"Off we go to the Fair"

I spent last Saturday at the Kitchener Waterloo Knitter's fair. It's the largest event of its kind in Canada. A one-day event that in the guilds words is a "fair organized by knitters for knitters."  We had a beautiful day weather wise, sunny and not to hot. I took our GPS which was a good thing as we hit some traffic that was a result of a terrible accident on the highway. We got off the 401 before our planned exit and made our way through some smaller roads arriving just a little later than we would have without the traffic problems. 

The Fair is held at a large amusement park called Bingemens in Kitchener. This year they had more than 70 vendors in attendance. They say the two rooms have 35,000 square feet and they are all filled with a variety of vendors all devoted  to the craft of knitting. It's a great place to see the many hand dyers who are challenging the mainstream yarn companies for business. We also had quite a few Alpaca growers represented this year. I hope the trend continues as I've just finished a shawl in alpaca and I love how beautifully if drapes. The variety of yarn books and accessories available there is amazing.

I did hear from one vendor that they did better at this show than at a longer one that she recently attended in the U.S. The recession in Canada has not been as bad as in the United States some say mainly due to our highly regulated banking industry.  

I did my share to help the economy.

I bought gorgeous gloves while I was in Italy in August so I want to knit some accessories to match. The stunning yellow skeins are from van der rock yarns and I'm thinking of doing some sort of a small lace project with them. You can find Stephanie's beautiful yarns here

I also purchased this alpaca and silk blend to go with my orange gloves. I have six balls to work with. They are so soft and will make a very warm scarf. They were purchased from the Frog Pond Collective.