Ottawa

(More photos, with info, here.)

I spent Saturday at a conference in Gatineau (the City Formerly Known as Hull), and then on Sunday I took the whole afternoon to be a tourist in Ottawa. Bill and I had driven through it on our way back from Crotch Lake this summer, but it was raining and we didn't get out of the car. Now I know that the Parliament Buildings are much more impressive when you get out of the car. I hope the tourists visiting from warm places appreciated the 15 minutes of fame SNOW on Sunday. Nice of the nation's capital to generate snowflakes just for its visitors, isn't it?

I'm blaming that little snowfall for the fact that after I finished walking up and down Wellington and Sparks streets, I headed straight to Yarn Forward and bought enough sock yarn for two pairs of socks and a pair of Double-Thick Mittens. And then, before ending my little trip and heading back home, I managed to incorporate the two things I miss most about Ontario: Michael's (more sock yarn) and Smartfood (three big bags -- Bill and I immediately devoured one, and I've squirreled away the other two).

My kind of shopping

I hate to shop, but I love to thrift. It's not so much the purchasing that thrills me as the process of picking through a collection of entirely unique items. Everything that you look at in a thrift shop is the only one of its kind in the store.

The local thrift shop in my hometown is the best thrift shop ever -- I'm not even going to tell you exactly where it is, for fear that you'll go there and get all the best stuff before I can. I went twice last week and did pretty well. Over two days I spent a grand total of $5.65, and I bought four books, a magazine, two knitting-pattern booklets, a brooch, a crocheted doily, some fabric, and a set of hankies. I also went to a thrift in the next town, where I bought another piece of fabric and some buttons (from the big bowl above).








I've also been shopping at my favourite bookstore in the whole world, which is a secondhand bookstore in a town called Penticton. I bought a pile of books, and I took some photos, which I've posted in a Flickr set.

Other than all this shopping, I've been knitting like a fiend -- I started a pair of Clessidra Stockings, in green Sisu yarn. I knit all afternoon yesterday (a dream come true!). So I'll show you that progress soon, as well as something very exciting that is located down the road from my parents' house.... Stay tuned, mystery lovers!

Huh?

Remember my big crocheted blanket? I'd almost finished it, but then it got too warm to have a giant pile of wool on my lap. Well, I'm thinking it will be a good choice for tonight's TV-watching crafty time!

I joined Flickr recently because of Ravelry, and I've put up some more photos from the weekend. To see a little more of Old Quebec, click here.