Monday, September 13, 2010

Restraint

Great restraint was practised by 'yours truly' on Saturday at the Knitters Fair. Rather than my normal three or four sweaters worth of yarn, I came home with two balls of yarn a couple of patterns and some very knitterly stationery.

It wasn't that there was nothing that appealed. It wasn't that there was nothing affordable. It wasn't that I didn't have enough time. What restrained me was my full, yarn room -a room with three or four sweaters worth ahead of me - and a strong feeling not to become overwhelmed.

So, sadly, Canada's economy didn't get it's expected boast from Brenda at this year's fair. In fact, I doubt I even came close to cracking the $100 mark - my normal marker for taking a deep breath and slowing down down a bit.

But what I did get was pretty special. One ball of Kauni
and a pattern for the 'Holey' scarf.

Kauni is a yarn I have read and heard much about on blogs and ravelry. It isn't sold commonly in my neck of the woods, so when I saw the yarn and this glorious pattern, I knew it was time to lose my Kauni virginity. The pattern gives directions for four different scarf widths - the widest being more of a shawl. I'm thinking scarf width for myself and yes - this ball has all those colours in it that you see in the pattern.

From the sublime to the 'just for fun'. At Grand River Yarns, I bought this ball that came complete with a pattern for a little shawlette.

When our group met for lunch, Ingrid hauled two skeins of this same yarn & pattern out of her bag. In her delightful German accent she said
"Look what I bought. It's not wool. It's not Alpaca. It's not even cotton. It's ACRYLIC!! Can you believe I bought this?"

I hauled mine out of my bag and said - and " It was only $10."
Money sure does talk.


Tanis Fibre Arts
was selling great knitters stationery.
I love this kind of thing and often send little notes to friends on stationery that speaks to my love of knitting. The colours on these cards, like the colours of Tanis' yarns, are gorgeous.

Part of the afternoon I spent at Glenna C's workshop on design. I've read Glenna's blog for some time now and it was great to meet her in person and hear her highly intelligent, focused approach to design.

All of that plus the great company on the drive, our picnic lunch, and a day surrounded by colour, fibre and creativity - what a day!

5 comments:

Joansie said...

Love the Kauni and can't find it in my neck of the woods either. Thanks for all the links especially to the stationary.

LaurieM said...

I bought my Kauni two years ago at the K-W Fair from the Needle Emporium. It's still on the needles.

I got bogged down in my own design idea. I think I should steal the Nike slogan and "Just do it."

Stephanie said...

What pretty stationery! I love all stationery, but those look especially pretty and appealing.

Soxophone Player said...

Congratulations on your restraint. Alas, it's not in my skill package ;o)

Laurie said...

Awesome show of restraint! Love the Kauni and the notecards. :-)