TTC Knitalong 2014

Yesterday I got to participate in the 2014 TTC Knitalong, which supports Sistering. It's a lot of fun- this is the second year I've gone.
I was on team Lace with a couple of friends- some I knew would be on my team, but there were some familiar faces among the people I didn't sign up with.

We went to 4 yarn stores around the city with our group before all the groups met up at the Rivoli afterwards for a few drinks and door prizes.

Our group started at the only shop I hadn't been to before, Passionknit.

It was a bit crowded with our whole group, but it's a lovely little store. All the staff were so nice, and they were sweet enough to give us a goody bag with a skein of yarn in it! I ended up buying a second skein in a different colour so I can make a shawl with it, and I also picked up a crochet hook I needed.

We had a great time pawing through all the gorgeous stuff- I was very, very tempted by some amazing 100% silk they had, but managed to stick on budget.

My friends Alia and Kara- Alia just came over and blocked her shawl at my (cat-free) apartment. Isn't it pretty?

The next shop was Creative Yarns out in Scarborough. The owner, Nina, is really nice and has a great sense of colour. Her shop is filled with great design/yarn combos to buy. They also had Kauni, which I haven't seen anywhere else in Toronto. I didn't see the EQ (rainbow) colourway, so I didn't get any, but it was nice to give it a feel.
Erin, Kara and I all bought the same yarn in the same colourway- an amazing neon striped sock yarn. We're planning on bringing it to knit night so we can all make the same socks at the same time. 'Cause we're cool kids.
There's also a delicious bakery next to Creative, so we stopped and got cheese pies to tide us over until lunch.

Here we are on the TTC, enjoying playing with yarn and chatting. This is my awesome groupie skills (a groupie being a selfie with a bunch of people).

The next shop is my favorite and my weakness. The Purple Purl is filled with things I want, including amazing yarn, tasty food and drink and so much colour. Oh how I love the colour.
Not to mention the owners, Jen and Miko, are just the nicest people. They are always friendly, helpful and make you feel welcome.

I knew my resolve would crumble, and after being so good in the first 2 shops I ended up buying a bunch here. Some plain grey Cascade 220 to go with some pink in my stash for a striped cardi, some amazing Liberty Wool Light which I plan on using to design a little baby sweater and a totally dreamy skein of turquoise Sweet Georgia Spun Silk Lace- my big splurge of the day. 100% silk, just gorgeous soft and slinky yarn. I can't wait to play with it.

Kara and I grabbed fish n chips at this awesome little hole in the wall that I used to go to when I worked in the east side. BnB Fish n Chips- yummy and served properly in newspaper.

Here is team Lace! We had an awesome team and great team captains who kept us on schedule and made it a very enjoyable day.

The last shop of our day was Romni Wools, which is a legend. I knew I'd end up buying some fun stuff here, because it's just too huge to not find something amazing!
They've been remodeling to make everything more open, and it looks great. Romni is enormous- I didn't take any pictures of the sale basement, because it's impossible to capture.

I wound up with two skeins of grey and pink angora from the basement (I'm thinking mittens) and from upstairs three skeins of Fleece Artist Knit East- one pink, one yellow, one pink/yellow variegated. Enough for a little cardigan!

After Romni, we made our way to the Rivoli where we promptly dumped our cumulative yarn purchases onto the table.

It's just so beautiful.

Here's my pile. I am so excited to start stitching!

It was a pretty big crowd, and a lot of fun. Everyone is so nice at the KAL!
Once the group had gathered, they went through and did prizes. Each group had 4 prize draws, then there was an enormous draw you could enter for a giant grand prize basket, then a prize for the person who bought the most, then a few draws for the last remaining prizes.

I won something!

That's right, the one prize of the day that is only for knitters... I won. It's an amazingly beautiful set of interchangeable needles, and I just about killed myself laughing when I found out what I'd won.

It was such a great day- it's a wonderful event, all the proceeds go to charity and the volunteers just do an excellent job making it a fun community event. I can't wait for next year, it's the 10th anniversary of the Knitalong, and I plan on being there!