The Times They Are A-Changin'

I'm not dead yet! Work and other things (*coughRPGcough*) have made the last couple months busy ones, and somehow whenever I sat down to update my brain shied away from forming sentences. So how about I spare you a long synopsis of everything that's been going on and just cut to the news of the day?

Well it was nice while it lasted. Looks like the more upscale yarn store in town is closing, as the owners are moving. No more cashmere, no more Malabrigo, no more higher-end alpaca and 100% wool. The ladies at the other yarn store in town are nice, but a lot of the stock...well it's kind of old and not as nice as the stuff at the other store. Definitely no cashmere, no handpaints, no Elsebeth Lavold, and very little sock yarn (thought admittedly the upscale store didn't really have that much handpainted stuff either). Looks like it's back to waiting until I go into Toronto for the good stuff; either that or ordering off the internet. Though some things will hopefully only mean more trips into Niagara Falls to the yarn store there, as they have some things that the yarn stores here don't carry (laceweight!).

It also means no more second-Saturday knitting group, which has me thinking about starting one up. The main problems are timing and location, but those are pretty big problems. There are only a couple cafes downtown that are a distinct possibility. I know the library's policy on room usage and that's out--it would be costly and there's a line in the policy about groups not using it too many times. Community centres tend to be out of the downtown core and I'd like it to be close to the bus station.

The other problem is my work schedule, as I work every other Saturday afternoon, which is problematic. Also probiematic is that while I have a regular evening shift on Fridays, technically I can work any night between Tues-Thurs as well. I'm not sure I like the idea of making it only once a month, as if you miss that one day you're kind of screwed (as I know from personal experience). There is a gathering at the other yarn store in town but I only got to go once before I had a string of months where I couldn't make it that one night a month, and I haven't really been able to get back to it. Having it every Saturday afternoon, or on a night when I have to work that week would be all right once it's an established group and there are one or tow other people I know will show up (and that I could give signs to, or whatever), but it's problematic when you're starting. I'd also have to check with the owners of the venue and see how they would feel about people being there every week, though if we could find a time when they're not usually that busy they might welcome an every-week gathering! Ah well. I'll check those cafes, speak with the owners and see about it.

It's something I think I'd especially like to do as there doesn't seem to be much of a knitting community here, and the yarn stores here never really seem that busy, though maybe it's just the times that I drop in. The knitting groups at the yarn store also seem to be heavy on the friends/co-workers of the owner, too, which can be a little awkward and off-putting, particularly when it's a small group.

Now the yarn store in the Falls, I dropped into a couple weeks ago and wasn't there for more than fifteen minutes before the owner was asking if I'd like to teach a class--and I've only been there twice in the last year! There were a group of people sitting in the back and they invited me to sit down and knit, and I readily agreed as I'd had to go into the Falls for a dermatologist's appointment (whose office, handily, was about a 20 minute walk from the yarn store). It took a load off my feet, pulled out the sock I was working on on one circular needle, and the owner and I got discussing it, and bam, she asked me to consider doing a workshop. She's always looking for teachers, and this was before I mentioned that I teach knitting at the library. I'd love to do it though the timing is going to be a little tricky with my work schedule, and the fact that I don't have a car so I have to take buses into the Falls. During the university fall/winter semesters Niagara Falls transit runs a bus to the university that can let me off right near the store, but in the summer I'd have to use the Greyhound, then take a bus from the terminal. We'll see if we can work it out, though.

And finally, some picspam of recently finished socks: I call them my "Table Rock" socks. The yarn is "Cliffhanger" by Sunshine Yarns, and I wanted to do a themed sock with it, so I thought about cliffs nearby. Of course the biggest one in this area is the Niagara Escarpment and, naturally, Niagara Falls, so I decided on a stitch pattern of my own "unvention", to make a similar effect to that in Knitty's Wavy Scarf. With the colour of the yarn the pattern doesn't show up as much as it could, but I know it's there. Using cabled waves instead of knit and purls would show up better, but I decided I didn't want to do cable twists 12 times every 4 rows. They're named after the rock formation on the Canadian side, right at the edge of the Falls.


The vertical wave pattern, while in progress, click for larger pic


The finished sock!

Next time: photos of the socks I'm making with Lisa Souza yarn. I loooooove it.