Lucky Me!

I’m a lucky knitter for so many reasons. Why?

Knitter’s Frolic

First, my trip to Knitter’s Frolic over the weekend. I’ve never been purely a spectator at this event before and, man! What an amazing gathering with so many incredible vendors, some of which I didn’t know a thing about. For one, there was Agrestal. These are truly gorgeous yarns, all Canadian, dyed with botanical dyes.

The second vendor stand-out for me was the Georgian Bay Fibre Co., also (obviously) Canadian. Both have a pure, tender, earthy aesthetic that I just love. From Georgian Bay, I acquired some of those cool brass safety-pin stitch markers and some delicately citron-scented hand balm. Mmmmm…

I couldn’t begin to detail all of the amazing stockists of this show, but I did buy a couple of soft skeins in merino lace weight from Shelridge Yarns…

…and a cone of linen. Yes, you read that right. Last week, when I was falling more deeply in love with linen, I spied these cones on the Louet website. Telling myself skeptically that I’d really need to touch it first, I saw it at Frolic! This was in the hands of the lovely Becky of Unravelled before it came home with me. She had some other snuggly things too, but Elizabeth made mention of a trip to Perth soon so I held back. This is a very fine linen. I have in mind a classic tank…?

The phrase “getting there is half the fun” doesn’t express half of it. Rather than face the 401 and all the hassles of driving to Toronto, I opted for the yarn shuttle offered by Purlin’ J. Best choice I ever made. What a blast we had! I was amazed when I saw a great big full-sized bus pull up…I had no idea there were so many knitters interested in going as a group. Once on board, we received fabulous gift bags (pictured above) containing yummy things like Koigu yarn, stitch markers from Bling Your String and discounts to booths like Sweet Paprika Yarn. It really was the only way to go; I’d like to take the next bus to the Twist Festival in August. If you haven’t checked out Purlin’ J’s Roving Yarn Co., you can do so this weekend at the Tett Center in Kingston. As Vogue Knitting so rightly says, “One of the coolest yarn stores I’ve ever seen.” It’s a truck! Like a food truck, but with yarn! This will be Joan’s first appearance of the summer and I, for one, shall be there.

Announcements!

There are new patterns!

1. Two new sock patterns, Maypole and Poppa, will make their entrance into the world this Friday. These are DK/Worsted Weight socks that will make perfect summer cottage and travel knitting…small, portable, and with stitches that are big enough to actually see.
2. Fresh from a trip to Berlin where she’s been test-knit is the Martha Cardigan. She will debut on Saturday, May 14. Also a great travel knit, Martha has lots of easy stockinette edged with a fun and interesting border pattern. Watch for it!

There are new and brilliant things happening! If you’ve signed up for the Newsletter, you already know what I’m going to say. If you haven’t signed up for the monthly newsletter, you should, as it, too, will be awash in special deals. You can sign up over on the right. (And I might add, the Newsletter is monthly. I will not be clogging up your inbox any more frequently.)

1. On May 18 (that’s a Wednesday), my weekly WIP missive will be replaced by LittleChurch Knits: THE PODCAST! Finally! Lucky I’ve got a good face for radio.
2. On May 20 (that’s a Friday), look for the opening of LittleChurch Knits: THE SHOP! The Shop component of the newly designed (you may have noticed) blog will open for business that day, as will the bright, shiny, new Etsy Shop. Discounts and details to follow!

Free Pattern Friday

Once again, I must extoll the virtues of FPF and tell you how much I love it 🙂 You should join the group, because, in addition to a fresh, new, free pattern every week, there will be delicious coupons for the new paid-for patterns. Here are some sneak peaks of the upcoming free patterns:

See you there!