Blythe Brunch + Nuit Blanche

Yesterday there was another Toronto Blythe Gathering, what fun! We met at Sweet Lulu and had the whole upstairs to ourselves, great spot! Magnolia got to meet another Prima Dolly Violet and many more spectacular dolls:


And last night was the 2nd annual Nuit Blanche. I didn't take many photos, but I saw lots of neat stuff. Better time management needed for next year, plus I should've taken an afternoon nap. But we managed to stay out 'til a little after 4am, after a picnic of Fresh take out in Trinity Bellwoods Park. Here are some of the pom poms at Knit Cafe, snipped in the wee hours:

There was so much branding from a certain bank you know, and some of my student loans are with them. Glad to see they're using the interest I'm paying to fund some artsy things!

let's go to the Ex (oh baby)

I didn't grow up in Toronto, so I don't have the strong feelings for the Canadian National Exhibition that some have, but it's tradition for the end of summer here. I've only gone twice ever. I thought there wouldn't be much for me to eat, but they have a Lick's counter in the Food Building so I got a Nature Burger!! (yes vegans think about food all the time!)

Lookie, The Princess Gates were in this version of The Soft City. There were lots of CNE spots in it, like ferris wheel and Tiny Tom donut stand.

Magnolia loved the Lego tower. It's 96 feet high and broke the World Record:

Someone's Bart was too tired to walk:

There were some nice vegetables on display:


Magnolia took a wee rest on the proposed new streetcars:

Labour Day is my vegetarian anniversary, today it makes 14 years!

World Wide Knitting in Public Day 2007 and TTC Knitalong

World Wide KIP Day was on Saturday, and a knitterly good time was had by all at the TTC Knitalong!

Thanks, Melinda, for paying my food bill when I had to backtrack quickly to retrieve my un-lost wallet. Too much yarn on the brain! And thanks to Fibre Floozie for vegan cookies!

NXN Ears ringing

Did all your NXNE-dreams come true? I feel like I soaked a lot of live music out of my wrist band, even though I only saw 10 bands and a play. But I saw one of the bands play 3 times, so it was 12 separate shows, which is alright for three nights.


I didn't take many pictures, musicians move around too fast for my shutter finger. See:


Hey look, it's Mattias B's pick, placed directly into my hand by him. (See Kelly, I'm a fangrrl, too!) He's the one who goes all out with the Pete Townsend riffs and moves. There was an equipment problem at one of the shows, and he was actually polite and friendly with the guitar tech, I love that! I always wonder why most of them don't show the guitar techs a little more love.

knitsters storm mega bookstore

Hi blogsters! MJM and I went to the Yarn Harlot book signing Friday night at a certain mega bookstore. Huge crowd assembled, and most of us were knitting while we waited:

Pierre Pettigrew wandered in, probably just to book browse. He was talking with a clerk and did knitting gestures and had that look on his face lots of non-knitters do when they recall with fondness watching their mother/grandmother/aunt knitting back in the day.

Here she is! She presented a solid hour of stand up comedy about knitters and knitting and CHOKE (cultural humiliation of knitters everywhere):

p.s.

women, knitting, silence, music

I knit a hat and shrug for Magnolia for today's Women's March! Lovely weather for a march, and the good company of Vania, Joel and Mishka.

I saw Starter for 10 this week. I usually really, really love light British films, and HBO films, but this one was just okay. It's set in the Thatcher-era, so the music and clothes are great!! Does it seem that a lot of British movies have Christmas in them?

Best line in the movie: "the people who really care about you don't mind if you make mistakes, it's what you do next that matters."

Last night I went to a six-hour "noble silence." Spending time without talking is no big deal, but spending it in the same room as a bunch of other people and not making eye contact while we do sitting meditations, walking meditations, yoga and mindful eating...powerful stuff. Most of my mind wandering was in the domestic goddess category: things to knit and sew and make nicer.

Quick! Who has a spare ticket I can buy to go see The Pipettes play tonight??

2nd Annual Month of Listening to Women's Music

This is an idea I got last year while reading Inga Musico. It's hard to define "women's music" of course, but at mimum I'm listening to only female vocals for now. If women play the instruments and write the songs too, that's even better. I've got plenty to listen to, but let me know if you have some suggestions. I know Sandy will have lots of ideas!

(By the way, Inga Musico is giving a creative writing workshop in Toronto on Jan 19.)