The Ottawa Valley Quilter’s Guild hosted a quilt festival this past weekend, and the Ottawa Knitting Guild had a table at the festival. So on Friday morning, I spent a couple of hours there to promote knitting in general and of course the guild in particular.
I had some delightful company, of course. Here is Jana, the president of the Ottawa Knitting Guild (in her gorgeous, handknit top) and Fiona and our table full of knit items.
And when I say full, I really mean full. There were shawls, socks, baby hats, baby sweaters, mittens, gloves, scarves, slippers, an Aran cardigan and even an afghan. And there were various types of yarn, from handspun to commercial merino, acrylic to cashmere, and a number of things inbetween.
This is me and Fiona working on our current projects. I’m knitting a pair of fingerless mittens in Emeline Sock – a delightful silk/merino blend from Springtree Road, and Fiona is knitting a lace scarf in a cashmere/silk/alpaca blend, if my memory serves me correctly. In any case, it’s a very soft and lovely purple yarn.
In case you’re wondering at the strange back-drop, it appears that despite the fact that I spent all winter knitting in arenas during the kids’ hockey practices and games, the hockey-knitting still isn’t over for me. The Festival of Quilts was hosted in one of the many arenas in Ottawa, and while the ice surface was gone (thankfully), the boards were not. So here we are, in one of the corners, and you can see the blue zamboni door in the background. At least we didn’t get the penalty box. 😉
The show was manly about quilting, but the table next to ours was occupied by the Ottawa Guild of Lacemakers. They were demonstrating bobbin lace, and I really wish I had taken some pictures of them to show you. When I was in elementary school – grade 5 or 6, I think – I actually got to make some bobbin lace in school. I had seen the cushions up on some high shelf in the classroom, and I asked my teacher to show me. She was delighted, as bobbin lace had fallen out of fashion, and I don’t think she’d gotten to teach anyone bobbin lace for 20 years or so. I made a few lace borders, but after grade 6 I switched schools, and I don’t think I’ve ever even seen bobbin lace cushions since then. It was really lovely to see it again, and there appear to have been advances in the field of bobbin lace cushions since I last saw them, but the basics were still the same. Lots of fun.
Thanks for posting the pics but mostly for coming out to help out! Having company certainly helped while away the day. I really must practice smiling for the camera; I’m usually taking the photos instead of posing in them… You can tell, hunh? LOL!!
The Quilt Fair was a lot of fun, and our booth got a lot of attention. Thanks to all the knitters who came out and helped as well as those who visited.