Fibre Ecstasy

A few hardy bloggers have already documented the weekend...

So here is my take on things to add to the pile.

Marilyn G. started things off with a bang on Friday night with the fashion show at Med Grill, a posh establishment on Fort Street in the Mosaic Bldg. No photos unfortunately, but I did get to wear the Harbour Lights shawl in public for the first time, and I got to see what the other fibre folk in Victoria have been up to. I saw some lovely, lovely pieces and met some wonderful knitters.

Saturday, again no pics, in the afternoon I gave a class on the beaded necklace design that I did a couple of years ago that I still regard as my play therapy project. You simply cannot remain in a bad mood and do this piece. It was a rather jolly class, thanks to all the glorious, sparkly beads that people brought to swap with their classmates. Beads do bring out the little kid in all of us, don't they??? To take advantage of the nice sunshine that was very kindly with us, we took our stuff outside and had our class right there by the marina. I wish I had kept an audio of the ships horns that seemed to echo from one side of the water to the other. It was really atmospheric.

In the evening, I gave a little talk to some lovely knitters, about life, knitting, and my incredibly fortunate career. I say that because I have only been a knitter for a few years and I still need to pinch myself to see if it's real that I am lucky enough to be working in the field I have come to love above all else. My audience was very kind, especially since it was my first time speaking about myself rather than just teaching folks about knitting, which I feel quite relaxed about and do quite often.

Here are some of the sweet faces I saw looking back at me, most holding their knitting:



The talk was given in the old part of town, near this bridge:


And near this square of interesting little shops, Bastien Square, where we found a great restaurant, ReBar. Here is the square and a couple pics of the interesting mosaics inside the place:




Sunday I checked out of the hotel, sorry to say goodbye to my little balcony overlooking a running fountain, which I particularly appreciated. We headed over to Saxe Point Park by the sea, a lovely spot for a fibre festival. Others have posted nicer pictures, but here are some high points that somehow made it into my camera:


My friend Annette, who was a guardian angel for the first leg of the trip...


My friend Mel, who found the elusive yarn she had been looking for to do a lovely Lyra...


My table at the Community Knitters.com booth...






...and spinners and knitters and yarn galore, along with beautiful views of the sea.

I had a wonderful time talking about lace, knitting, and fibre among the spinners, knitters and yes, miniature llamas. They were wonderful, happy creatures with long, long eyelashes.




And here is Mary Kozicki's highly original version of River Rock, which I love. It uses very fine yarn and tiny beads, looking more like a waterfall than a bubbling stream full of rocks. I appreciated her vision - so refined and beautiful. Please click on the picture and look at it bigger to get the full effect.


I am glad the day was wonderful because the trip carrying loads of stuff home without a vehicle (thank you forever and forever, J!) was, well, less than fun. But I am safe home now and recovering from the highs and lows of the weekend, waxing a little nostalgic about it all.

The best of all is that Harbour Lights is now officially available to all. Go here or here for more information about purchasing the pattern. And bless all of you for your letters impatiently looking forward to its release date!