Wanna get your mitts on some yarn?

There's no better way than to attend one of our Knitty Yarn Roundtable Nights! I've just announced the next cycle of openings -- September, October and November. You can RSVP for one of the events in the cycle...this is the fairest way to give everyone a chance to play. Instructions on how to RSVP are on the Yarn Roundtable blog.

Did you know:
- Everyone gets to knit all 5 yarns at each event
- Many of these yarns will be new to you, some will be old friends
- The Purple Purl -- our hosts -- makes great coffee, tea and has amazing baked goods.
- Everyone goes home with a little something...and sometimes a big something. There are always door prizes at Knitty events, you know!
- It doesn't matter where you live; if you can get to Toronto for the event, we would love to have you! We've had guests from all over the US and Canada!

Wanna see the results of previous Yarn Roundtable nights? Peek here and here!

It's very freaky, Bowie.

It really happened. Baseballic proof above. Below, video proof. The first clip is hysterical -- they drove me out on the field in a van! If you listen, you can hear the announcer saying something about "Amy Singer, editor of Knitty..." and then a whole bunch of stuff I can't make out.

Surreal? You can't even imagine. If there weren't pictures, I'd swear it didn't happen.

[For the full photo thread, click the baseball pic above. I captioned them, even.]





Yes, I threw it respectably well enough. The ball made it all the way to the mascot's catcher's mitt, no troubles. But my favorite thing was the huge cheers I got from the knitters in the 200 section. The roar was clearly coming from my people and there were a LOT of them. 900+ tickets sold. You guys make me proud to be a Toronto girl.

Oh, I hear there was knitting afterwards. I tried to knit two rows, frogged both, and spent the rest of the game chatting with friends and, at the end, finally watching the field. We won, and it was a great win -- last hit of the last inning kind of thing. Love baseball when it's good.

brunettes, not fighter jets!

In honor of this, and with much trepidation and also the strapping on of some very large balls, I present my online ukulele debut.

Groupies may apply to peoplewithverylowstandards@knitty.com



This song is not in my key vocally [I'm sort of high-alto], but I could play all the chords, so I left it as it was. And the reason I decided to put the video up despite all common sense is that I'm quite proud of my uke playing after just over a week of practise. The singing-along is a necessary evil.

All other knitter/ukulele players, raise your hands! Bring your ukes to stitch nights! Amuse your fellow knitters, and have everyone sing along! I'll be bringing mine to Rhinebeck and encourage all of you who are coming to do the same!

Seriously, though. I just sang for you on teh interwebs. If you're in Toronto tomorrow night, you'd better come out and represent for the knitters when I throw out the first pitch. No coming in late. I will likely never be on the pitcher's mound in a huge stadium again in my lifetime. You don't want to miss that, do you?

you can't take me out anywhere, but someone's gonna try.

hub brought me this last night as a little present.

a pink baseball.

for what reason?

why?

i guess it's well-known enough that i am fond of pink, but that's not the main reason.

it's a baseball, after all. what is it doing in my house?

perhaps a closeup might make its purpose more apparent:


dudes. i'm gonna throw out the first pitch at the Toronto Stitch & Pitch game on August 5th.

i am simultaneously thrilled, horrified, terrified, excited and a little giddy. the baseball is in our house because i don't just throw like the stereotypical girl. i throw like a 4-year-old girl. hub says we're gonna train before it's time for me to stand on the pitcher's mound in the middle of SkyDome the stadium in front of, like, lots of people, and try [desperately] to at least get the ball as far as the catcher.

meanwhile, my friend Dawn tells me this Training ball is the same type of ball 5-year-olds use to play t-ball. and i bet they can all throw the ball better than i can.

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garden update!

so the fence was in when i last wrote about our troubled backyard.

last fall, we planted two apple trees and lots of shrubs in the border to begin filling it out.


well, the lawn is scraggly and there are tons of weeds, but there is also a brand new raised bed! we bought a raised bed kit from Lee Valley Tools, and i searched out patio stones that weren't butt-ugly for the sidewalls. these look like slate. hub built the thing with great care, ensuring there was anti-weed cloth under the box and sifting the soil to get out as much of the wild violet roots as possible.


foody things are now growing in there! we transplanted the tomato, and planted arugula, parsley and endive seeds for the buns -- everything but the parsely sprouted in 2 days! we're too late in the season for much else, but i will go seek out some overgrown seedlings at the garden centers that are still open around here.

Knitty Yarn Roundtable nights -- June, July & August dates announced!

Do you know about Knitty's Yarn Roundtable evenings? If you're in the Toronto area, or will be in the next three months, you could join in!

We've added virtual yarn sampling to Knitty. In the spirit of Knitty, these events are a social, collaborative project where a group of us will gather around an assortment of yarns from just about every yarn company on the planet, and get to touch, swatch, fondle and tell the world what you think of the yarn. We want to share our favorites with our readers and let them know about surprises that knit up much differently than the average knitter would expect from just looking or squeezing a ball. As is the custom with Knitty, stuff we don't like won't appear in our pages.

Jacquie B. [goddess of all things organized and fun] and I will be there as secretaries and social butterflies for the evenings, gathering your comments and evaluating which yarns will end up in the Yarn Roundtable feature each issue.

We'll be holding the Yarn Roundtable nights at the fabulous, friendly The Purple Purl [1162 Queen St. E. Toronto]. 30 knitters are welcome at each evening, and in order to let as many people as possible have a chance to participate, you can RSVP for only 1 event in every cycle [that's 3 months]. We hold these events monthly (or almost) so there will be lots of chances for everyone to swatch the good stuff!

There's a lot of organization involved in keeping this event tidy and making sure it can run smoothly. Your assistance in following all instructions is very much appreciated!

We've set up a blog just for RSVPs. Each event has its own blog post. To RSVP, simply read the instructions for that evening and if you're eligible, leave a comment to that post. The blog is here. Go forth and be orderly, but with amusement!

Dancing Squids!

Guess who went to her college reunion last night? [Ryerson, Radio & Television Arts] This is my favorite part of classmate Tim Burns' epic production, Fuzzy Dice. My favorite moment is at 1:15.

Spread the word. Everyone needs more squids in their life.

It's time to party!

Okay. So the Knitter's Frolic is in two days. Saturday, if you knit and you're in Toronto, you're likely going to be there. It ends at 4pm. What will you do with yourself afterwards?

Why, you're going to offload your new goodies, have a little dinner and then come down to Lettuce Knit to celebrate with us! [70 Nassau Street in Kensington Market]

Yes, the More Big Girl Knits book launch party is this Saturday at 7pm.

We will have cupcakes from Life Is Sweet [come early. they'll go fast.]
We will have a ton of door prizes.
We will have JILLIAN in person for the first time in Toronto in ages.
We will have a live Irish all-woman band playing us into the evening [we <3 the Polka Dots!]
We will have all the garments from the book for you to try on and feel great in!

And much more. Denny has promised, if we get her drunk enough, to do a nice jig.

Shannon Okey will be there. Oh, yeah -- I'll be there, too.

Please come!

And since we've spent nearly every penny of our advance actually producing the book and what was left on the cupcakes, we hope you will BYOB. Thank you.

Bring your knitting! Wear a sweater [it will get cool when the sun goes down and you won't want to go home that early]! Bring a folding chair if you feel like it!

See you Saturday!

p.s. Yup, I was on BT again this morning. When I can get my laptop to talk to the Tivo, I'll get the clip up. Wait till you see the kickass models I found for the sweaters this time!

um, wow.

This is Tracey. This picture pretty much sums up yesterday's launch party at Threadbear. People walked in as normal folks, tried on sweaters, and turned into coquettish vixens of Big Girl bounty and beauty. Click on Tracey's name above to read her account of the afternoon. She's not on our publisher's payroll, promise.

It really was a beautiful thing to see everyone stripping in the middle of a yarn store [down to t-shirts, people -- there was no nudity :-) ] and trying on all the sweaters from the book. Some were quiet. Some were squee-machines. All were smiling at one point during the day [for some, it was ALL DAY]. Here, look:



And here is Jillian, getting a huge, long hug from a knitter [I'm sorry I don't remember your name!] who tried on Cable Love, walked right over to J and thanked her for making her feel beautiful. We all welled up. It was a seriously beautiful moment, and she DID look super fabulous, too. So many smiles. So many women surprised at how they could look in a sweater that was designed to fit them and flatter their figure.

We laughed, we gave advice, we picked colors, and then picked new ones because the selection was so big it was hard to choose! We ate cupcakes without apology. We had an absolutely fabulous day.

Thank you to Rob and Matt, our beloved Threadbear boys. They give the best hugs, and the cupcakes were MORE than promised. We wanted to eat one of each flavor, but managed to top out at 2 or 3. We gave out new Big Girl and Knitty buttons and we mostly laughed until our sides were sore. More pictures can be found on my Flickr, but I leave you with this:



We're going to try to do it all again in two weeks at Lettuce Knit. Will you be there?

Toronto central/east-enders unite!

Help stop the possible invasion of our area by big box stores like W*l-m*rt by signing this letter, if you agree with its contents. The full story is here.

We've got enough of this stuff at Eglinton Avenue and further north. We don't need any more characterless shopping in an area that could be revitalized a hundred different -- and BETTER -- ways. Plus we know what happens to small businesses when big box stores open nearby, and losing the character of Leslieville and the Beach would be a disaster for this city.

Thank you for listening. :-)

Crazy go nuts day!

I can think of no better way to celebrate Harlot day in Toronto than by buying her book AND ours, which was just released this very day. Even.

Don't forget -- we're having launch parties in TWO CITIES for More Big Girl Knits, and everyone is invited.

More Big Girl Knits launch party, v 1.0
location: Threadbear Fiber Arts, East Lansing, MI
date: April 13th, 1pm
the boys know how to throw a big party and we can't wait!

More Big Girl Knits launch party v 1.1
location: Lettuce Knit, Toronto, ON
date: April 26th, 7pm [conveniently timed to let you finish up at the Knitter's Frolic and then come and join us in Kensington Market!]

Jillian and I will be at both parties, as well as
- samples from the book [possibly their only appearance en masse as we have to return them to the designers shortly]
- cupcakes
- the new Big Girls book in the flesh [both shops will have them for sale]
- DOOR PRIZES, people

what I did during Earth Hour

I was reading the latest issue of Spin Off by battery operated lantern light and realized that if I didn't pull out the wheel right then, I was clearly missing a strange anachronistic opportunity.

So this was me, spinning by candlelight [and a little battery-operated Coleman lantern], and it was very nice. I'm working on filling a bobbin with aqua-blue bamboo, and got quite a nice bit done tonight. Remarkable how much of spinning is touch-based, so not a lot of light was needed. Then again, I haven't really looked at what I spun in the dark. :-)

Have I mentioned recently how much I love my Schacht Ladybug? I do. I will elaborate in the next Knittyspin column.

p.s. in case you somehow missed it, Earth Hour details here. sure it's a gimmick, but anything that gets us to remember to turn off the lights is a good gimmick imo. our whole neighborhood is pretty much still dark and it's 10pm. really cool.

The Purple Purl is open!

IMG_3448.JPG
Originally uploaded by amysinger

I totally gapped that we were getting another new yarn shop in town. Since it's in my old hood and not far from the beach, I headed out there today and met new mama Jen and darling baby Fenner for a peek about.

They've got lovely stuff, a huge space and will be serving coffee and snacks soon.

I've taken a few photos. Wanna see? Yeah, I might have bought one skein of the Indigo Moon purple silk. Can you blame me?

nuit blanche Toronto 2007

a string of diamonds, zone A.

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note to self: you don't like crowds. next time, go to bed at 8pm, get up at 2 and walk through a much quieter, still-cool experience.

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favorite exhibit: the cool drums and percussion on queen, east of dufferin

favorite hands on: making boondoggle [gimp] weavy stuff at Camp Night Owl in Trinity Bellwoods Park

most disappointing payoff after a long wait in line: ghost station [the abandoned subway station under Bay]. it was spooky for about 15 seconds. then it was just loud and dark. hrm.

a few more pics at Flickr for those who also like blurry tiny lights in the night sky.

another reason you wish you lived in Toronto

This time, not knit-related:
The Queen West Art Crawl, which I missed due to aforementioned motorcycle school, and now that I've read the recap, I'm pissed! It looks amazing!

Things I most wish I'd seen:
- the Boychoir of Lesbos [not kidding]
- little sculptures of mushrooms hidden in windows
- the lady you could throw water on

Full details and pictures are on the Torontoist site above. Do click the link.