A Post at Long Last!

It's fall! It's Irmingaard!

Hello everyone, I think it's finally happened: fall has arrived! We are in single-digit temperatures, rain is predicted for Thursday (of course!) and very soon the leaves will have fallen off all the trees to compost in a wet, mushy lump. Reminds me of mashed potatoes. Don't ask.

And with the late arrival of fall, at long last I can wear all the knits I've been working on! A few sweaters, hats, fingerless gloves, a couple of stoles, and maybe one cowl that I'm planning to keep for myself. One went to a friend's daughter for her 19th birthday, and two will be gifted. There's no big plans for Christmas knits this year, just a few items for family and very close friends, but handmade is still my theme. Some mango chutney, perhaps a pineapple chutney, and a fabulous barbecue rub. All with ingredient lists in case of food sensitivities/allergies, and maybe the recipes, we'll see.

I'll be spending Christmas at the farm this year, and am watching the travel deals in the hopes of scoring a seat sale for even a few days over the holidays. I'm really looking forward to it; since my dad and stepmom moved out there I've pictured what the farm looks like in the winter and the photos Dad has sent have really been pretty. Just like a Christmas card. Hopefully my pictures will be just as nice as my first summer photos.

School and work are kicking my butt, kids. The thesis proposal needs a few more tweaks, the big marking rush is on, and I attended a conference a couple weekends ago. Prior to all of that, there were MASSIVE computer issues. Happily no hard drive crash - although it was backed up in several places on various media forms - but the motherboard is possibly faulty. Damn.

Luckily I had an older laptop to still work from and was able to upgrade it even! So with less than $300 and the generous help of a tech-savvy friend, it runs like brand new! But of course this means that the first podcast is horribly outdated, so it looks like it will be referred to as the "lost" podcast. Maybe we can play that up for a mysterious angle. We'll have to see what happens.

But thankfully aside from saving all the school prep and thesis, I finally got all my saved knitting, crochet, tatting, and embroidery patterns onto a CD-R! Trust me, after a few years there were hundreds on my hard drive! I think it was filled up with knitting and craft patterns, music, and photos. Seriously, there was no space to spare on the 186 available gigabytes!

So what's going on in my craft corner? Well, I bought yarn. Big surprise. I really need another tote for storing all this yarn, but I'm putting that off, thinking that if I don't buy one I'll be able to keep it all contained in the three that I do have. Oh who am I kidding, it's already not contained in those three, which is why it's in my bedroom, the guest room, and stacked precariously on top of the other totes and even on top of my scanner/copier/fax. Happily there is no yarn being stored in my car. Pretty sure of that. Mostly sure.

So what did I buy? Well, 88 Stitches in Langley's Walnut Grove neighbourhood had a fall sale and some clearance prices, but while I couldn't make it out for the sale weekend I managed to pick up some still-sale-priced yarn afterwards. Some SRK On Your Toes Limited Edition that are being knit into the Esther sock pattern (available through Ravelry), some Kaffe Fasset Colourscapes yarn in a great red/magenta/pink colourway that will make a gorgeous thick cowl, and while perusing the wall-o-Malabrigo I chatted up another customer who has a great little Etsy shop called Black Mustard and she's a fabulous spinner, dyer, knitter, and she's local!

Then the Elann.com specials were emailed out and three of us were determined to make purchases, so we combined it all in one order shipped to my house. Can I just say that their shipping is the bomb? I put the order in on a Wednesday, and the box was at my house on Friday morning. So yarn prices are great, selection is great, you get credits for ordering books (which then become discounts on your next order), and to top it off they ship it to you FAST! Oh... what did I order? Ummm... a sweater's worth of Laines Du Nord Giunco in the "Pink Dusk" colourway; pink, light gray, and dark gray variegated, to knit the Rock Rose cardigan from the Laines Du Nord Simple Knits Book 1. Can't wait to wear it, but it's now taking a backseat to recently-purchased Christmas knitting.

Yes, I broke down and bought more yarn for Christmas knitting. Why? Because Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool was on sale for $9 a skein! So one skein of a marled wool will be two pairs of socks for my stepdad because he loves his wool boot socks, and they're so quick to knit up! And, well, LB's Wool-Ease Thick & Quick was also on sale for $6 a skein meant that I may get a quick hat done for my mom in exchange for letting me delay her Myrtle Leaf Lace-inspired scarf in Malabrigo Laceweight in "Velvet Grapes" colourway, as I found I need another skein to make it long enough. Oh darn. Oh, and two skeins of LB Wool-Ease Worsted because I signed up for the Woolly Wormhead hat KAL. To make both hats. No, I have no knitting for Christmas at all :)

And nevermind those four skeins of Happy Feet sock yarn I scored at $3.49US each from Discontinued Brand Name Yarn. I may have another pair of socks to make for my mom. Then there's the skein of yarn from Little Red Bicycle in the Supernova colourway that I just couldn't resist! The seller is a Ravelry chum and all-around good egg who just happens to dye awesomesauce yarns! I just hope my project I choose does her yarn justice!

Events!!

There are events coming up in the Terminal City and its outer suburbs.

First and foremost is the Langley Weavers' and Spinners' Guild annual Show and Sale! This Saturday and Sunday, November 7-8 from 10am - 4pm at the Fort Langley Community Hall, 9167 Glover Road in Fort Langley. If you're going, get there early! Parking is at a premium! Emily and I are making the annual pilgrimage because our favourite yarn seller Barbara Braaten of Langley Yarns & Crafts wants to see what we're making with her yarn. We're afraid that if we don't show her satisfactorily finished projects that she'll either stop selling us yarn, or - more likely - make us buy the expensive stuff!

And if you haven't had a chance to pick up a copy of local authors Leanne Prain and Mandy Moore's book Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti, you're in luck! Leanne and Mandy will be at the 1051 Davie Street Book Warehouse location tonight, November 5th, from 7-9pm for a book signing and to encourage crafters to bring hooks and/or needles to create a "tag" (in the lingo) for the Davie Village Garden.

Well that's all for me, hopefully Emily will soon have details about the annual Culture Crawl throughout the Strathcona resident artists' studios, and we'll post about our fun to be had at the Weavers & Spinners show! Stay warm in the rain, break out the gloves, and pop on a great slouchy beret or a newsboy cap. It's time to wear the wool!

Notes from the First Podcast... or is it the *lost* podcast....

First I have to say that it's very difficult to find a decent microphone at one of our local big-box electronics stores that will pick up sound well. So we started out with a lil' $14.99 special that the sales guy understood might not be appropriate for what we want to do with it, so this may require some more online sleuthing. But I'm up to the task!

But despite out lacking of proper equipment, we have recorded our first podcast episode and at least we got our feet wet and will have a better idea of what we want to do with future podcasts. We do have a poll on the blog site here, and hopefully we can attract some listeners through our Ravelry contacts and by listing ourselves on iTunes and some promotions from other knit podcasters.

However, in the event that our first recording session cannot be edited into something passable for podcast consumption, I'd at least like to post some notes here that were mentioned in the podcast but we don't want people to miss out on.

Coming Events
New Westminster's Heritage Picnic
July 25 11:30am - 3:30pm
Location TBA!
Demonstrations of knitting, spinning, weaving, and crochet.

Pic-Knit at the Surrey Museum!
Saturday, August 8 10:00am-4:00pm Drop in, by Donation
Join a summer picnic of knitters, crafters and suppliers in the Surrey Museum. Pack a lunch, watch the experts in action, and learn tips and tricks in our mini-workshops to inspire your own modern or heritage yarn craft. Tour the Museum’s Textile Studio and the Hooser Library to view our extensive collection of looms, weaving samples and rare textile books.
Location: at Surrey Museum, 17710 - 56A Avenue (Cloverdale, just a block up and over from Clover Square Village) For information, call 604-592-6956

Gibsons Landing Fibre Festival Running annually in Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast for 10 years now, the Gibsons Festival is wonderful. If you've never heard of it before, check out the website quick to take advantage of any classes that are still open, but the merchant mall is open to anyone!

Langley Weavers & Spinners Guild Artisans' Sale Another great local event in historic Fort Langley at the original City Hall held on the first Saturday and Sunday in November (the 7th and 8th this year), at the Fort Langley Community Hall with items for sale produced by the guild members themselves and other invited local artisans (e.g. jewelry, accessories for knitting, sewing, soaps, treats, etc.), including local yarn and craft suppliers.

Fibres West
The first Fibres West event went well this year and is seeking to expand to include more classes, more animals (sorry Wenchlette, there is NO room for an alpaca in my car!!), more knitting vendors... bascially just expanding upon what started out well this year. Next year's event will run March 26th and 27th, thankfully after the Olympics but before Easter, so mark it on your calendar. Brenda from Penelope Fibre Arts would love more suggestions on how to make this a bigger and better show every year, and there's no reason why it shouldn't be!

Stores and Yarns We Talked About

One of our favourite shops to visit is Maiwa out on Granville Island, not just for their great yarn selection, but also for their selections of natural dyes and popular textile and dyeing classes during their annual Textile Symposium. Emily managed to sign up for one of their felting classes, but if you're thinking of taking any of their classes, be sure to sign up soon as they sell out FAST! Check out their list of classes, events, and lectures at http://www.maiwa.com/symposium/index.html. Registration for the classes and workshops has already opened but there are a number of classes still available.

I mentioned that I recently finished my Absinthe socks from the Spring 2009 Knitty, and I knit them out of Kertzer's On Your Toes Limited Edition in colour #3842 because the green-y yellow-y colourway reminded me of absinthe itself. If you have a chance to pick up some of this yarn in any colourway, do so, there's aloe in the yarn for softness and they wash up so soft!! They're currently my favourite socks, even though it's too effing hot to wear socks right now.

Another one of our favourite yarn shops is Langley Yarns and Crafts which is owned by Barbara Braaten. It's a home-based shop so she does mostly online yarn sales and at local fibre shows, but if you give her a call to make an appointment, she is most accommodating. She's a member of the Langley Weavers and Spinners Guild, and is a vendor of supplies and finished items both knit and woven at the annual LWSG Artisans' Sale (see Events above). You'll recognize it, it's the big yellow-and-white Colonial-style building in all the movies shot in and around Langley. Barbara is a fabulous vendor and has great advice about fibres and hardware, but be warned! If you buy yarn from her, she wants to see finished projects! Last year's Pic-Knit (see the Events heading) she remembered I'd asked her about a spinning wheel my dad found for sale in Saskatchewan, and asked what I'd made with the previous yarns I'd bought from her. This year I have to have something to show her, I'm afraid she won't sell me more yarn!

If you head to Seattle, Washington for a weekend trip and you're a fibre-freak like us, do make the time to visit Weaving Works in the University District. Don't let the shop name fool you, while you can learn everything you wanted to know about weaving, they have a fabulous stock of yarns for all crafts; the best buttons, needles and other tools; spinning supplies; dye supplies; and a fabulous stock of books, patterns, and current fibre magazines. They have such a great stock of books that I actually found a tatting book that I didn't have yet! And because she was buying it they hollered to their tatting specialist that someone was buying a tatting book so she could come and witness the event! It was great, I rarely meet other tatters by chance, so she quizzed me about how I was introduced to it, how I learned, and informed me that she holds tatting classes! Be still my lacy heart.

Emily ventured south with her spinning teacher and another friend to Oregon's Black Sheep Gathering held annually in Eugene, and featuring about three entire shows' worth in one three-day weekend! A trade show, livestock show, fibre arts, sheep-to-shawl contest, wool/mohair show (really? cool!), and - of course - spinning! Emily said it was fabulous and I'm hoping to make it to one in the next couple of years. I am a huge fan of Oregon since our friends "Matter" and "Kansas" lived in the Alphabet District of Portland, and have had some memorable times there, even if I don't quite remember what happened :)

And if you visit Oregon, don't just hit the cities; there are some great smaller towns and coastal places to visit besides Portland and Eugene. Definitely make time to visit Cannon Beach and Manzanita. Both have beautiful ocean views, seaside restaurants, and unique shopping (I sound like a travel guide), and the best part is to go beachcombing for sea glass, shells, and sand dollars.

So this will do it for our first official posting, be sure to check back for future updates mid-August after we've been to the Surrey Museum Pic-Knit and perhaps have some more events and news from around the Terminal City. Hopefully the news is that the heatwave is over, but we'll just have to see!