Yarn and the City

The best part of going away anywhere is how much you love to come home. This morning I woke at 4:30ish and had to force myself to go back to sleep until I heard my cousin's alarm. I dozed, then my eyes popped open again and I excitedly checked the clock thinking it must me time to get up and get ready to fly home, but a mere 20 minutes had gone by. I've never had to make myself sleep in the morning before, but I was up every 15-20 minutes checking the clock. Basically I had squeezed every last bit of fun possible out of my trip, and I was eager to back to my family.

How was my trip?

Awesome!

My cousin Lori and her husband Eric played hosts. We arrived at their place and I showed Lori the Knit Madonna and told her my plan to photograph Madonna all over the city. Lori is a very talented photographer and she was thrilled with this idea. She grabbed her camera and we hit the town on a huge walking tour of Downtown Toronto (she lives right in the middle of things, anything you could want is mere minutes by foot or subway). Instead of loading a bazillion photos here, you can see "Madonna Does Toronto" in this flickr album. Some pics are Lori's, some are mine and you can totally tell the difference :)

We strolled from her place to Yonge street where we ate amazing sushi, then down Yonge hitting random stores as the mood struck, snapping pics outside Much Music, then to the sensory overload that is Dundas Square. We went through the Eaton Centre, coming out near Toronto's City Hall on Queen St (which totally looks like a space ship about to depart). Moving on down Queen we window shopped and people watched until we hit China Town and Kensington Market. Where we ate these tasty chicken curry things from a place called "Happy Patty."

Not far from Happy Patty was on my list of "Must See While in Toronto"
(I believe I barely whispered "there it is" when I saw the sign, which I recognized from a certain knitter's blog)

What a gorgeous little shop!! I could have happily spent hours inside, petting yarn. I'll be honest, the only reason why I didn't completely stake the place out was because I knew that a certain knitter I would have loved to see was off on a book tour. Yes, I bought yarn, I'll show you in a minute.

By the time we started to head home my legs were starting to complain, so we took a street car (a first for me) then a subway train (not a first, but the last time I was 15 and I fell on my ass since I didn't hold onto anything. I did much better this time). Lori made us an excellent meal then we headed out her favourite watering hole for their Martini Night.

I think I look good holding a cosmo.

If you've already looked through the flickr album, you might already know where we went next. To fully welcome me to Toronto, Lori took me to a bar called "Crews" where we watched a Drag Show. It was so much fun! We got in around 2:30 and I went to bed knowing that it was totally fine that I'd had a bit too much since no one was going to be clamouring "Mommy! MOM!" come morning.

Friday we rolled out of bed fairly close to lunch time (but still found a place nearby making omelette's for late risers). We shopped a bit more then headed down to the Toronto Convention Centre (which is HUGE) for the Creativ Festival.

I was hoping to meet up with some friends there but they both ended up having things come up. Which was fine, I had some time on my own which was nice. I watched a yarn fashion show, shopped the booths (read: bought yarn) and participated in a jewellery making workshop. I made this lovely bracelet

I smell a new obsession. Family members, do not be suprised if you get custom jewellery this year for Christmas.

Friday night was a relaxing evening with TV and an attempt at some knitting. Frankly, I was worn out and before too long the stitches stopped making sense.

Saturday we brunched at The Spotted Dick (and because I'm 12, that made me giggle) then I headed out of the downtown area to meet with an old friend from high school for a bit of shopping. I got to meet her husband and cutie pie children, then we (Melissa, her brother's girlfriend Erin and myself) headed out to The Naked Sheep

(Madonna too, of course)

After spending yet more money on yarn, I headed back into town with the intention to kill the last couple hours before Karen's arrival at the Royal Ontario Museum. Unfortunately I got there 15 minutes after it closed for day, so I wandered. I'd like to say that I headed somewhere on purpose, but really...I just headed in a direction until I found something that was familiar then located that on my handy dandy TTC map. I found my way to Queen st, then successfully navigated my way back up to where Karen and her family were staying. Overall, I pretty darn pleased with myself.

Karen and I grabbed at bite at the sushi place, and went back to Lori's intending to head out to the bar for the rest of the evening. Unfortunately for me my gall bladder decided it had simply had enough of this nonsense (trying new foods, all the Starbucks coffees with the odd McDonald's tossed in, plus all the walking) and made me very very sick indeed. I was down for the night, but sent the rest of them out (which worked well for me, I hate being sick around other people). By morning I was right as rain...which is good since Sunday was The Big Day.

Karen and I took off on our own shortly before noon to head to the CN Tower, which was a very cool experience. My ears popped on the way up! The view from the top was incredible, and we ate the best sandwiches ever at the Far Coast (rosemary chicken with roasted red peppers panini. Mmmmm). I bought presents for my family and we headed back. (Flickr album)


To get ready for the concert!!!

Karen and I had bought shirts from Madonna.com so we would have ones to wear (and I am so glad we did, they run really small and the size I needed was not carried in the booths)

If you're in TO I recommend The Chocolate Martini at Just Desserts. Mmmmm.

Me knitting before the show


Which got Madonna knitting before she went on too, to get the edge off

(lol...I am such a dork)

I took some video and the best one is the opening of the show...I'm woo-ing and excited and then suddenly she appears and I swear it sounds like I've caught fire and the camera goes all shaky as I lose all ability to control it. It's pretty funny.

This is probably my best shot of her on stage


Madonna puts on one hell of a good show...worth every penny spent. (Album)

After the show we had been intending to head to a bar for drinks and dancing but we had a crash from all the excitement and opted instead for pizza and calling it a night. I fell into bed exhausted and incredibly happy.

Monday morning I got up early and headed to the Toronto Zoo. Where I saw lots of animals and lots of supremely obnoxious children on field trips. If my children were so bloody disrespectful I'd...well, no matter. My children are not disrespectful. They are many things, but disrespectful to people, places, and animals is not on that list. I spent a lot of time letting groups get past me, so I could then enjoy seeing the animals on my own. Which was really great. I know my kids would have loved it, and I hope to take them there someday. (Album)

Monday afternoon I headed to Queen St West again, this time to Romni Wools, where I got to hang out with a familiar face

Jennifer! We almost never get to see one another in Halifax, and it just happened that our trips to TO overlapped, so we had to go for some stash enhancement!

FYI: Romni Wools has a lot of yarn. A lot. It's yarn overload. I was so overwhelmed I didn't take pictures. I meant to. But I never managed it. I did however enable Jenn right into a sweater's worth of kidsilk haze and malabrigo sock yarn. Heh.

That brings us up to Monday night, where I ate pizza with my hosts and watched TV. A much needed evening of nothing.

I arrived home a little before noon, and was greeted by my favourite people, to cries of "Mommy's back!!", tight hugs and lots of kisses. It's good to be home.

And now for some Yarn Pr0n!

My purchases all together

I looked all over TO to find Phil a Green Lantern shirt, and the look on his face when I handed it to him made it worth it. For the kids I bought Grace and Cam each a Hockey Moose from the CN Tower, and Gabriel got a Beaver wearing a Mountie Hat (I got myself a magnet and Phil a keychain). From the Zoo I bought the kids each a lion and myself another magnet. At the concert itself I got a little excited and bought a mug, a keychain and a magnet. In Chinatown I picked up lucky eggs (coloured glass) for Grace and Cameron. The pig bag was the cutest little reusable bag I could find and really came in handy. (Cam's stuffed toys are not pictured...he took them to school with him to show them off)

For yarn purchases I made a deal with myself: Only stuff I cannot get in Halifax.

From Lettuce knit I bought a skein of Blue Moon Fibre Arts in the "Lettuce Knit" colourway and some Lorna's Laces in "River". I also picked up a magnet, but it's not pictured here


I showed remarkable restraint at the Creativ Festival, but could not dream of passing up a chance to get my hands on some Flat Feet (the sales woman told me I was the first person all day to know what it was)! I also bought a skein of Dream in Colour Smooshy in the colourway called "Petal Shower"

I bought this from the booth for the shop Surly Knits/Unwind Yarns(I'm 99% sure it was them...I can't find my receipt). The women running it were suprised to discover how far I had come and were even more excited to realize that I shared my home city with both The Fleece Artist and Lucy Neatby.

At The Naked Sheep I acquired these for the stash

Malabrigo sock yarn and some Debbie Bliss. Yeah, I broke the rule, but the Debbie Bliss stuff was on sale. More than 50% off. I think only buying 2 showed restraint.

Finally, at Romni I managed to only leave with these

Colinette Jitterbug, On Your Toes (a bamboo/nylon blend), and a skein of Hand Maiden sea silk. Ok, so I broke my rule twice there...but there is only one place to get Jitterbug and I have not seen colours there that I like, and would you look at the colours on that sea silk? Would you have been able to leave it behind? I doubt it.

So that was my adventure in Toronto. I had a great time and I am happy to be home where the pace is a little slower, the size is manageable and there is not a Starbucks within spitting distance of a Starbucks (seriously, TO, do you really need so much coffee?).

(I'll save the yarn that came in the mail for me while I was away for tomorrow's post. Oh yes, there is more to see)

(eta to add flickr album links)