So, Swatchy and I will be in southern Ontario for the labour day weekend. We arrive in Toronto Saturday, August 30 at 9:20 am (leaving at a horribly early hour in order to do so... but that's what was available to fly with points). Sunday we'll be in St Catherine's for the wedding, and then we leave Toronto at 4:15 on Tuesday. Other than the wedding, arrival, and departure, I think we're pretty flexible, limited only by what our mooched rides and accommodations dictate. (So if you can provide cat-free and cigarette-free travel and/or couch for sleeping, our flexibility increases beyond what my family will provide.) Anyone interested in hanging out and/or visiting yarn shops with us? Or doing other things with Swatchy so Knittah can travel-by-proxy? I think my dad and his fiancee are planning on spending Monday in Niagara Falls, so get-togethers around there are possible too.
My motivations:
1. I can't stay and/or visit with one branch of the family, because there's apparently a feud going on. (I'm only involved by proxy, but since the wedding is on the other side of the dispute, I'm thinking I should avoid causing the two sides to come into contact.)
2. The side of the family on the wedding side of the feud that is in Toronto has severe mildew problems in the house, so my health dictates that I don't sleep with them, but I can spend time with them.
3. The third option is staying in the camper with my dad and his fiancee... and frankly, the more privacy I can give them, I think, the better. ;)
4. Visiting yarn shops and/or doing other touristy stuff is fun.
5. I imagine my dad and his fiancee would prefer to see "romantic" places like Niagara Falls alone, rather than me hanging on as a third wheel.
6. I imagine my Toronto family that is on the wedding side will have wedding stuff (prep before, or clean-up after) to do, and I'd probably be in the way again.
Anyway, if you think you might be interested, send me an e-mail, and we can discuss details.
PS: I'll be out of e-mail contact (and pretty much any other form of contact) August 9-28, so we should arrange details soon.
Showing posts with label Toronto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toronto. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Another year, another road trip!
Howdy Knittah! Welcome, Swatchy Doc! Happy 2008!
As usual, we can't seem to stay in Buffalo for more than a few weeks at a time before leaving town again. For the last weekend of 2007, we drove to New Jersey to meet up with some friends and go to a football game. We know you're not particularly a fan of either of the teams who played, but it was still fun, and the weather was much calmer than our last game.
The first weekend of 2008 didn't involve any sporting events, but it did take us out of the country, to Canada! We love Toronto, and take advantage of any chance we get to visit. Our hotel room had a decent view of the city..
We watched some people enjoying the mild weather on their skates.
We didn't have time to go up in the CN Tower, but we get to use it as a reference point when we forgot what direction we were supposed to be walking in.
Of course, we had to go to Lettuce Knit! Look at their adorable roving trees (and wreath)!!
Inside, we met Denny, and her little animal friend.. Is he a mouse? A bear? Is he Canadian? We never did find out, but he's certainly friendly!
Very, very friendly!
Our 2008 is off to a great start, hope yours is too!
Love,
Not So Swatchy
As usual, we can't seem to stay in Buffalo for more than a few weeks at a time before leaving town again. For the last weekend of 2007, we drove to New Jersey to meet up with some friends and go to a football game. We know you're not particularly a fan of either of the teams who played, but it was still fun, and the weather was much calmer than our last game.
The first weekend of 2008 didn't involve any sporting events, but it did take us out of the country, to Canada! We love Toronto, and take advantage of any chance we get to visit. Our hotel room had a decent view of the city..
We watched some people enjoying the mild weather on their skates.
We didn't have time to go up in the CN Tower, but we get to use it as a reference point when we forgot what direction we were supposed to be walking in.
Of course, we had to go to Lettuce Knit! Look at their adorable roving trees (and wreath)!!
Inside, we met Denny, and her little animal friend.. Is he a mouse? A bear? Is he Canadian? We never did find out, but he's certainly friendly!
Very, very friendly!
Our 2008 is off to a great start, hope yours is too!
Love,
Not So Swatchy
Monday, September 24, 2007
Oh, Canada!
Here I am waiting at Newark Airport, passport at the ready!
Hi Knittah! Well, Devon and I are here in beautiful Toronto...
That's in Canada!
Yes, Devon, she knows where Toronto is. Anyway, today we went to the CN Tower.
This Canadian money looks so funny -- it's all different colors!
Yes, it is. Can I finish telling Knittah about Toronto now?
Oh yeah, sorry.
So the CN Tower is the second tallest building in the whole world.
And they have $1 and $2 COINS instead of bills!
DEVON!
But I want to tell her they're called loonies and twonies.
Are you done now?
Yes. Zip it, lock it, put it in my pocket.
So the view from the observation deck is incredible! You can see for miles -- all of Toronto and out Lake Ontario. We had a drink and a snack at the cafe and sat right next to the wall of windows. I have made great friends with Melanie's 4 year old daughter. She loves carrying me around.
Last night I had sweet potato fries with BLUEBERRY DIJONAISE!
So that's all for today! Good night all! Tomorrow we're going to the Royal Ontario Museum!
WAIT!! Tell her about the black squirrels!!
Drinking some delicious iced tea...
A view of the CN Tower from below -- Whoa!
On the observation deck -- there's also a glass floor you can step out on -- it's wild!
TOOOOOO-Ronto! Toronto! I love ya, Toronto. You're only a--
Go to bed, Devon.
Hi Knittah! Well, Devon and I are here in beautiful Toronto...That's in Canada!
Yes, Devon, she knows where Toronto is. Anyway, today we went to the CN Tower.
This Canadian money looks so funny -- it's all different colors!
Yes, it is. Can I finish telling Knittah about Toronto now?
Oh yeah, sorry.
So the CN Tower is the second tallest building in the whole world.
And they have $1 and $2 COINS instead of bills!
DEVON!
Yes. Zip it, lock it, put it in my pocket.
Last night I had sweet potato fries with BLUEBERRY DIJONAISE!
WAIT!! Tell her about the black squirrels!!
Drinking some delicious iced tea...
A view of the CN Tower from below -- Whoa!
On the observation deck -- there's also a glass floor you can step out on -- it's wild!TOOOOOO-Ronto! Toronto! I love ya, Toronto. You're only a--
Go to bed, Devon.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Represent Meet and Greet
Dear Knittah,
Let me introduce you to a sampling of the fabulous knitters at Indigo and The Spotted Dick last Friday night.
I'll start off with some group shots at Indigo, just to give you an idea of how many people were there:
(Yep, there were people on the upper levels too!)
Ooooooo! There she is!!!
and here she is taking photos of us with the sock!
Did you see us in the photos on her blog? I must admit we were pretty tiny.
Now I'll start introducing some of the people Noricum and I met. (If I make mistakes, I'm sorry. Noricum wasn't very good with the note taking.)
Here's Maria:
She has an *awesome* accent. We actually first met her at Lettuce Knit the other night, and Noricum helped her model her sweater that hasn't been assembled yet. :)
Meet Jo and her adorable kids:
Oooo! I just checked her blog, and she's going to talk about meeting me!!!
Now meet Tania:
I just noticed that our shirts matched that night!
Hee hee! I snuck up on to the signing table at one point!
(No, I didn't find out who these two ladies with the Yarn Harlot were. The lady in the background is Rachel H, commenter extraordinaire.)
Next is Aurora and Sarah... no blogs, but very friendly people:
This next lady is Marsha:
Noricum is going through some sort of pink phase, and so just *had* to get a photo of the pink hat. It turns out that it was a lucky happenstance... Noricum gave her a postcard before we parted... and it turns out she has CFS too! Now, it's not good that she has CFS, but it is neat to meet others with CFS, and she was glad to have met us too.
To make up for the "Ken with food" shot, Noricum made sure to get a "Ken with knitting" shot:
This is Garry:
Garry was the sound guy for the signing. Noricum was silly and thought he might be Joe, because she noticed that Stephanie looked in his direction when she mentioned Joe... either it was coincidence, or she just had trouble seeing from where she was. However, he said we could take his photo and post it to the blog as long as we remembered to spell Garry with two r's. (At least Noricum *thinks* his name is Garry... it's *something* with two r's.)
We stuck around to the bitter end (when Stephanie was handed piles of books and asked to sign them, when what she really could have used was a beer). Just before she left, they asked her to sign the table too:
Apparently all the authors do. (I suppose her mother can now say she signed the table "just like a real author.")
Wouldn't you know it, knitters filled up the Spotted Dick too:
Here I met even more people! Like knitrous:
and Alynxia, aspiring sock designer:
(She already has several designs under her belt, but since she hasn't published them yet, she doesn't feel she can truly call herself a sock designer. But keep a look out for sock patterns by her that I expect will be awesome!)
Noricum and I hung out some more with Aurora and Sarah:
Sarah has a cute Welsh accent and bought me a drink:
In return, Noricum bought us some fish and chips (this is an English pub, after all) and shared the fries with Sarah:
Shelley had a problem involving yarn:
(um, and with Noricum photographing her with her eyes shut), but Noricum and I soon had things untangled:
(Look! Her eyes are even open now! She can bear to look at the yarn again!)
It was Drea's birthday on Friday:
If you can't tell, she's a Canadian Olympic knitter. I forgot to ask if she won gold. Happy Birthday Drea!
And, finally, I am truly honoured to introduce Joe:
*The* Joe. Joe was reluctant to have his photo taken, but relented at the very end of the night.
Noricum and I were at the Spotted Dick until around 1:00 am (we weren't the very last to leave, but there weren't many left), and didn't tumble into bed until 2:30 am! Boy, were we ever tired! But it was *so* worth it. :)
Hugs,
Swatchy
Let me introduce you to a sampling of the fabulous knitters at Indigo and The Spotted Dick last Friday night.
I'll start off with some group shots at Indigo, just to give you an idea of how many people were there:
(Yep, there were people on the upper levels too!)
Ooooooo! There she is!!!
and here she is taking photos of us with the sock!
Did you see us in the photos on her blog? I must admit we were pretty tiny.
Now I'll start introducing some of the people Noricum and I met. (If I make mistakes, I'm sorry. Noricum wasn't very good with the note taking.)
Here's Maria:
She has an *awesome* accent. We actually first met her at Lettuce Knit the other night, and Noricum helped her model her sweater that hasn't been assembled yet. :)
Meet Jo and her adorable kids:
Oooo! I just checked her blog, and she's going to talk about meeting me!!!
Now meet Tania:
I just noticed that our shirts matched that night!
Hee hee! I snuck up on to the signing table at one point!
(No, I didn't find out who these two ladies with the Yarn Harlot were. The lady in the background is Rachel H, commenter extraordinaire.)
Next is Aurora and Sarah... no blogs, but very friendly people:
This next lady is Marsha:
Noricum is going through some sort of pink phase, and so just *had* to get a photo of the pink hat. It turns out that it was a lucky happenstance... Noricum gave her a postcard before we parted... and it turns out she has CFS too! Now, it's not good that she has CFS, but it is neat to meet others with CFS, and she was glad to have met us too.
To make up for the "Ken with food" shot, Noricum made sure to get a "Ken with knitting" shot:
This is Garry:
Garry was the sound guy for the signing. Noricum was silly and thought he might be Joe, because she noticed that Stephanie looked in his direction when she mentioned Joe... either it was coincidence, or she just had trouble seeing from where she was. However, he said we could take his photo and post it to the blog as long as we remembered to spell Garry with two r's. (At least Noricum *thinks* his name is Garry... it's *something* with two r's.)
We stuck around to the bitter end (when Stephanie was handed piles of books and asked to sign them, when what she really could have used was a beer). Just before she left, they asked her to sign the table too:
Apparently all the authors do. (I suppose her mother can now say she signed the table "just like a real author.")
Wouldn't you know it, knitters filled up the Spotted Dick too:
Here I met even more people! Like knitrous:
and Alynxia, aspiring sock designer:
(She already has several designs under her belt, but since she hasn't published them yet, she doesn't feel she can truly call herself a sock designer. But keep a look out for sock patterns by her that I expect will be awesome!)
Noricum and I hung out some more with Aurora and Sarah:
Sarah has a cute Welsh accent and bought me a drink:
In return, Noricum bought us some fish and chips (this is an English pub, after all) and shared the fries with Sarah:
Shelley had a problem involving yarn:
(um, and with Noricum photographing her with her eyes shut), but Noricum and I soon had things untangled:
(Look! Her eyes are even open now! She can bear to look at the yarn again!)
It was Drea's birthday on Friday:
If you can't tell, she's a Canadian Olympic knitter. I forgot to ask if she won gold. Happy Birthday Drea!
And, finally, I am truly honoured to introduce Joe:
*The* Joe. Joe was reluctant to have his photo taken, but relented at the very end of the night.
Noricum and I were at the Spotted Dick until around 1:00 am (we weren't the very last to leave, but there weren't many left), and didn't tumble into bed until 2:30 am! Boy, were we ever tired! But it was *so* worth it. :)
Hugs,
Swatchy
Represent, 10 second video clip style
Dear Knittah,
To give you a bit more of a feel of things at the Toronto book launch, Noricum took some videos. Here's the first:
Sadly, after the first, Noricum forgot that when she holds her camera sideways, the camera films sideways. If you get motion-sickness, you may want to tilt your monitor, or watch with your eyes closed:
I'm sorry they're so short and that there aren't very many, but Noricum's camera wasn't meant to be used as a video camera and so has limitations. She also didn't want to use up all the battery and memory before we got to the Spotted Dick.
Okay... now I'm off to upload all the photos so I can blog about them. Wait until you see all the neat people I met!!!
Love,
Swatchy
To give you a bit more of a feel of things at the Toronto book launch, Noricum took some videos. Here's the first:
Sadly, after the first, Noricum forgot that when she holds her camera sideways, the camera films sideways. If you get motion-sickness, you may want to tilt your monitor, or watch with your eyes closed:
I'm sorry they're so short and that there aren't very many, but Noricum's camera wasn't meant to be used as a video camera and so has limitations. She also didn't want to use up all the battery and memory before we got to the Spotted Dick.
Okay... now I'm off to upload all the photos so I can blog about them. Wait until you see all the neat people I met!!!
Love,
Swatchy
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Picnic At York University
Dear Knittah,
Noricum has a decent internet connection again so I'm going to try to catch up on some posts. I realize I still have some really old posts I planned to write, but I'll catch up with this past week first.
Last Friday we had a lovely picnic lunch at York University. This is the center of the main bus loop (I don't know if it has an official name or not):
Noricum and I shared some pizza and orange juice.
We weren't sure if we wanted one slice or two, so we bought two. We only ended up eating one, but luckily the dorm apartment has a fridge, so we saved the other slice for the next day. The bag claimed the pizza to be the "hottest"... but it wasn't. Temperature wise it was best described as "warm", and it wasn't spicy either. It was reasonably good, though, so we were happy.
Having a picnic on the grass in the shade of a tree was quite enjoyable.
Love,
Swatchy
Noricum has a decent internet connection again so I'm going to try to catch up on some posts. I realize I still have some really old posts I planned to write, but I'll catch up with this past week first.
Last Friday we had a lovely picnic lunch at York University. This is the center of the main bus loop (I don't know if it has an official name or not):
Noricum and I shared some pizza and orange juice.
We weren't sure if we wanted one slice or two, so we bought two. We only ended up eating one, but luckily the dorm apartment has a fridge, so we saved the other slice for the next day. The bag claimed the pizza to be the "hottest"... but it wasn't. Temperature wise it was best described as "warm", and it wasn't spicy either. It was reasonably good, though, so we were happy.
Having a picnic on the grass in the shade of a tree was quite enjoyable.
Love,
Swatchy
Friday, May 25, 2007
Knittah Representin'
Dear Swatchy,
Wow. Just, wow. You got to go to the Lettuce Knit SnB. You met the Yarn Harlot. And Amy Singer. And the Keyboard Biologist. Wow. It's a knit blogger's dream come true.
I would love to go to Lettuce Knit and meet all those great folks. But chances are, I never will. Travel is hard when you have CFIDS. The reality is that Toronto will probably never rise to the top of my long list of places I want to see. Unless the Yarn Harlot comes to Philly, I'll probably never meet her. At least Amy Singer is coming this summer, and Nori and I will try to get there.
Seeing your pictures is bittersweet. On the one hand, I'm thrilled that you and Noricum had such a great time. But it is a sad reminder of what I cannot do. That is why Noricum suggested this blog to begin with! I made you, Swatchy, because Noricum said she would carry you to great places, and a piece of me would come along.
She was right. A piece of me was representing along with you both.
Love, Knittah
*waves merrily at the Yarn Harlot, the Lettuce Knit crew, and all the muggles*
Wow. Just, wow. You got to go to the Lettuce Knit SnB. You met the Yarn Harlot. And Amy Singer. And the Keyboard Biologist. Wow. It's a knit blogger's dream come true.
I would love to go to Lettuce Knit and meet all those great folks. But chances are, I never will. Travel is hard when you have CFIDS. The reality is that Toronto will probably never rise to the top of my long list of places I want to see. Unless the Yarn Harlot comes to Philly, I'll probably never meet her. At least Amy Singer is coming this summer, and Nori and I will try to get there.
Seeing your pictures is bittersweet. On the one hand, I'm thrilled that you and Noricum had such a great time. But it is a sad reminder of what I cannot do. That is why Noricum suggested this blog to begin with! I made you, Swatchy, because Noricum said she would carry you to great places, and a piece of me would come along.
She was right. A piece of me was representing along with you both.
Love, Knittah
*waves merrily at the Yarn Harlot, the Lettuce Knit crew, and all the muggles*
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Lettuce Knit
Dear Knittah,
You would have had *so* much fun if you could have been with us last night! Noricum and I went to Lettuce Knit!!! We took the bus and the subway there. I worked some more on the tuque for Friday:
While walking from the subway to LK, we grabbed a hot dog from a street vendor for dinner. And we saw the CN Tower in the distance. Cool!
Noricum has actually been to the top of the CN Tower. She recommends that if you want to go, go for lunch rather than just the view. Lunch there sounds expensive (it's prix fixe), but when you subtract off the amount they would charge you just to go to the top (there's no extra charge if you go for a meal), it's actually pretty decent. Plus there's *no* line! The people not having lunch have a separate line, and it's *really* long! Once you eat the fancy lunch with a view of the city, you can go to the other level that everyone else sees, and have fun there too. Noricum recommends that it be done at least once if you're in Toronto, but we don't really have time to do it this trip.
Look! I'm at the Lettuce Knit SNB!
I met *so* many interesting people!
This lady requires no introduction, of course:
(And look! I'm holding the sock!)
It's Ken!
I recognized him from the Yarn Harlot's blog. Ken is knitting a really lovely aran sweater. (Although Noricum caught him with dinner rather than the sweater. She has bad timing like that.)
This is Jen from My Sensitive Girl Hole:
Noricum neglected to ask for the correct spelling, but this is Meaghan, owner of Lettuce Knit:
(Meaghan, if you visit here, could you give us the correct spelling?) Noricum's credit card got a bit of a workout at Lettuce Knit:
Although she did get her books signed while she was there:
Can you guess what this wall hanging is of?
A vegetable garden! Check out the view from below:
That's hilarious!!! The person who made the wall hanging also has scarves for sale at Lettuce Knit. How perfect is it that "Lettuce" Knit has a vegetable garden (complete with lettuce) hanging on the wall?!?
Okay, time for some more introductions. Let's see... who's here?
This is Emily and Danny:
Danny has a blog too, but he says he rarely posts to it. Emily has the sweetest little baby. Stephanie taught Noricum her "fish face" trick that makes babies smile. It works too!
Eeeeek! Amy Singer!!!
Noricum was rather dense and kept trying to hand her wool to hold. Sheesh. She started to remember by the end of the night. *sigh*
I finished knitting the tuque for Friday:
Noricum made the kind of lame pom-pom. It wasn't really her fault that it was lame, though. The yarn didn't "compress" well, to make the center small enough. Everyone (well, everyone who said something) loved the hat I made, and agreed that it will keep a homeless person's head toasty warm. Noricum is thinking of writing up her pattern. (Although I knit it, she came up with the design.) It's pretty simple, but a cute idea too.
These two aren't knitters:
They were playing a game called "Manhunt". They stopped in to disguise themselves as knitters. Noricum loaned them some needles and yarn.
One last introduction before I go. This is Rachel H, commenter extraordinaire:
We had such a lovely time! I got to meet so many cool people, I knit, and Noricum crocheted a few more rounds on the hyperbolic plane. We wish you could have been there with us. But, you were there in spirit.
Love,
Swatchy
You would have had *so* much fun if you could have been with us last night! Noricum and I went to Lettuce Knit!!! We took the bus and the subway there. I worked some more on the tuque for Friday:
While walking from the subway to LK, we grabbed a hot dog from a street vendor for dinner. And we saw the CN Tower in the distance. Cool!
Noricum has actually been to the top of the CN Tower. She recommends that if you want to go, go for lunch rather than just the view. Lunch there sounds expensive (it's prix fixe), but when you subtract off the amount they would charge you just to go to the top (there's no extra charge if you go for a meal), it's actually pretty decent. Plus there's *no* line! The people not having lunch have a separate line, and it's *really* long! Once you eat the fancy lunch with a view of the city, you can go to the other level that everyone else sees, and have fun there too. Noricum recommends that it be done at least once if you're in Toronto, but we don't really have time to do it this trip.
Look! I'm at the Lettuce Knit SNB!
I met *so* many interesting people!
This lady requires no introduction, of course:
(And look! I'm holding the sock!)
It's Ken!
I recognized him from the Yarn Harlot's blog. Ken is knitting a really lovely aran sweater. (Although Noricum caught him with dinner rather than the sweater. She has bad timing like that.)
This is Jen from My Sensitive Girl Hole:
Noricum neglected to ask for the correct spelling, but this is Meaghan, owner of Lettuce Knit:
(Meaghan, if you visit here, could you give us the correct spelling?) Noricum's credit card got a bit of a workout at Lettuce Knit:
Although she did get her books signed while she was there:
Can you guess what this wall hanging is of?
A vegetable garden! Check out the view from below:
That's hilarious!!! The person who made the wall hanging also has scarves for sale at Lettuce Knit. How perfect is it that "Lettuce" Knit has a vegetable garden (complete with lettuce) hanging on the wall?!?
Okay, time for some more introductions. Let's see... who's here?
This is Emily and Danny:
Danny has a blog too, but he says he rarely posts to it. Emily has the sweetest little baby. Stephanie taught Noricum her "fish face" trick that makes babies smile. It works too!
Eeeeek! Amy Singer!!!
Noricum was rather dense and kept trying to hand her wool to hold. Sheesh. She started to remember by the end of the night. *sigh*
I finished knitting the tuque for Friday:
Noricum made the kind of lame pom-pom. It wasn't really her fault that it was lame, though. The yarn didn't "compress" well, to make the center small enough. Everyone (well, everyone who said something) loved the hat I made, and agreed that it will keep a homeless person's head toasty warm. Noricum is thinking of writing up her pattern. (Although I knit it, she came up with the design.) It's pretty simple, but a cute idea too.
These two aren't knitters:
They were playing a game called "Manhunt". They stopped in to disguise themselves as knitters. Noricum loaned them some needles and yarn.
One last introduction before I go. This is Rachel H, commenter extraordinaire:
We had such a lovely time! I got to meet so many cool people, I knit, and Noricum crocheted a few more rounds on the hyperbolic plane. We wish you could have been there with us. But, you were there in spirit.
Love,
Swatchy
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