Patterns and toronto

So, after my allergy shots yesterday, I ran a few errands. The last of these errands landed me on Innes Rd, and since I wasn't ready to go home yet (plus it was the beginning of rush hour, so the way to downtown would be hell), I decided to keep heading east, and ended up randomly picking major roads in Orleans, until I found myself on St. Joseph, and decided that since I'm all the way out here, why not head to Wool n' Things? I spent a good hour and a half looking through pattern books, and then the great big pattern binders. I was delighted by the pattern binders, and the fact that they have a really different selection than I found at the other 3 stores.

I bought Evening in Eden by cabin fever, a lace wrap that I plan on knitting as a scarf instead (half the repeats wide), since I just don't have that much yarn, plus with my attention span the project would have no chance otherwise! :P I think I'll use my cashsoft dk.

I also bought Fine Filigree Fingerlings by HeartStrings, gorgeous fingerless mitts. Oh so elegant and lovely!

Honestly, I really really need to stop going to yarn stores for a while, and actually knit at least one thing I have in full, BUT I'm headed to Toronto for a couple of days just after the weekend, so I'm bound to head to one of the stores. The only question is which.

I've been to Romni once, and was completely overwhelmed by it, but then it was in the middle of a massive heat wave, and their air-conditioning was broken, and I only knit with non-wool things at the time, so it's probably worth another visit. But I'm also tempted by Lettuce Knits, to which I've never been. I visited Passion Knit last fall, when I spent an entire day walking down yonge (from davisville through to somewhere ridiculously further north), but didn't really like it much.

Perhaps the Wool Mill if I go to visit my friend who now lives on Danforth? Or the Naked Sheep which has a sale on, PLUS has a knit-in in the afternoon on Tuesday? Oh boy, the choices!!!

A New Discovery

Did you know that skunks chirp loudly, much like a songbird, only, rather than singing in daylight, it does it before dawn? I sure didn't, until the smell came in the window, explaining the singing I had just witnessed.

I suppose you can learn something new, even when you've only had 4 hours of restless sleep!

I Am the Yarn Molester

I went to the Wool Tyme warehouse sale for the first time this morning. It was interesting to look, but I found most of the prices too high even at the discounted rates, and very little yarn that appealed to me anyways (with the except of the pure cashmere, which was half off at $19 a very small hank!) Most of the yarns were either cotton or really terribly scratchy icky wools. Perhaps because I do most of my yarn shopping at Knit-Knackers, and online, I expected the deep discount prices to be different, but instead they were consistent with what Knit-Knackers sells them for every day, and in fact I noticed a massive overlap in the specific brands, since Knit-Knackers mostly specializes in discontinued yarns.

So I drove downtown and went and molested yarn for a good hour or two at Knit-Knackers, and ended up coming home with 10 balls, 7 of which were London Tweed (needful yarns) in 4 different colours, since they didn't have many multiples in the same colour, and a couple of oddballs of aran-weight stuff for making more pairs of fetching.

Now it's time to get down to the task of sorting and stashing the new yarns, plus the bag of yarns we discovered we'd missed when doing a massive organizational of the stash (and the whole room). I should have stopped by Canadian Tire to buy some more plastic boxes, since I don't think I'll have enough room to fit the last of this in!

How to spend over $40 on ideas in one afternoon

Since I finished the Fetching, I've been trying to decide on what to knit next. As with many knitters, while I'm knitting something I want to cast on a trillion different projects, (and frequently do), but now that I'm done, nothing has quite felt right for the next project.

After spending many nights doing nothing but looking at patterns and rejecting them on Ravelry, I finally got up and dressed on Saturday morning and headed out to Wool Tyme where I spent a good hour or working my way around the store looking at patterns and molesting yarn. Finally I found the Great American Afghan and the Great American Aran Afghan books and bought them. I then stopped by Knit-Knackers on my way home, but miraculously left without any yarn at all!

Once home I went onto Ravelry once more and bought two patterns that had caught my eye: Nunt's Cabled Wristwarmers (which looks absolutely beautiful and elegant, and as a bonus the designer is REALLY nice and offered to help me if I need any while I'm working on them), and Pretty as a Peacock, which is the most beautiful lace piece I've ever seen, really clean and modern, not all frilly and flowery. I don't care that I've never knit lace before, and that this is a terrible choice for a first object, I'm in love! I've been searching for a smaller lace project to perhaps tackle before I attempt the shawl, but so far haven't found anything that appeals to me at all.

Now, time to go back to swearing at the afghan books for "place 28 increases evenly" (The reason I bought a bloody pattern was so that they would do all the figuring out FOR me! #^&!!!!!!!)

Forget the glass slipper, I've got an alpaca-blend mitt!

I recently finished my first ever pair of Fetching, which I've been admiring since I first discovered the pattern years and years ago. I had avoided starting a cable project for so long, thinking it would be way too difficult, only to discover in February that it's one of the easiest skills to learn in knitting. It's easier than nearly any plain pattern, since it keeps me engaged, but it's simple enough to memorise the pattern.

So finally earlier this month, when my fingers were frozen solid as they so often are, I decided to take the plunge and finally cast on. Within a few days I was done my first mitt, and then after a mini-hibernation, due to an insanely busy, stressful, and, in the end, heartbreaking week, I finally picked the second one back up, and finished it 2 days later. I loved how easy the pattern was, but how beautiful they look! Unfortunately, they're too small for my chubby hands (they're all stretched out and URGLY), so I now need to find someone who fits them well. I suspect for several of my friends they'll be to big, since so many people in the comments section talked about how huge they turned out on their hands. So, here I am, transforming into the Prince from Cinderella, searching for the girl whose hands will fit just right!

I, Claudia

It is rare that I find myself in near complete agreement with a theatre reviewer. One of the few times I found myself doing so, was recently when I saw I, Claudia, at the GCTC, after reading the review by Natasha Gauthier in the Ottawa Citizen.

All her specific critiques, I found to be dead-on. She didn't differentiate enough between Claudia and her stepmother, the voices grew tiresome. The masks were fairly god-awful (perhaps I've been spoiled by a lifetime of Odyssey masks?), and didn't bring anything to the production. I found myself wanting to go up to her and push the sides of the masks down to conform to her face. They ended up looking as if they were simply made for someone else, with a much large head, than intentionally large.

That said, I do still disagree with the tone of the review. The show didn't deserve such a negative tone. It was a nice show, fairly well-written, with some extremely well done moments, particularly as the grandfather, and when the stepmother speaks of her upcoming wedding.

I also highly disagree with the statement with which she starts the review, that masks serve as a substitute for directorial imagination. Masks can be such wonderful tools, and when well-done, can truly transform a performance/performer. I remember watching actors during rehearsals for mask shows, and how magical it was watching them try their masks on for the first time. How the actor could completely become the character of the mask. How the details, right down to the shape of the nose could completely transform a character.

Mask-work is wonderful, you simply need actors and directors who know how to handle them properly!