sweetgeorgia

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My instructions have arrived.

The TKGA Master Knitter I instructions came in a little blue folder yesterday and I promptly made several copies. One of the adjudicators had noted that people continue to submit pizza- and coffee-stained instruction pages along with their swatches. Ick. The Martha in me won’t let it happen!

So! If I can get some weekend time to myself, don’t call. I’ll be swatching.

Stash Resources

I’m just keeping track of where to get stuff.

For Phildar:

• Knit-n-Tyme
• BreiWeb
• Homecraft Importers, 4th Avenue, Vancouver (can get Phildar in 2 days)
• Knit-n-Stitch Shoppe, Dundarave, West Vancouver

For GGH:

• Rikes Wollmaus

For Jaeger:

• Burnaby Knitworks
• Colourway

For Rowan:

• Urban Yarns
• Rikes Wollmaus

For Galway:

• Homecraft Importers, 4th Avenue, Vancouver
• Burnaby Knitworks

My stash runneth over.

How bad am I? Well, I made it over to Burnaby Knitworks yesterday and loved it! Wide range of yarns from high-end to low-end (if you can call 100% wool sock yarn in gorgeous colours for $4.99 “low-end”). I loved it so much, I HAD to pick up some stuff:

Yes, yes, I picked up a back issue of Interweave Knits. This one has the article on gloves and thumb gussets. The Jaeger magazine has some gorgeous sweaters that I would love to make… And the Big Book of Knitting is full of nicely illustrated techniques — I’m sure it will come in handy. But oh! Look at the close-up of this lovely Jaeger Odessa yarn:

It’s going to become a birthday gift “fer me Ma”, to be completed by the end of November. Can I do it? Sure. Those sparkly purple bits will keep me going.

Tony and Rob

My cooking self, not to be outdone by my knitting self, also purchased some lovely cookbooks yesterday:

If you haven’t yet read Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, you should. It’s fascinating… and further confirms for me why I’d never become a chef.

The Les Halles Cookbook is full of recipes from his restaurant. But of course, the one I’ve encouraged the DH to try is the Beef Bourguinon.

The other cookbook, Vancouver Cooks, has contributions from 50 award-winning chefs in the Vancouver area: Lumiere/Feenie’s, Tojo’s, Vij’s, Bishop’s, Bis Moreno, West, Cru, Elixer, etc. etc.

Even the marketing and distribution of Vancouver Cooks is taken care of the grande dame of cookbooks in Vancouver, Barbara-Jo McIntosh of Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks. If you love cookbooks (which I do) and chefs (which I do), and you have the opportunity to visit Vancouver, you’ll have to stop by Barbara-Jo’s. You can take classes which feature recipes from a cookbook and after the class you receive a copy of the cookbook. It’s all good.

Waiting for Tuft

I finished up the back piece of Willow last night… It takes two balls of Ribbon Twist for the back piece and I’m pretty sure the second ball I used had more “ribbon” to it… It’s more bubbly than the first ball.

I’m starting to wonder about this whole Ribbon Twist idea — the yarn is a big fat piece of unspun wool laid alongside a space-dyed ribbon and the two pieces are held together with a thin white thread wrapped around. I’ve worn my Big Wool sweater a few times and it blooms like mad! I’m hoping this yarn doesn’t do the same. I wonder if Rowan is laughing at us: “We don’t even have to spin the yarn and you’ll still buy it! Hah!”. Oh, good thing it’s Friday.

The remaining pieces of Willow will have to wait. The Big Wool Tuft has not yet arrived and I can’t start the sleeves or the collar until it’s here. But I’m sure I can find something else to do!