Affectionately Mine

Y'all know that I am not a trendy person. Fads are not something I follow and bandwagons are methods of transport upon which I do not jump. My clothes are decidedly out of date as are my reading habits and television viewing choices. In knitting I rarely choose the pattern everybody else is working on. Well, there were all those Jaywalkers but, come on! Jaywalkers?

Why then have I become the approximately the 9650th person to knit Color Affection? Over the past year I have seen this wrap simply everywhere and each one was more intriguing than the last. The pattern increasingly crept into my consciousness and I began to wonder what colours I might choose were I ever to make one. The deal was sealed in June when The Daughter gave me a skein of navy blue Cascade Heritage on my birthday. I knew I already had the light blue skein of the same and a lovely cabernet Prism yarn in my stash.
Now six weeks and much mindless internet TV watching later, I love, love, LOVE my new shawl. More pics on Ravelry.

Babies Everywhere!

I had such a wonderful walk in High Park on Friday. It began with a stroll through the zoo where I was thrilled and delighted to see that the capybara's have had two babies. So Cute! My head nearly exploded. After watching them for a good long time, I wondered hither and yon eventually ending up by the pond. There was another family - a mother duck watching her four youngsters bobbing next to the shore. I sat down at water's edge and within a minute, three of the young ducks crawled up on the rock next to my feet and had a nap! We sat there happily, ducks napping, me reading, for twenty minutes. 

You should  go see these cuties if you can.

My new friends

The 2013 TTC Knitalong. Wow.

The 2013 TTC Knitalong has come and gone. It was the largest yet with eleven locations (not including the pub!) and over 120 participants. I had a blast working with so many amazing people pulling this thing off, Fun fact: As an entire group, the volunteers meet only twice - once at the beginning of the process and not again until the evening before the event. The rest of the work is done in singles and pairs and with many, many group emails.You wouldn't think it would work, but miraculously, it does.
We raised $1600 for our charity, Sistering this year. This may not seem like much to some, but it's our best year yet and we're very pleased. Not bad for an event that began eight yeas ago as a little shopping spree.
Oh, and I may have acquired some yarn on the trip.

Fooling around at Americo

The day's haul.

An Absence

I've been away from my blog for a bit. It's not been an intentional absence. I think I just temporarily ran out of things to say. I blogged so much for the Knitalong, Then my camera died. Then there was a heatwave and my knitting slowed way down. At times I'd feel guilty about not posting. At those times I'd remind myself that, hey, this is a hobby. It's supposed to be fun. It's not like there are rules or anything.

Rest assured, I have been keeping busy.

I finished those Mary Maxim socks.

Glenna's Ribbed Sock knit with Mary Maxim Gemstone alternating two skeins.

I went to WWKIP Day in High Park where Sistering had a weaving display.

I bought sock yarn at The Romni summer sale.

ONLine Supersocke 100 Vintage Color

I've been reading Ted Berrigan poetry obsessively:

A Memory Filled With White

If you have a good temper for only a penny
Presto!
Toot-toot!  and out come the beverages
All Chinese hearts beat for a girl named Nelly
Her secret thought in May is to have pesos
And be immortal
The coast had been scrubbed down prematurely
Like the teeth of some ancient but vital lore
Taking a stroll
And finding brave men dressed in silence
And are effeminate
Having dinner on the coast 
Is that an emblem of a name for summer
A real vacation?

Ted Berrigan & Ron Padgett  Bean Spasms
Granary Books 2012, Originally published by Kulchur Press 1967