Since I last wrote

I received the bill for the Rhinebeck UTI. $800 something, USD. In case you've ever wondered if travel insurance is worth it, the answer is yes.

The Border Leicester fleece (1st 6 mos. clip) that I bought in Rhinebeck arrived. Yay. S'lovely. I bought it from Meadowland Farm (Hinesburg, VT), and Sue's business card has neither a website nor an email address. I kind of love that.

I went to the Make One Retreat in Kananaskis... what a beautiful, marvelous, amazing place. I met lots of fabulous people, ate THE very best veggie burger ever (thank you Stephanie for hooking us up). And Scarlett slept with me. For those of you who are unaware, Scarlett is the queen bee of all dogs, and she doesn't just hand out affection to each and all. We have a special relationship now.. I'm not allowed to look at her, or acknowledge that she's in my sphere, and in exchange, she lets me breathe the same air as she does. It's an amazing victory on my part.



Nancy Bush borrowed my lace weight drop spindle for the weekend. I don't think she actually used it, but I'm going to imagine that she did. (It's the little one on the left)



I was the person who handed Cookie A the very first copy of her book. For real!

I've knitted mittens and mittens and mittens. Many more rights than absolutely necessary, to be frank. Apparently I am an unconscious right-knitter.

I saw my Nini tonight. She is completely and absolutely enthralled with Dora... so we watched it 3 times. What are Nans for anyway, if not for giving little girls the world on a platter?

Teenagers are stressful. Take my word for it. Teenage girls take the cake some days/weeks/months. If teenage girls were an earthquake, ours would be a 7.5. I thought I should mention that our kids are: 26 (married, and gone...), 14, 13, 12, and 9. All but the 9 y/o are girls. My house is a cloud of estrogen.

Speaking of exhaustion, I have been wiped out since Rhinebeck. 'I can barely function' kind of exhausted. I keep saying that I'm going to the doctor, but I'm too tired to get there.

My glasses arrived. The left eye is perfect and I really love the frames.

I now own 7 tiaras. One came with a wand. It sparkles.

After the retreat, BFML, the kids and I went to the Banff Hot Springs. It was hot and springy. It was snowing a little bit, and we really enjoyed it. I wore a t-shirt into the pool and felt just as fat as if I hadn't worn it, plus extra stupid because I was the only person in the pool with one on.



I also went to Jacques Cartier and bought a little more Qivuit fiber. Perhaps we bought a little fudge on the trip. Maybe.



I have the yarn all picked out to knit THE JARED SCARF. I never, ever would have guessed I'd fall into that one.. but the Silk Garden threw me over the edge.

And last.. but certainly not LEAST.. because it's actually so flipping amazing that I could weep from joy. The Twist Collective finally accepted my $7.00 US, and I have the pattern for Kingscot in my hand. I.SO.DO. Tiny glitch: I thought I had yarn for it, but I don't. I'm going to imaginary knit until I get that sorted out.

So there you go. Some stuff since I last wrote. How were you?

Trip debrief starts here. Celebrities in our midst

I've been spending time thinking about an incident that occurred in the last moments we spent at Rhinebeck, on Saturday. About knitting celebrities, about stalking, about privacy, about respect. How it goes both ways. And now, how it affects me.

There were so, so many people at Rhinebeck; it was somewhat like stampede, crowd-wise. For me it was a minor inconvenience, I had a few problems getting to a washroom in a timely manner, and getting close to a Bosworth spindle.. but overall, I wasn't being pushed around (tho Sherry was) nor accosted. Not so for the celebrities.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee had a posse (the few times I spotted her), and I noticed that they did a very effective job of surrounding her and affording her protection. I cannot fathom how stressful it must be to attend a festival celebrating your biggest passion, yet not be able to have a moment's peace. The fact that the Yarn Harlot writes a great blog and super books does not give the general population permission to speak with her or share her day at their convenience.

And on the other hand, if a knitting celebrity is in the center of her customer base, her demographic, her fans... well, can he or she expect not to be constantly approached? Is there a way to determine when it is appropriate to approach, and when it is not? Is it ok only when the celebrity is sitting at a table selling their books and doing a signing? Is it ok if the person on the approach comes bearing gifts; or perhaps a donation? Do we act as though the celebrity is for sale, and we've bought our slice?

I am baffled. I don't know the rules.

A minor situation occured at Rhinebeck, and I'm still processing it. A group of us were leaving the park and saw that the Yarn Harlot and her posse were very close by; perhaps 6 feet or so. We approached to say:

(Insert the names of two mutual friends) say hi!.. and we look forward to seeing you in November at the retreat.

[If I was being totally honest I would have to admit that I would have asked if Denny was at Rhinebeck (she had told me that she would be), because I think she's fabulous, and I would have wanted to send a hello along to her.]

As we moved towards her, the posse closed in and she turned away. Her body language clearly said: Do not approach.

So we didn't.

I definately respect that she is a woman with a job, and I happen to be a customer, not her very best friend. At the same time I think that she couldn't have been in a worse location if it was peace she was looking for.

I haven't resolved how I feel about the whole thing.. surely it was a non-event, yet in a few short weeks I'm in a 6 hour class with the very same woman. I'm sure many would offer up their stash for the same oppotunity. I feel confused about boundaries and expectations, and a bit like an interloper.

I dunno.. I'm not done thinking it over.

Well, here you have one heck of a podcast.

Psst: this conversation is confidential between us because Mandie has her head under the bedsheets right now.

So.. as you know, Mandie had a booth at Bendigo, where she did really well, and sold tons of fiber. What she kept quiet was that she had been interviewed for David Reidy's podcast 'Sticks & String'. The podcast has been released, and I think it's super. Everybody should have a listen. I will forgive him for messing up her name at the end, but just this once.

Let me quickly change the subject before she hears us talking.

If you're in Calgary, or thinking about a visit, Marilynn told me about a great place for attraction coupons. What fabulous deals!

Ok.. we Ravelympians need to get back to knitting. I'm almost at the 'I need sleeves' stage, which is my knitting wall. What I actually want to do is cast on socks and forget about sleeves for 3 or 4 weeks.

Shawls do not have sleeves. Socks do not have sleeves. I'm just sayin.

I'm not a stalker, Sandra, I'm a FAN

Have you, amazingly, NOT heard of Denny? My friend Mandie has, and she lives in Australia.

Denny of SOAR fame? (Scroll to October 15th)

Denny who lit up the Knitting Olympics?

Denny who created the knitting rule 'no knitting gray in the winter'?

Denny, who makes everything just a little brighter? Well, you cannot even imagine how thrilled I was to find out that she is a friend of Amy and Sandra's and that she'd be visiting the shop this past Friday. I think I might have jumped up and down when I found out.

Arrive she did, complete with knitting and a Louet Victoria. She joined a big group of us in wine and cupcakes and just a few surprising and unexpected events. Initially, Amy looked out the window and caught the 'tail end' of a bottle picker having a poop in the alley across the street. Believe me when I tell you, this isn't a common occurrence, but buddy did become the 'butt' (sorry, I just had to) of about 50,000 jokes. Later in the afternoon the fire alarm went off and caused Pumper #1 to arrive, complete with a number of super hot (apology #2.. which automatically becomes #3 because of the #2 comment) firemen. I've never had so much fun at a fire alarm in my entire life. It works really, really well, I might add. I'm sure that people downtown knew that our alarm was going off. I hope to be able to hear again one day soon.

And by the way... I was right about Denny. She is fun. She is kind. She is an amazing knitter and spinner as well. She is everything you ever imagined and more.

Here's a picture of Denny and Amy, where Denny is holding some fiber that I dyed. I will grin when I think of that for the rest of my life.

So I was talking to Amy Singer the other day...

I'll bet you think i'm joshing ya... It went like this:

Amy: Is Amy available?
Annie: I'm sorry, she's with a client right now, can I help you?
Amy: No, I'll call her back later.

I know. You're wishing you were me, aren't you?



My whole weekend went upside down in a big way. I've worked 12 days in a row at one thing or another, and my dream was to go to the farmers market to get Grizzly Gouda (if you don't know about this, you ought to be begging me for directions. It will be the best thing you've ever tried).

Instead... I spent all day Saturday doing housework. Today Mug was sick, so I spent the day inside doing laundry, cooking, and dyeing. I also knitted on the Swallowtail and it is complete up to the end of the third chart. I think I'll have it finished by the end of the week, and hopefully I'll take Mr.G out of time out.

A few great things happened lately. One is that Mandie of EGMTK sold me enough 100% Bison to knit the Heartland Lace Shawl again. It's hard to find this yarn.. it sells super fast. I would have liked to spin it, but the fiber is out of reach at the moment. Anyway, I'm super happy to have found such an amazing vendor and I think her prices are great too.

On Friday evening Make One had a leap year/mini-sock exchange party. Dida came, and we had a ball. I 'managed' to get Dida's mini-sock. I REALLY wanted it because she gave me the full size matching socks for Christmas. It was her very first pair and I'm so pleased to have them. Ok.. I might have peeked; I admit it.. but I don't imagine anybody was too annoyed. At least I hope not. It was the first time I've ever knit at Make One! I've spun, I've visited, I've worked; but never knitted until that night. The very best part was Kathleen's shrimp shooters. When I get the recipe I'll share it, because they really are delicious (and healthy too).

BF's sister Donna visited on Saturday night (hence the flurry of housework), so that was really great. She's someone special.

Somewhere in the desk organizing I knocked a very special Willow Tree 'Sisters by Heart' off of my shelf. She lost both hands. I have found one, and I'm sure I'll find the other, and she'll be as good as new, but right now the both of us are feeling broken up over it. Why couldn't it have been Gumby? He'd have bounced.

The yarn? I dyed and spun it.. it's called Ellie Mae. I think it is my single favorite colourway (hence, I kept it!).

Rushing...

This morning started off great. The plan was to enjoy my Saturday morning coffee while packaging Merino to take to Make One for the Spin-In. I opened a new bag of .. well, bags, to discover that they were all the wrong size. Phew.. jumped into the truck and made an unscheduled trip to Michaels to pick up bags.

I got everything packed and beribboned and headed out. I arrived at M1 with loads of fiber, my spinning stuff, and the Lendrum; a little late, but not toooo late. Didn't take one single picture, due to lack of time, but some of the new colourways are just fab. The photo, above, is the inspiration for the colourway 'Sunrise in Banff'.

If you spin (or if you'd like to) and you haven't been to a Spin-In, you really ought to give it a try. To describe today, there were about 7 of us spinning (one being a newbie with some wheel issues. Amy and Sherry re-arranged her wheel and got her spinning in no time flat). During the time we were spinning there was an incoming and an outgoing Knitting 101 class. The outgoing gals moved from the class table to the couches. At that point there were also customers, Dida, Ike and Nini. Sandra and Heather were wo-manning the till. Did I mention that Careena's three cute pooches also joined in the fun? Sandra went to Tom's house of Pizza and brought back lunch! One of the nicest parts of the day was sitting with Careena and getting to know her a little bit while we ate pizza.

It was a really nice group of people, and I really enjoyed the time and the conversation. Sherry had brought along a skein of Merino that I had dyed. It's so great to see what everyone comes up with.. just amazing.

Anyway, I spun the rest of a bag of BFL that I had on hand, and tonight it's plied and ready to wet finish. I also picked up 200 grams of a wool/silk blend, so i've put the fast flier on the Lendrum and the blend is going morph into a beautiful piece of lace. So far it's a bit glitchy, but it's starting to even out.

Tomorrow I have to spend some time working on my tools. Everything needs to be replentished or have have blades changed or sharpened. But tonight...

I knit. MrG., here I come!

I hope your Saturday was even 1/2 as great.

ps: Denny added me as a friend on Ravelry. Ok... I added her first. That's THE Denny of SOAR drop spindle fame.

Errata on the blocking wires and a bit on Barbara Walker

Oops. There are, in fact, 36" wires in the kit. For some reason they weren't in the main bundle, and left behind in the mailing tube. Needed to clarify that.

Tonight I've been looking online for a set of BW's Treasuries. An affordable set... and I stumbled upon The Walker Treasury Project, in which people swatch the black and white patterns and you can see stitch patterns in RL. If you have some time to spare, I recommend you have a look. It's enough to to entice one to charge a set of the books (I haven't... I won't).

Years ago, when my first marriage hit the skids, I spent months knitting an amazing afghan. I'm positive I was flat broke at the time, so I promise you there isn't a natural fiber within 5 miles of it. It was so heavy and so big that I wrecked my shoulder in the process of knitting it (all the while, letting my heart mend). Today, for the first time, I realized that it was a combination of a whole lot of BW's stitch patterns.

Imagine that. I love it even more.

Tell me; why would you wear a shawl? If anybody comments, I'll tell you why I would, and do.