Yesterday, after publicly humiliating myself on this blog, I walked the green (doesn’t “green” seem like to mild a word?) sweater to the donation box, got myself on the bus and went downtown to meet Kathy (of the comments) and her friend Nadine while they were in town for a visit to Koigu.
I didn’t tell you all ahead of time because I figured that if we hated each other, we could just forget that it had ever happened and nobody would ever have to know. Turns out, Kathy and Nadine are a whole lot of fun. Clever, nice, funny…these ladies had it going on. We lunched downtown, then jumped in a cab and went to Romni. Romni is a huge wool store and they have tons of stuff. (Really, tons. I mean if you aren’t prepared for it you can be a little overwhelmed. Me, I have a high resistance to wool, so I do ok…but some new knitters might get a little woozy. Just put your head between your knees and don’t look at the cashmere and you’ll be ok) We made a beeline for the Fleece Artist stuff, and in the interest of leaving you with the impression that Kathy and Nadine are women of restraint and decorum, we shall not discuss any further details of that trip. Suffice it to say that they have excellent taste, lovely manners, wickedly sharp senses of humour and I’d spend time with them any way I could get it. (They went to Koigu today and they said I could go with them but I have a stupid *job*. I cannot tell you of the deep and bitter pain that I feel when I think of them being there without me.
I may have bought a little fibre at Romni, but stuck exclusively to the Canadian wools theme that Kathy had going on and just got me a little fleece artist.
This is their sock yarn. Hand dyed merino. I have no idea why my camera is refusing to recognize the actual colours present in this yarn, but for starters, the actual orange in the yarn is a lovely burnt orange sort of colour, with olive undertones. Not Day-glo/tang/preventing hunting accidents in the woods/ orange.
This is kid mohair roving. Be still my heart.
I tried really, really hard to demonstrate some sort of fidelity to the socks, or the tank, or the cardie (oh…yeah. I started another cardie. It’s boring, you don’t care) but I sort of accidentally spun up some of the roving.
I think it’s sort of interesting that I bought such colourful stuff, I’m usually a little more restrained. (Green sweater from yesterday duly noted, but you can’t hold that against me. I was young, I was foolish, I was clearly not getting enough of some kind of vitamin.) I think it’s the by-product of shopping with Kathy, who has great taste in colour and isn’t afraid to go nuts with it. Who knew that I was this suggestible? (Shut up Ken.)
I love every single inch of it all.
Do you know that for weeks now, I’ve been traipsing out to my front garden each morning with an armload of knitting, fibre and yarn, then carefully positioning it all in amongst my plants, crawling around in the garden for good vantage points, and taking pictures of it, and not one of my neighbours (I’m in the garden right against the sidewalk. People are literally passing within inches of me and my sweaters in the bushes…inches. I live in a busy urban neighbourhood too, lots of people passing by.) not one person has asked me what the hell I’m doing? Just thought I’d mention that.
Yarn Harlot
My neighbors & passersby decline to comment when I photograph knitting in the plants, and I’m on a busy urban street too, with neighbors whose houses I can practically touch from my window. I guess it’s just how they were raised.
You’re taking stunning photographs of the most gorgeous yarn and that kid mohair roving…pass the smelling salts !
rather liked your artistically photographed socks from yesterday too.Being a very visually orientated person I love the pics !
Anyone/everyone for Koigu ? :0)
you always make me laugh!lucky you I wish I coulda been at Romni’s too.I love that place and I always stop at the fleece artist buckets.You scored good
When you see a raving lunatic on the street, do you go up to them and strike up a conversation? No, I thought not. Heck, I get that half the time just when I’m knitting in public. People avert their eyes, terrified that I might make MORE of a public spectacle than I already am. So I can totally see how someone playing with yarn in the bushes is a guaranteed neighbor repellant. Pretty pictures though, even if the colors aren’t accurate. I covet your mohair!
Re: the sweater, I’m sure you will have made a whole family of needy people very, uh, appreciative. As far as the neighborly avoidance goes: I’m surprised that they’re not crossing over to the other side to go past your house! The wild-haired woman & a gargantuan green sweater combo crawling around in the shrubbery just screams, “mental ward escapee”!
On another note, the sock yarn looks divine, as does your spinning endeavor. I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with ’em both.
On the roving:
OOOOOOO. AHHHHHHHHH.
On the lack of Koigu visit:
Missing a visit to Koigu would hurt more than ripping my heart out of my chest with a size 17 needle. Kudos on your restraint.
On the Demise of the Sweater:
You set it loose on the world? Very brave. Mine is still in a dark closet.
I prefer Fleece Artist yarn over Kiogu. My LYS carries a lot however the Fleece Artist studio is just across the harbour and I hope to get over there this summer…
So what are you going to do with those gorgeous singles? Navajo ply? Oooooo — boucle? C’mon, c’mon, make it boucle — you know you want to…(Must leave to drool)
I’m so glad you got a chance to meet Kathy and Nadine. I’ve worked and knit with both of them, and your description of them is very apt.
You are rather thoughtless in your whining about not being able to go to Koigu, while I (and many other of your readers) didn’t even have the option of going to Romni. Woozy indeed!
I’m in love with the sock yarn. Seriously. I’m considering leaving my gal to marry the sock yarn.
You know, that’s what those gays are like? Let one woman marry another and next, we’ll be wanting to marry pets or sock yarn. Maybe in Massachusetts. Or Canada.
I’ve had too much coffee today. Pay no attention.
You make me smile, Steph!
YOU LET THE MICHELIN SWEATER OUT???
When people start muttering about Canadian WMD, we all know who to blame…
I am going to Toronto next week. I think I will start petitioning my husband NOW to stay at the Romni rather than whatever pedestrian hotel he has chosen. And this will be my first encounter with Fleece Artist, assuming that Harlot & Co have not cleared the store out!
Yippee! Yippee!
At least you have plants! I get to choose between dusty front porch, dirty asphalt, or dark-in-the-house. Maybe when I move to Colorado, where they have yards, I can move away from porch photography.
He, recently found your blog and your pics and Fleece Artist buys have brought me out of lurkdom. I looooove the stuff in roving form and may just have to put an order in momentarily for a batch with my local spinning lady 🙂 I love spinning singles with it and plying it with something solid that complements it. Stretches the precious fibers too.
Amy, on the other side of Canada!
6000 freaking square feet of *fiber*? Be still my beating heart….I wonder how long it would take me to walk there from Portland, Oregon?
LOVE the sock yarn, absolutely wonderful!
Living in the boonies like I do, I love finding good websites (for yarn) and then drooling over them. Went to the Romni site…”products” came up coming soon. Sigh, envy has set in.
If I were to try to photograph my knitting in the yard, here’s what would happen…
the dogs would pick it up and dash around with it chasing each other.
the neighbour kids would come over with their dog to see what was going on.
Murray would pop over with a beer to discuss the situation with the old guy.
Joe and Ella would stop on their way to town to see what the fuss was about.
The crazy poodle lady would come over to scream at us for not having a fence for the damn dogs (good excuse to bum a beer)
The sausage guy would pop over from up the hill (bringing garlic sausage to share around and his wife so she could visit)
Then I’d have to bring out the food and more beer and I’d never get my knitting back.
But it would be a good party.
Barb B.
Okay, so where is Koigu???
I have a feeling I should know where this is. Me and Visa ,unfortunately ,already know where Romni is. I get my Koigu from my friend Joanne who runs http://www.four seasonsknitting.com (Toronto based co.)who lives in my neighbourhood,(a little TOO convenient sometimes, but I don’t need to go downtown)..but does Koigu have a factory/store? Inquiring minds want to know. (and Joanne, you owe me for the plug)
Steph, we were so disappointed when you didn’t call yesterday morning. We considered calling you to insist that you come with, or maybe just put a pillowcase over your head and kidnap you, but we decided that would be both cruel to your expectant mother, and scary and embarrassing to your neighbors. (who knew they ignore you ’cause you’re loony?)
Next time, honey, next time.
We love your city!
For Steph’s readers, she is as charming, smart and wicked funny as she appears, and so be sure to take her to lunch next time you’re in Toronto.
Romni Wools is scarily packed with exciting stuff, and we grabbed as much Fleece Artist silk/wool, silk and border leicester/kid mo we could without appearing Ugly Americans.
Happy Koiguland is neither a retail store nor a warehouse. It is the Landras’ farm, home and studio.
You have to call Taiu and make an appointment to visit, and then only buy stuff through your local Koigu retailer.
I had to buy a new bag to squeeze it all in.
What a pig. What amazing fun.
Hi Stephanie…Kathy was wrong. We did look like ugly Americans lugging all that Fleece Artist back to our hotel. We were so tired by the time we got back that we ate hotel hors d’oeuvres for dinner…bad ones at that, and were in bed surrounded by our yarn by 8:30. Koigu was terrific. I question our sanity travelling all that way but I did get some good stuff picked out for my new shop and Kathy drooled uncontrollably the whole time. Loved meeting you. I’m not into the blog thing all that much but do check in with Joe and now you. Next time we come up there for Koigu (could we really do this a third time) I hope you can join in.
Boxwoods make a lovely background for mittens, though of course you can’t beat a nice patch of grass for your larger items. Kay just totally abused me when I send her pix of those mittens. But then, she has been known to spend a fair amount of time photographing log cabin blankets in hammocks.