Last week was a knitting extravaganza chez Sel and Poivre. The workshop on Tuesday, the Guild meeting with men throwing yarn Wednesday then on Friday - a sunny but cool autumn day in a city full of trees in a riot of fall colour I hit both ends of Queen Street to stock up on "necessities" for knitting post "Honeycomb".
First stop was The Naked Sheep (I love that name!) in the "The Beach" neighbourhood on Queen East. 'Under new ownership since August, I wanted to see how the store had changed. It was more spacious, organized around a big worktable where a jumble of yarn displays used to take up the back of the store. This made it easier to browse and to get a handle on what was on offer. There was the best selection of Debbie Bliss Pure Cashmere and Pure Silk than I've seen anywhere else and the well arranged and fairly extensive book section featured what looked like a complete collection of Elizabeth Zimmerman titles which is not easy to find. These, along with the warm smiling welcome as I walked in the door set the store apart for me. I sat and flipped through books ultimately buying a bottle of Aqua Soak, Interweave Scarf Style - I'm surely the last knitter in North America to own it and the new Holiday Vogue Knitting.
I started on Queen east as I was hoping to catch number one son's cross country race along the Boardwalk but I couldn't find him or his team. I did enjoy the lovely view and crisp autumn breeze off the lake before heading Westward to Romni Wools, Toronto's superstore of yarns in the neighbourhood of West Queen West.
"Spaciousness", pure cashmere and silk or a clear surface of any kind, are not what you find at Romni. What is always there though is an utterly vast selection of workhorse yarns in every possible colour and weight. I put two hours worth of time into my parking meter thinking that was a little silly but nonetheless safe and in the end only had two minutes to spare when I got back to the car.
I bought Cascade 220 for a pair of hiking socks , Drops Design Eskimo and Sisu Sport Weight for two sweaters and Ella Rae Classic Wool for a felted bag. I also got a 10% discount with my DKC membership!
My next planned stop was back downtown at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre where the Creative Show had opened earlier in the day - the show features a section on knitting and yarns. As I worked my little five speed through the Friday afternoon traffic towards the core though, my feet and the new Vogue Knitting on the seat beside me - kept nagging about just heading home. In the end that's what I did. A glass of wine, new yarn to pat and new patterns to flip through was a great way to end my fibery week.
My next planned stop was back downtown at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre where the Creative Show had opened earlier in the day - the show features a section on knitting and yarns. As I worked my little five speed through the Friday afternoon traffic towards the core though, my feet and the new Vogue Knitting on the seat beside me - kept nagging about just heading home. In the end that's what I did. A glass of wine, new yarn to pat and new patterns to flip through was a great way to end my fibery week.
Sounds like it was a fabulous Friday! :-)
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