Halifax and our dear friend Earl

I attended a very interesting yoga retreat, last weekend.  It was held in Halifax and was held by Ashtanga Halifax, who were hosting Nancy Gilgoff (one of the very first Western women to be taught Ashtanga yoga - and to study with K. Pattabhi Jois).  It was quite eye-opening and it has deeply affected how I think of my practice.  I haven't had a chance to talk to my own teacher about what I heard and saw, but it was definitely worth every cent I spent on the trip.

Less appreciated was the pounding we received, courtesy of Hurricane Earl.  Wow.  I thought I knew what a big storm looks like.  I mean, I live in one of the most unforgiving places in North America, for Pete's sake.  Little did I know.  As far as hurricanes go, I guess he was a little tame (and very quick - thanks for small mercies), but it was nerve-wracking nonetheless.  I would have preferred to be safe and sound at home at the time but I was still in the city, staying at a hotel.  I had had the good sense to pick up some new knitting supplies and yarn the day before, knowing that I might get "stranded" with nothing to do.  I went over to The Loop (love it!) on Barrington Street and bought my very first Addi Turbo circular needle.

Why did it take me so long to get one of these? 

Why am I still torturing myself with cheap, metal, dime-store circulars?  Especially when I hate them so much (yes, it's true - I'm a circular-hater).

This thing is wonderful.  This yarn is wonderful.  It's Schoppel Wolle's Zauberball sock yarn in some delicious colourway.  It looks like a bowl of fieldberries.  Yum.  It's destined to become a yoga shawl/wrap thingy.

I started fiddling around with it during the storm (one of the networks obliged me by broadcasting Mansfield Park during the storm... almost like they knew I needed something really good to knit to... I am an unabashed Jane Austen lover) and I experimented with the shaping and construction.  I finally ripped it back, but I haven't given up.  I just didn't have access to my knitting books at the time, but now that I do, I will continue to plug away at it.

I also spent a shameful amount of time that Friday shopping at "Love, Me" (a boutique in Halifax).  Wow.  Bought myself a new camera strap and managed somehow to resist everything else in the shop.  Don't ask me how.

The girl manning the cash suggested I visit another store a few blocks away, called Wildflower.  Double wow.  I found the most amazing sweater there, that I had to lay it down and sketch out the construction of it, convinced that I could reproduce it (it was factory-made and cost $165+tax...a little out of my price range).  Turns out, I don't have to.  Blue Moon has a pattern for that exact sweater and as I subscribe to Knitting Daily, I got the notice about it last week (coincidence? I think not!).  It was so flattering that I think I may have to splurge and get the pattern and yarn to make it for myself (although I just went to their site to calculate the cost of the yarn and it would be $120 AMERICAN - which with our pathetic exchange rate comes to about $4,000,000 CANADIAN - so nevermind).  I think I'll find myself a more "affordable" yarn alternative, yes?

Well, I have a lot more to say, but I also have a "real life" to live and dogs to walk, so I'll leave it at that for now.  See you soon, ok?

PS: Is it bad that after my trip to The Loop and a lengthy discussion with the shop owner about spinning that I now want to go the Maritime Spinners Retreat and feel an undeniable and overpowering need for a portable spinning wheel?  No, I didn't think so.