We took the ferry across to Quebec, just for the fun of it, on the way there. Deb and Julie are at the railing during the very short ride.
St-Andre-Avellin is a cute little town, with quite a bit in it for its size. And it looked like the town was getting in the spirit of the festival. On the walk between the arena which was the show venue and the auberge we were staying at, we found several houses and businesses with yarn-bombing in some form. There was a house with a bush trimmed in stockings and scarves, the Caisse-Populaire had a swagged railing and a row of knitted flags, and the railing at the auberge had color-block decorations in fabric swatches.
Staying at the auberge was a great idea. It was cheap (28$/night for a dorm room) and had a full kitchen we could use. Pretty much everyone else staying there were fiber types also, friendly and outgoing. It made for lively conversation at meals, and rendered it completely normal to have handspun yarn drying on the table outside, and a couple project bags mixed with the glasses and plates on the table after dinner. The only minor drawback was that dorm meant 4 bunk beds in a room, metal-framed and vinyl-mattressed - exceedingly noisy every time someone turned over in bed. Fortunately there was enough excitement in the air to compensate for the lack of sleep, and keep me awake during the day.
Friday night was booth set-up - drive into the arena, haul stuff out into our space and start setting up.
Deb took the camera while Julie and I were arranging things and wandered around to document other booths in various stages of completion.
And Saturday and Sunday we were either too busy talking to people (customers or friends - seems like half of Ottawa was down visiting, not to mention my mother and some friends, who came bearing veggies and eggs and dried coreopsis heads for me) or enjoying sitting to take many more pictures. Except I had to get one of what had to be the most unusual outfit I saw there. Pink. Ruffled. Leggings. No-one would believe me, I expect, without proof.
And we collected a few new words. Deb's title has been altered from 'support staff' to 'booth babe'. The terminology is apparently derived from gaming conventions, and the male equivalent is a 'booth bison'. And one of the teachers noted that since she is creative enough that she can sit down and knit just about anything but can't write a pattern to correspond, her daughter has dubbed the condition 'artism'.
All in all, lovely show, but happy to be home again. The cat is happy to have me back also, (and expressed her opinion in many vocal requests for treats and attention). And the last package of blank yarn I had ordered arrived today, so I can start planning dyepots for this week, preparing for the next show...
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