december's blue sky

in western newfoundland, december is another grey month. in recent years, it can rain in early december (something unheard of in the past). late december brings the first of the winter's snow storms. so in december the sky is grey or white. but early this week we had a rare sunny day. the sky deep blue. the sky we usually begin to get early in the new year. that makes winter bearable.

hot and spicy

keith is a vegetarian version of a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy. he likes his food simple and familiar. so it was a happy surprise when he raved about the lentil dal that my daughter and son-in-law made us last week. we're experiencing a cold snap here in western newfoundland (as they are in most of canada this week) so it was a perfect meal to make a couple of nights ago. and it inspired my most recent skein of yarn...

lentil dal

saute a chopped onion, some garlic, a grated carrot and a spoonful of curry paste (i use mild patak curry) in lots of margerine
add a tin of diced tomatoes, 1/2 a veggie cube, 1/2 c. green lentils, 1/2 c. of red lentils and some water.
cook until the green lentils are soft. adjust seasoning to taste.
i served it with naam (spread with margerine and lightly salted and baked at 400 for about 10 minutes) and a salad. yum yum.

pink

i took 60 shawl/scarves to toronto and sold out in the first two days of the show. for the following 9 days i kept knitting and taking orders. at first people wanted to order a shawl like the green one in the poster. i displayed my own pink shawl in my booth as a sample and got alot of orders for pink shawls. so tuesday i dyed up pink fibre and yesterday spun 4 skeins to incorporate into the pink shawls (and one to go up into my long-neglected etsy shop!).

and now i'll rest

the past few months have been crazy busy leading up to the toronto ooak show. the positive reaction there kept me running strong for 11 days, 11 hour days. the constant talking and dry air in the building gave me a cough which has stayed with me. the trip across the island and 5 days with the grandchildren have finally caught up with me. now i need to rest. lots of sleep. food that my body is used to - that keeps me healthy. i took orders for work at the show but knew enough not to promise anything before january and although i've slowly started filling them, i'm doing it without pressure. rest.

finding christmas in st. john's

i spent 2 weeks in toronto. 11 days working the toronto one of a kind show. a couple of days before and after the show re-acquainting myself with toronto. out of the corner of my eye i kept seeing signs of christmas. the huge tree in the centre of the ooak show. the animated window displays in the bay's downtown store. and it kept catching me off guard. "oh, yes, it's almost christmas". i was too busy all autumn leading into the show to give it any thought.
we just returned from 5 days in st. john's - visiting with my daughter and her husband and the grandchildren. and there i found christmas. setting up the christmas village on the first morning and 4 year old lucy spending every spare moment with it all weekend - arranging and re-arranging the magic. watching poppy keith and eamon (who both have beautiful singing voices) singing at the wassail pageant at cochrane united church where 2 of their other grandparents (my grandchildren have 4 sets of grandparents) were wassail dancing with bells and jester's hats. the "boys" playing with the new shuffle board game that eamon got at a christmas party that nanny milly took the children to. making rice krispie christmas tree cookies with poppy on the last morning (we discovered that none of the adults in the house had ever made rice krispie treats. being with family. being with children. that's where christmas was hiding...

highlights

i've been home for a day now and am leaving again tomorrow morning for a few days of visiting with "the little family' in st. john's. then home to settle in for the winter. while it's all still fresh, i wanted to share a few of my highlights of my trip to toronto for the one of a kind show.

1. grayona tourist home. although i have friends and family in toronto, i choose to stay at grayona tourist home on king st. west. it is close to where the exhibition takes place. i can walk in the morning (a 45 min. walk), so can get some exercise before the 11 hours each day at the show. it has a private kitchen and bath so i can make my own breakfast and prepare a lunch and come home after the show and cook a hot meal. from the windows i look out over lake ontario. feels like home.i took this photo the first morning of brenda's elegant head forms that she let me use at the show to display my scarflettes. the sun pouring through the lace.

2. on the first evening i met with family (i have a brother and sister living in toronto). we went to "pan's" for dinner - a greek restaurant on the danforth. wonderful food. lively music and the sweetest belly dancer. i love the ethnic mix in toronto (newfoundland tends to be mostly anglo). at the show i loved hearing stories of spindle spinning in malta and portugal...

3. there is alot of "stuff" in toronto. everywhere. very exciting and stimulating but ultimately exhausting.

4. meeting my customers. most of my selling is online (etsy) so i don't get to see who is buying my work. on the first friday, this young woman bought a skein of yarn from me. 3 days later she returned to show me what she had made from it. a crocheted cowl - tightly crocheted so she could also use it to wrap up in her hair. she brought her mother along and they each bought another skein. nothing like face to face...

5. the other vendors. i always feel that these craft fairs must be like being on a cruise ship (with alot more work!) you become very good friends over the course of the show with the vendors in your "neighbourhood". you take care of one another. watch each other's booths for pee breaks. bring each other food and water. make trades of products. look forward to re-uniting at other shows. dawn who makes jewellery in burlington bought a shawl scarf from me. doesn't she look radiant?

6. and finally, after a successful show, brenda and i allowed ourselves a few treats. a little shopping. and at the airport on the way home - a shoeshine (something i've always wanted to do...)

beyond my wildest dreams

my experience at the toronto one of a kind went better than i could have ever imagined. this was based mainly on the incredible pre-show advertising i got with this shawl/scarf. and giving the spinning workshop drew attention to my work on the ooak blog and website. so i sold half my product (yarn and knitwear) in the first 2 days, and by the end of the 11 day show had completely sold out. i kept a sample of each product back - a skein of yarn, a shawl/scarf, fingerless gloves. a baby hat and a scarflette, so i was able to take orders (which i'll begin as soon as i catch my breath). because of the sucess, i've decided to do the spring show too (march 31 - april 4th) and try to keep the momentum and interest going.
to all of you blog-followers - it was lovely meeting you and having a few faces now! tomorrow - when i wake up a little more - i'll post some more show photos.
i'm off to st.john's for a few days at the end of the week, so next week my etsy shop will start filling up again...