Yesterday I actually left the island to do some yarn tootling (aka driving about the countryside looking at yarn) in Kingston. Kingston is one of the oldest cities in Canada founded in 1673 and was the first capital of Upper Canada. It’s not far from the County of Prince Edward, about 45 minutes along scenic highway 2. It is quintessentially Canadian, built of limestone and liberally peppered with streets named for Wellington, Sydenham, various Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses. It is also literally jammed with churches (which really has nothing to do with being Canadian).
I figured it would be rife with great yarn shops being so tightly tied to Britain but…meh. I found only two. The first, Knit Traders, was very modern and well organized. The staff was really friendly, helpful and knowledgable but I found the shop a bit sterile and, truthfully, not a lot of yarn. They do carry Knitter’s Pride, though so that’s something. I managed to kick up a couple of interesting skeins, however. I picked up two sock yarns by Lang that I’ve never used before. The greenish one I bought for the Pucker Socks being knitted over at HarmonicOscillator.
I then tootled downtown to Gwyn Gryffon which is a very weird little shop where yarn (mostly for needlepoint) is combined with wine making! Great idea, but not much for knitters. I found it very odd that, though most of the yarns (limited) were worsted, aran and dk weights, the needles (also limited) were 3.5mm and smaller. Weird.
The trip was not a total bust. I managed to pick up 25 yards of organic cotton canvas at a nice discount. That’s good! Oh! And a bit of good luck…I’ve a new little addition to my workroom. His name is Hoagi. He is a cricket and he lives under the floor 🙂
