knit blanche

Saturday night in Toronto was nuit blanche, the “all-night contemporary art thing”. For those not familiar, it’s basically an all-night art party all around the city – displays, performances, interactive stuff and random art “things” around the downtown in three different zones, each with its own theme, everything running from 7pm to 7am.

A Toronto choreographer was putting on a knitting-themed dance performance, and called up the store a few weeks ago asking if someone would be interested in teaching how to knit alongisde the performaces. Alexis said yes, and I went along with her (for awhile).

We set up shop with two types of yarn kits – some cheap and cheerful dishcloth cotton, and some bulky wool (hand-dyed by me and megan).

The area behind the tent where the chairs are was where the dance performace took place – we were out in Parkdale right next to the Parkdale library. Unfortunately, the promise of electricity fell through, and we only had street light plus two battery-operated camping lights to work by. It wasn’t too bad, though.

As you can see, Alexis really is the queen of boots! We did teach a few people – I taught a cute little girl that picked it up pretty quick. A few people came by that we knew, and I watched the dance performance twice (8 pm and 10:30) before bailing to head towards home with megan and the kids.

A loooong, frustrating transit ride later, we were back in Kensington and I was too wiped (plus not feeling well in the tummy) to go back out and check out other stuff. I had really wanted to check out Lower Bay station, and a bunch of stuff around the university, but it was 1:30, I wasn’t feeling great, and I still had to get home. Plus, it just wasn’t going to be that fun checking stuff out on my own. Not so much for the crowds, either (so the whole thing might’ve been a pretty bad idea).

A fifty dollar cab ride home and I was in my nice warm bed by, oh, around three. The cab was worth it – got me home fast and in comfort, but seriously expensive (I live pretty far from downtown, but the last time I took a cab home from the same area it was only $30!).

Lest you think I have been forgoing knitting, fear not! I’ve taken on a short-term commission project for an art piece, and have knitted up an entire bag of Mission Falls cotton since Thursday. And for once, I’ve got a bunch of blog fodder all lined up for this week! So expect slightly more frequency posting, along with some forgotten works in progress…

Now, I must go catch up on some sleep!