Monday, September 17, 2007

Got outta town

I love Montreal, but I love getting away from it, too. Yesterday I spent the day in the country (about 45 minutes away, near Hemmingford), at the Roxham Wool Gathering. I went with fellow Montreal Knits ladies Robyn, Angela, and Kadi. We ran into Kate there, too. (Robyn went both days, and blogged about it here and here with lots of photos.)

It was a "wool gathering," but there was a lot more than wool -- or rather, there was lots more than yarn and roving for knitters. Several vendors were selling things made of wool, like these really fun felted hats by Elaine Saucier:


I loved the mittens, helmets, scarves, and pillows made of recycled wool sweaters by Genia (who doesn't have a website but sells her wares locally at L'Arterie):


There was a vendor selling alpaca yarn, finished alpaca socks and scarves, and the softest alpaca bears. Kadi met her new BFF:


There were also handmade crafty things that had little to do with wool. I loved the dolls by Raplapla (seriously, click that link), and I bought a typewriter-key (asterisk/hyphen) pin by Misssoka Salvageware.

It was great to get out of the city, and it was really great to be surrounded by such inspiring creativity. It was pretty fun to hang out with Robyn's little boy, too; Sean was all smiles, all day:


I even saw my first real-life sheep shearing!


Kadi and I were both ready to move to a farm by the end of the afternoon. Why not? Even the weeds are beautiful there:


Oh my, I can hardly wait for Rhinebeck...

13 comments:

Andrea said...

Those mittens are so lovely!

Veronique said...

Oh, it looks like you had a blast! Are you going to make a Rhinebeck sweater?...

Steph said...

That looks like a lot of fun! And those hats and mitts are adorable!

So is Kadi's new BFF

Megan said...

I love those dolls with their fuzzy hair! And the mermaid is very cool.

Anonymous said...

I spent my weekend at the Sunshine Coast sipping bubbly and gazing over Bribie Island and the Glasshouse Mountains. Magical!

claudia said...

First sheep shearing? Wow. That was a long time a'coming. :)

Protagitron said...

Alpaca bear? Alpaca bear?!? I think my life has just been made. You always find the neatest stuff around, Alison.

Anonymous said...

Rhinebeck is where I made the decision to move to an alpaca farm, so we could start looking for land to share any time.

Stacey said...

what a fun day to get away from it all!!!

Chris said...

It looks like a fabulous day!

La Cabeza Grande said...

Fantastic! The one day getaways are so much fun.

BTW, I went to a craft fair this weekend and bought a typewriter pendant, too. Quel coincidence.

pamela wynne said...

so fun!! I really need to make it to a fiberfest one of these days.

Anonymous said...

Actually not weeds, but native wildflowers -New England Asters :)