so two people I know got cool things. Erin was also given a certificate recognizing the fact that she finished her wedding shrug during the Knitalong.
Enough talking, right? I know you just want to see the pictures.
Kara, Lynn and Ilana taking a little rest at Americo.
Erin working hard to finish the wedding shrug! (She did finish it shortly afterwards, and modeled it for us at the Rivoli.)
This one's a bit dark because the window was behind us, but it's Ilana and me sitting on the floor of Americo because we were both tiiiired by that point. (Also, I didn't take any pictures until Americo, so that's why there are none from the earlier stops.)
A clearer picture of me and Ilana at the Rivoli, waiting for prizes to be announced.
My new acquisitions! The three skeins in the middle are the Tanis stormy that will become my Ink cardigan. I love the colorway and I'm so excited to be able to get started on it!
Free sheep from Romni! He is adorable, and I think I will bring him to work with me in September and put him on my desk there. However, he needs a name first. Any suggestions?
And this is the free llama laceweight from Americo, after I spent an hour or so winding the two hanks by hand earlier today. :p But I'm really excited about this yarn and all the possibilities for pretty pretty things I can make from it.
After prizes were given out, I accompanied a few other Toronto knitters back to their place in order to pick up some cake pans I'd agreed to buy from them. They're moving soon and so have been posting a lot of their stuff in one of the threads on Ravelry; I knew I would see them at the Knitalong, but it didn't make sense for them to carry the pans around with them all day, so we'd just agreed to meet up afterwards. They had two round cake pans and a 13x9 baking pan, plus they'd found a muffin tin they had thought missing and no longer needed, so they threw that in for free as well! Yay bakeware! However, because of that detour, I didn't get home until after 8 pm, and I was absolutely exhausted. I made myself a bagel and a handful of green beans for dinner, then seriously just sat on the couch doing nothing for a few minutes until Brad came over to watch some tv. We watched a little bit of the Amazing Race Canada, but I went to bed shortly after 9:30 because I was so beat. I then proceeded to sleep until 8 am, and it was glorious.
So my actual birthday is on Tuesday, but I feel like yesterday was pretty much everything I wanted it to be, and I can't ask for more than that. I had a fantastic time hitting up all the yarn stores, spending time with my friends, meeting and chatting with other Toronto knitters, getting birthday gifts in the form of yarn and needles from the girls, etc. Tuesday will probably be very low key, but I'm okay with that. 29 isn't a particularly big birthday anyway; I'm sure next year we'll do something big and exciting for 30. For now, I just feel grateful that Brad, his parents and my friends were all able to help make this year's TTC Knitalong as awesome as it was for me, and that's a pretty great birthday celebration even if it was a few days before my actual birthday. Plus, Brad is going to make me eggs benedict on Tuesday, and I can't wait! :D Hope you guys are all doing well, and that it's not as godawful hot near you as it's been here this past week!