Frolic '11

Wow - I daresay it was a record for attendance; it was crazy busy!!!
I got there a bit later than I had intended but still had time to peruse the Market and chat up friends I haven't seen in a long time (Denny, Veronik, Linda) & meet some new ones (Heya Wanda!!!).

I had a great time teaching my finishing class - I really love seeing knitters excited about finishing and talking about how they can go home and pick up projects and using what they've learned, finish them with pride!

Then I went down and went around the market again, trying to decide on what was going to come home with me. I have to say that at the Frolic and the KW Knitters fair last fall I kept going back to 2 booths - van der rock yarns & Viola. The colours of their yarns are so enticing and I really did regret leaving without some of their yarns last time so I wasn't going to make that mistake again. I know, but we all know how much more satisfying it is to buy yarn in person.

So after going back to their booths several times, mulling & pondering I decided on 4 skeins of vdr's super sock in Promethium. I'm going to knit Stephen West's Herbivore and I had it in my head that I really had to knit it in a green of some sort. Good thing y'all are used to my quirks by now!! Stephanie was awesome (you are too Peter!) and had introduced herself to me on my last trip back to their booth. We got to chatting and she gifted me a skein of super sock in Carbonite so that if I can find the Sweet Spot in Promethium I can confirm it in Carbonite. They name their colourways after elements which I thought was super cool! Yes, they are aware that Carbonite is not strictly a recognized element but it's recognized by those of us to whom such things matter. They could totally have a blast with some of the other fictional elements!!!

From Viola I picked out a skein of their sock yarn in dew drop. I had mentioned "jaded" on Facebook and a friend said that I'll be faded jaded soon. I thought that sounded like an excellent colourway & was on a mission to find just such a colour for my next pair of socks. dew drop is (to my eye anyway) a perfect "faded jaded"!!! Now I just need to find a perfect sock pattern ... I'll need something a bit more "more" than my go-to stockinette.

As I was checking out The Needle Emporium booth (always well put together!!), Julie called me over. She gave me a gift certificate that Linda S. had bought for me. I got kind of choked up ... Linda reads my blog and has found inspiration and encouragement in my experiences. That means so much to me - sharing my story has been a kind of therapy for me and I am so glad that anything that I was able to share was able to help someone else. Everyone's journey & experience with cancer is unique but there are so many little things that you didn't even know to ask about or expect through treatment and not everyone can get to a support group in their area (and really, you can't have to much support or information). Thank you Linda - for the gift certificate and for letting me know that I've been been able to pay it forward a little.