Frolicked

Another wonderful Frolic in the books!!

I scored my Folic colour way from Indigo Dragonfly  I have bought the special edition colourway in each base every year, so I’m quite committed. This year Kim added minis, and I was quite taken with them! 

Helen and I have been coveting the Burberry inspired colourway from Turtle Purl  and Purple Purl was carrying it, so into the bag it went!!

I spent my day at The Needle Emporium booth, doing what I do - enabling 🙂

I picked out a fade at the end of the day (with Julie’s help of course) for Fading Point  but I left with just the picture b/c I’m kind of maxed on knitting and while I love it, it just didn’t say “take me home today”. 

Normally I put together a fade or two and am giddy with excitement, so I went with my instinct. I also had a couple colourways picked out for a non troppo scarf, but left with those in memory as well. I know where to go when the time is right 😏💖

Frolic

Totally got the Sleeveless Slipover done and blocked for the Frolic. Once again, I didn't get a picture of a FO, but I know that Julie will take a pic that I can snag 😏

We were up and on the road early. Craig offered to come and drive, even though I explained how much knitterly things that there were going to be and it was a whole day. He was adorably eager, and I want going to turn down a driver and traveling companion. 

 I needn't have worried - he was well occupied hitting up the Pokéstops at the JCCC  and there were judo, aikido, and archery classes to educate and entertain him.  

 

 

He also did a Tim's run for us and he might have to come to every show from now on!! 

It was a terrific day, I saw all sorts of friends, customers and students from previous years. It's so gratifying to hear how taking a class had changed how they knit and how much more they enjoy the entire process, including finishing because the result is more polished and with practice, easily achieved. It's why I enjoy teaching and maybe I'll submit to do it agin next year. 

I was at the indigo dragonfly booth first thing to get my Frolic colourway in the 3 bases. One of these years I will decide on what they will be ... 

 

After much deliberation, picking and choosing, 2^nd guessing, walking away and coming back, I made my colourway choice for the Starting Point MKAL  It's the Skinny Singles from Hedgehog Fibers. I loved knitting with the Singles so much on my Building Blocks shawl that this was the easiest choice I had to make. 
I am pleased with the combination and look forward to the winding and knitting of it. 

I also got another bottle of SOAK for all of my soakworthy projects! 

 

I hadn't bought a ZigZagStitches bag in awhile, but the batiks the Catherine had hanging called my name. I also bought a smaller Northcott Canadian one for a friend. 

Craig was photoshopping this morning ... he's really quite good and in comparison to what he usually does, a Mother's Day project for DQ was a simple diversion. He made my initial efforts look basic. He's going to be pressed into service all the time now!!  I'm going to knit on my sock 

and study for my DQ mgmt exam while I wait for my next work project from Julie. Some relative down-time. 😏☺️ 
 

 

Frolic'ing

As always, had a great time at the Frolic!! Working at The Needle Emporium is a sweet torture; so many gorgeous yarns and enticing colours ... but I wouldn't want to miss it!!

On the way down I amused myself by changing the colours on the ambient lighting in Helens truck.





Then I dozed off. Not really sleeping, but not entirely conscious.
My original bestie Joan was there





to greet us (and treat us to coffee).

Helen & I were on back door duty, making sure that only badged vendors were permitted entry, keeping all the yarny goodness safe. Thank to most vendors, it was good times!






Scored a few skeins of Lambs to the Frolic early on from Indigodragonfly. I was only going to get two, but I couldn't cut one.





A true sock blend, a Bluefaced Leicester that squeals shawl, and the merino/cashmere/silk blend, well, the way the silk takes the dye just a little different than the other fibres just gives it such character!
They sold out at the show, but if you're quick you can buy online

ZigZag Stitches had found Day of the Dead fabric (per Helens request from Knitters Fair last fall) so I totally had to have one of those!!





And the Paris large project bag just would it release my gaze. Unavoidable.

At lunch one of the volunteers came in and showed the door prize that she had won. The stranded cotton intrigued me, so I popped over to Unraveled to have a look. I ended up buying 2 containers to do an Auburn Wave.





Spring colours and cotton yarn should make for a lovely summer shawl!

Swung by Soak to see Jacqueline and restock on Soak.





She is an inspiration - craftily & business-wise.

Remembered to take pics this year with a few people who wandered by!














Afterwards, Helen & I made a detour through East Toronto before heading North and saw this gem.





We each found a book that will be enjoyed and returned.





It was a fun little stop that made is happy.

Home to Lee's, who is preparing a mouth-watering curry as I type. I know, he's a keeper!!

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Checking In

Not made a whole lot of progress on any one thing. I've felt especially exhausted all week long. Capped off by waking up in the early morning hours with a migraine on Saturday AND Sunday night. that's me off of red wine for a bit!!
But after frogging on CEY Moss Cardigan, again, fortunately not as much ripping as I've had to do before


I realized that I have some sort of mental block about what size I'm working on. I pulled the pattern out of the plastic sheet protector and circled the applicable numbers for the size I am actually to be doing.


I'm trainable. Eventually.
Then back at it.


I'm going to knit on Véronik's project for a bit before bed.

I'm getting excited for the Frolic; only 5 more sleeps!! you can count it on one hand now!! I'll be working at Julie's booth - come by and say hey!

I had put together a good week last week with my pain at a bearable level without taking the T3's. This evening has seen an increase and I'm going to hit the bottle (of drugs). Still trying to change my mindset that it's not "caving" to accept pain management that's available.
Still no surgery date; I did call to make sure that I hadn't fallen through the cracks. Nope, just waiting to get scheduled.

So I signed up for baseball again, the women's league and a mixed league. I'm stoked about this- going to get as much in as I can!! Since the surgery won't likely be until into August, I'll get a majority of the season in, for me & the teams.




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Frolicked

Helen and I arrived early to volunteer so it was a crazy early morning for me, leaving from Angus.
It was totally worth it!! I caught up with a lot of friends that I haven't seen in ever, helped raise money for the DKC Relay for Life team (totally excited to be on the team again/still and healthy enough to be able to participate), and did a wee bit of shopping.

The Woodlot. I bought a set of wood jewellery from them last year and was very impressed with the quality and customer service so it was a must-see again this year.

Salted Maple bracelet and earrings, cherry bracelet and a notebook.

From eweknit I bought a new project bag and a skein of a gorgeous green lace weight merino/silk yarn.

Raventwist was another new vendor from whom I bought a lovely brooch, stitch markers that will be turned into earrings and a cute little handmade Rune book necklace. The artist hand-bound the book and hand wrote the Runes and interpretations. I couldn't resist.

I also won some yarn from Sweet Georgia in the raffle!! I shared a skein of cashluxe with Helen and this is the other cashluxe fine skein and silk mist skein.

I kept going back to look at the Devin Wristlet in Pumpkin Spice at The Needle Emporium's booth. Yes, it came home with me. Along with the little Jemma Pouch, a gift from Helen.

And I remembered the Soak!!!

All in all a very good day.

Knotted Openwork Scarf

It took me awhile but I finally have made & uploaded a PDF for this pattern to make it accessible to the masses!!!

I am working diligently on the wildflower cardigan for Julie for the Knitter's Frolic. I am still Happy to Help at The Mighty Mart of Wal. I am going in for a surgery mid-June. Nothing alarming, more of a follow up on the lumpectomy but it will involve an extended recovery period. Not looking forward to the lack of a paycheque but hopefully I can use the time to reconnect with myself, my knitting & my reading. Maybe even some cross-stitching!!

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.

Are You Ready to Frolic?

It's getting to be that time of year again - the Annual DKC Frolic. I'm happy that I'll be teaching again - my favourite subject, Finishing!

There are a lot of excellent teachers & the vendor list is enticing ... put it on your calendars!!

DKC Frolic

It was a fantastic day! I went down last night and hung out with Wendy, Wendy, Joan, Sandy & Donna while vendors set up, then we went to the hotel. It was nice to just hang with a knitterly friend and talk shop. I stayed up a bit later than may have been advisable because I wanted to get to the next colour on my new afghan.
We were back at the JCCC at 6:45 to have the doors open for vendors arriving at 7:00 to finish their set up. There was a blur of activity starting at 8:30 when the doors opened to the public - it was a gorgeous day and it seemed like knitters from near & far were taking advantage of having somewhere to go to!
I taught the Knit One Below technique using the Inside Out scarf. You can download your free PDF copy of this pattern here. It was wonderful - it's not a difficult technique but like a lot of techniques, it's great to be able to learn it in a group, have someone be able to walk you through the learning mistakes and get some hints & tips that make it easier when you get back home.
Jill was awesome - she was working very studiously and when by the time that I got around to her she had a good amount of what could be a new pattern done! It was easy enough to sort out what she had been doing and put her back on the pathway to vertical columns of colour. She had a few hiccups but knew where she had gone astray and was confident to go home and k1b on her own. You're a good sport Jill!!! I was really impressed with everyone - they all stuck with it, really got it and I'm sure that they will all be progressing rapidly from their scarves!

I finished Fiona's Bandana Fair Isle Cardigan for Naturally earlier this week and Beth donated a kit for it as a door prize!! Barb!!!

I'm going to put in some hard core hours on Veronik's Blue Twist cardigan - between other deadlines & the Frolic I'm not quite almost concerned about finishing. Then I need to finish an afghan for June 1st. You know me - it's not fun unless there is a glimmer of impossible!

Good Morning Mrs. Prescod

Okay, it really wasn't that formal.
I had such a great time at the Frolic! I really love teaching knitting classes. I love knitting so much - everything from choosing the pattern & yarn, the actual knitting and right through the finishing - and to be able to pass on some of the skills & knowledge that I've learned to others really makes me happy. I love it when you can see it on the students' faces - that moment when they really get the technique & you know that they're going to use it!
I was so excited about the teaching part that I forgot to take pictures. I know - I had 2 cameras with me, one even sitting on the table in front of me and I totally gapped it until I was packing up! Fortunately Kathleen took some pictures in my Buttonhole class and I stopped the last 4 ladies from leaving my Neckline class. Stephanie (far left) is working the steps in the Crochet Addiction Recovery Program and is finding healing in knitting. I think that she's a natural and will do well with 2 needles (or 1 circular or 5 dpn's).

I didn't buy anything.
I know!!! I was so busy with teaching 3 classes and volunteering that I kind of felt overwhelmed as I walked through the market. There was just so much there that would have made me very happy that I just couldn't wrap my head around making a decision. But I didn't leave empty handed!! I am going to knit Fiber Trends Hydrangea Lace Scarf out of this luscious lace weight silk from Claudia Hand Painted Yarns. The colours in this skein just called out to me. It's a sample for Julie so she certainly had veto power (she generally prefers more neutral, earthy colours), but she was tired by the end of the day and took the path of least resistance and said "sure".
I also won a raffle prize!! This lovely skein of Fleece Artist sock yarn is teasing me with her fall colours - I think that I will put her to play with my other sock yarn and enjoy spring & summer and bring her back out in a few months.

Ready, Set, - wait a sec!

I'm still putting the final touches on my notes and stuff for the Frolic. 12 hours before I have to leave. Lots of time.


But I have finished the Taos cardigan. Now it's blocking ...

Now it's done.

And I've come up with a way that you can spot me - I will be wearing a pair of earrings that I just finished. Don't worry - they're not tiny.



Don't I feel clever?So if you're at the Frolic tomorrow, look for the woman with the crooked glasses - gimme a couple of months to get an eye check-up and I'll have me a new, well fitted pair!! - and Rockin' earrings and then come say "".

Rhonda wanted to see my sheep. I don't have many - a tape measure, a bobble-head that Julie brought back for me from Australia & a Beanie. I included Knitter & Purl - she was a gift from a bus driver & his wife before I left Milton. I love her & will always remember Bill & his wife with an extra fondness for this thoughtful gift.

I know that my blog is a simple thing, more function than form. I've tried to add some personal touches, but I'm not a real web designer. Imagine my surprise when I read this review. Thanks for the referral Sandra - it totally made my day!!