A Fine Day Out

Skip and I have been planning a day trip to Picton for several months. Being a tourist area, it is very busy in the summer so we decided to wait until September to visit. We also were able to have an early fall colour tour en route.

There are lots of nice shops - perfect for browsing. We stopped into Books and Company Limited. They had many cool items such as a Moleskine 2015 daily calendar with Lucy and Charlie Brown on the cover.  This was a bird bingo game. Not so much marking your card when you spot the bird (as there were many we would never see in this part of the world) but the caller draws cards with the bird species on it and you mark your card. It would be an excellent way to learn more bird species.

Down the street is Rosehaven Yarn Shop. They just got in a shipment of Quince & Co. yarn - a very exciting event as Rosehaven is the only Canadian shop to carry this high-end American sourced and spun yarn.

While there, I overheard a person standing near me talking to the salesperson about the Quince yarn. I asked her where she was from and when she said Kingston, I recognized her and said, "Are You Lizzie?". When she confirmed that she was (Elizabeth McCarten) I told her I read her blog, Chez Lizzie. She knew of mine as well as she gets some traffic to her blog from mine. She also knows my knitterly friend, Jennifer.

Elizabeth has organized a knitting retreat in November at Jackson's Falls Country Inn in Milford, ON. Unfortunately, it's the same weekend Jennifer and I are attending the Needler's Retreat 2014 in Ganonoque.

Elizabeth's (Lizzie's) retreat is sold out but I'll certainly consider attending it next November.

Skip and I then visited a very nice kitchen supply store, Zest, where a very personable poodle, named Carter, greeted us enthusiastically.

I'm not sure how the topic came up but we learned that the proprietor had just bought the new iPhone 6 the day before. She was very happy to show it to us.

Here's the difference in size between my iPhone 4S and her iPhone 6. The iPhone 6 has a 4.7" display compared to the 3.5" display of the 4S. The iPhone 6 Plus has a whopping 5.5" display.

I tested the fit of the iPhone 6 in the designated pocket in my purse and it definitely would fit even with the Otterbox case on it. I'm not considering replacing my 4S until absolutely necessary but will most likely replace it with whatever current iPhone model is selling.

On our way out of town we stopped into the Sandbanks Winery to sample some wine. We bought a couple of bottles and piled back in the car for the drive home.

The weather cooperated, and the traffic was minimal, making it a very fine day out.  We are already thinking of what we'll do on a return visit in the future.

Last night at spinning I continued plying the single of superwash mill end merino I purchased at The Black Lamb quite a while ago. It took me several Monday nights to make it through the 160g bag.

Here is the singles in a predominately purple section.

To maintain the colour integrity (and avoid barberpole-ing) I decided to Navajo-ply/chain-ply it. I'm really liking how it is turning out.

This is the result of about 3 hours of plying.

One more hour ought to do it. I'm hoping to get at least 400 yards of the 3-ply yarn.

I have started looking for patterns appropriate for multicoloured handspun and have a couple of projects in mind so I can start knitting with my lovely yarn.

We are getting all excited about the upcoming Spin In in Campbellford on October 7. It is put on by the Warkworth Weavers and Spinners and is always a very well-organized and well-attended event. This year there will be 5 or 6 of us from my little cadre of knitters and spinners who will be going from here. I think last year there were 95 of us crammed into St. James church hall.