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Knit City 2017

Knit City is purportedly the largest wool/yarn event in all of Canada.  Personally it seems hard to believe Toronto doesn't do something like this in a bigger way, but then I don't follow wool/yarn events there.  So I can say according to Knit Social I attended the largest knit event in Canada yesterday.

This year marks Knit City's fifth anniversary.  I have attended it the first, third and now the fifth years (it seems I have something against the even numbers).  Pam, Tena and I attended in 2015 together and had put a strategy together for attending this year.  We wanted to go on the first day and get to the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) just after the doors opened.  So we arrived on Saturday just after 10 am.  We figured we could look around, get out before the crowds got too big and go for lunch.  Our strategy worked perfectly.

Knit City continues to grow in size.  Since it moved from the Croatian Cultural Centre in 2014 it has been held in the same PNE building.  This building is divided into sections and it seems each year a new section is being filled with demonstrations, vendors and displays.

There were four things on my agenda:  1) meet the Grocery Girls, 2) speak to Sylvia McFadden about the Waiting for Rain shawl, 3) talk to Alexa Lundeman from Tin Can Knits, and finally 4) stop by our LYS booth, Black Sheep Yarns, to say hello to the owner, Helen.
  
And shazam!  We were able to do all of them and check out all the vendors in three hours.  

Here we are at the Black Sheep Yarn booth, Tena, Pam and me

Tena and I are photographing something there.  All you can see of me is my hands working the phone/camera.
There was a certain amount of photos taken to capture the name and look of  favored items
Me discussing my first shawl, Ashton, with Jodi and Tracie

I cannot explain the leaning pose on my part.  Clearly the Grocery Girls know what to do, stand up straight and smile.

There was a longer than expected time with the Grocery Girls.  I talked about binge watching their episodes as I dog-watched; how they were like the Canadian friends I was missing at the time.  We talked about Wisconsin Woolen Co. and about my shawl.  It was a hoot to hang out with them, even if it was only for a short time.

Alexa did not know about The Fruity Knitting podcast and was happy to hear that their You and Me KAL (Knit A Long) had referred viewers to Tin Can Knit patterns.  The KAL is meant to encourage a knitter to make something for a loved one and something for themselves.  Tin Can Knits makes patterns that fit from newborn to adult sizes so one purchase offers lots of pattern sizes.  And Sylvia McFadden was so happy to hear I represented the West Coast of Canada with Waiting for Rain at Knit Camp and that Meg Swansen and her son, Cully, really enjoyed looking over the construction Sylvia had desiged.

There will be more about Black Sheep Yarns and Helen, but the three of us do like to show up and let our LYS know we appreciate having such a great shop so close.

I came home with the names of eight patterns documented on my phone.  They immediately were added to my Ravelry library.  Oh, no yarn was purchased, but a couple of 100 grams of roving for spinning did come home with me.  

Pam, Tena, thanks for indulging my interests.  It was a fun time.


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