A Tale of Two Yarns

Part of any fibre enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.

I like yarn a lot, in general, and I can think of very few that I have genuinely disliked knitting with. There are a few, of course; the most recent of which is the Knit Picks Swish, which is a superwash worsted weight yarn. I am actually a pretty big fan of Knit Picks; there are several of their products that I really like, namely the City Tweeds, the Imagination sock, and the Wool of the Andes, all of which I've made things out of that have held up very well over time. I recently completed a Rogue sweater for my mother out of the Swish, and I was pretty much cursing it by the end. It was splitty, which lead to a lot of half-dropped stitches that I had to fix, and the small balls meant lots of ends to weave in. Mostly, though, I just didn't like the way that it felt in my hands. (I'm attributing this to the superwashing process.) I had picked it for this sweater initially because of the price, and while I did save a good chunk of money, I wish now I'd spent the money to buy a nicer yarn: it's much too big a project for a yarn that I hated.

In the yarn that I love category, where to start? I love different yarns at different times and for different things. I love the Peace Fleece that I bought at the Frolic last year. It's the perfect heathered green colour and it feels slightly rustic. I bought it to go with these buttons, which I'd had for over a year in anticipation of finding just the right green yarn. I also tend to love alpaca yarns. The yarn that I made my wedding shawl from, which I bought from a local alpaca farm, is like knitting with clouds--so beautifully soft and smooth, and perfect for shawls. I also love(d) Fleece Artist's Woolie Silk 2-ply, now sadly discontinued. I've made two shawls from it, and they are both beautiful and warm. I get compliments on mine whenever I wear it, and I think my mom gets some on hers, too.

Shades of Mediocrity

I attended Conspiracy of Three last night, which is a monthly meeting of writers from the area, who gather to read their works and drink. There are some really talented writers who attend, and others who are not so talented. Last night's crowd was actually pretty solid: even some of the writers whose work I don't normally care for brought work that was well written. The theme was "sex and/or animals," so I was quite surprised (since that combination is kind of a receipe for disaster).

I surprised myself by actually reading. I hadn't intended to, and didn't bring anything to read, but through the magic of wireless internet I was able to grab the rough copy of the story I've been working on the last few nights. There really is nothing like reading aloud to make you recognize all of the flaws and faults in your own writing; it will never sound quite as ridiculous as it does the first time you speak the words. Even though I don't know how much I like what I'm writing, I intend to finish it: I have written three (count 'em) short stories in the last six years, so simply the act of finishing will be gratifying enough on its own.

Not much else is new to report. My mum has been talking again about the possibility of going to Afghanistan. She figures that if she goes for three months, she'll make enough money to pay off the school debts of all three of us girls. I'm not sure how I feel about this. As she's gotten older, her desire to do good for others has increased, and I know that working in Afghanistan would make her feel like she was making a difference to someone.¹ That said, I'm really uncomfortable with the idea of my mum doing this to pay off my debt. My parents were already quite generous with helping to finance my education, and I've been making small but important headway on paying it off on my own. If she were doing it for herself, I'd support that.²


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¹ She has done medical work in South America previously, but her recent experiences there have left her feeling like she's not really making a difference to anyone.
² Sure, I'd worry about her constantly, but it would be her decision to go.

Magical Mystery Weekend Report: Longer Than The Road That Stretches Out Ahead

[To set the tone for this entry, please click here to listen to Neil and Liam Finn's cover of the Beatles' "Two of Us"]

We set out on Friday, my mother and I, for a whirlwind tour through southern Ontario. We started out in Cookstown at the Outlet Mall, where I visited the Royal Doulton outlet and found a china pattern that I absolutely adored.¹ Naturally, this meant that the pattern had been discontinued, so I need to decide whether it would be worth buying up their remaining stock if I couldn't have the whole set. We had lunch at a small tea house, and I bought a new wallet.² After lunch, mum handed me an enveloped with an address to put into her GPS navigator, and we were off to Niagara-on-the-Lake, the heart of Ontario's wine country.

The drive was fairly uneventful, aside from my mother's occasional fits of anger at the GPS, which I have named "Matilda" since it spoke to us in an Australian accent. Niagara-on-the-Lake is beautiful. It's almost like an entirely different world from the part of Ontario that I live in: The climate is totally different (translation: much more temporate) and many of the houses down there have wooden panelling on the outside, and enormous windows. Many of them are also quite old. The bed and breakfast we stayed at was about 200 years old, and full of interesting things:

We spent some time at the shops downtown (including at COWS--check out the Edward Cowllen shirt). There was a lovely hat store, though mum didn't share my affection for trying on hats. Likely because she did not grow up on a diet of Harriet's Magic Hats.

The next day, after a ridiculously sumptuous breakfast, we set out to visit some of the wineries. We only hit two, Stonechurch and Palatine Hills, but it was quite the experience. I got to try ice wine for the first time, and it was far more delicious than I'd anticipated. I definitely want to go back--I'd like to visit Inniskillin, which makes my favourite white wine (a Late Autumn Riesling) as well as a few of the others.

From there we were off to Mennonite country to visit St. Jacobs and its famous farmers market. Unfortunately, we arrived fairly late in the day, but it was still wonderous to see all of the local produce and baked goods. I'll save my rant about the 100 mile diet for another day, but suffice it to say, again, that it's almost like a different world down there. It's only about 500 km away from North Bay, but the growing season is at least 2-3 weeks ahead of what it is here. We ate local peas and cherries. The yarn booth was a bit of a disappointment; the selection is usually much better.³

After a quiet night at a bed and breakfast in Elmira, we set forth again, passing through St. Jacobs, Guelph, Fergus, Orangeville, and Cookstown on our way back home. Unfortunately, nothing much was open on Sundays, so we didn't get to see any yarn stores. My mom encouraged me to take pictures out of the window of the car, and while it is not an optimal picture taking strategy, I did manage some fairly good snaps:

The only negative part to the whole weekend was that I lost my mobile phone, which I've only had for a few months. It has not turned up yet, so I've passed my number back to my old phone. I'm terribly disappointed, as a) I really liked my new phone, which was bright green and made out of corn-derived plastic, and b) there's no reason why I should have lost it. I am a fairly absentminded person at the best of times, and I've learned to compensate for that by using a variety of strategies. The best of these is that everything has its place; as long as I return things to that place, I always know where my stuff is. Unfortunately, I broke that rule by not returning the phone to my purse after using it, and I don't know where it's gotten off to now. I hope that it'll turn up.

All in all, a pretty good weekend with my best mom.
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¹ Royal Doulton Nightscape, in case you are wondering.
² One that finally holds all my 80 quadrillion cards.
³ Now that I actually have access to two yarn stores in town, as well as several within driving distance, I'm just not that impressed by Mission Falls cotton anymore.

momku

quiet,white,fresh snow
cats stretched full in the warm rays
spring's around the bend