Since I learned to knit earlier in the summer and made my first knitting project ever, I have morphed into something of a knitting fiend.
The Slow Road to Addiction
Thanks to the lovely and talented ladies at the Stitch n’ Bitch in Montreal, I have converted to a bit of a yarn snob.
This is a problem, friends. “Why,” you ask? Because yarn is EXPENSIVE! Well, I should qualify that statement: *good* yarn is expensive. Now, I crave the softest yarns in the richest colors.
I am ruined.
Whenever I have an idle moment, I pull out my latest project and knit a few stitches. It’s hard to sit and not have my hands busy with a knitting project.
It has, quite frankly, become an addiction. But where on earth did this come from? As I wrote in an early blog post, crocheting has been a way to express love for the people closest to me.
But since learning to knit, it has also been a process of discovery. A whole new world of hand crafts has opened up and I just want to make more and more and mooooore!
Building Momentum
With each project, my ambition grows, and before you know it I’ll be knitting cabled sweaters that your grandmother never dreamed of making!
My poor Chico will be so decked out in knits, he’ll break into a sweat outside in the dead of the Montreal winter.
(I feel especially bad for my Chico, because he’s such a sweetheart that he simply won’t have the heart to refuse to wear all the ugly things I’m going to knit him.)
On a Practical Note (for anyone who’s interested)
My favorite yarn store in Montreal is Espace Tricot, over on Monkland Avenue. Recently, though, La Maison Tricotée opened on Gildford (much closer to home) and it is both a yarn shop and a tearoom.
I may as well kiss half my salary good-bye already. The only problem with la Maison is that they only stock natural fiber, made-in-Canada yarns.
What does that mean? You guessed it: $$$$$$$.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Who knows when this phase will end. But I’ve decided to enjoy it while it lasts. This fiber arts kick has brought me together with some awesome ladies who have helped to make Montreal feel more and more like home. So I think I’ll stick with it for a while.
If you’re related to me, expect something knit for Christmas. (Or perhaps your birthday, since I can’t possibly knit something for all of you by then. Good Lord, you’re demanding.)
And if we’re not related? Well:
Welcome to the club! 😉 It is definitely an addiction, but a delightful one! And most people don’t complain, especially if they are recipients of your knitted items. 😀 Once you start saying, “just one more row!” you know you’re hooked, lol.
I was browsing online when I came across this blog post about us that I haven’t seem before! It’s ashame that I never had the chance to explain to you about our prices in person and I came to realize that a lot of people have a hard time understanding why our yarn cost more them other yarn stores. The main reason first is the fact that is only natural fibers, so first we need to compare apples with apples. Acrylic and other synthetic fibers are not equivalent to wool, it’s plastic basically. But we can talk about the reasons not to knit with acrylic later. So if are comparing 100% natural fibers, normally the yarn store carry the classic big brands and they sell their yarn on 50g skeins. Most of our yarn come in 100g skeins, when you adjust the prices our yarn comes cheaper because we work only with small independent companies and since we don’t deal with distributors we pay less fees. I really don’t want us to have that reputation, because it isn’t true. We do sell more upscale yarn but we also have yarn that is very much affordable and that every knitter should be proud of buying because the money goes directly to small business.
Hi Ariane, thanks for your comment! I’ve definitely come to understand more about la Maison Tricotée and your philosophy and the yarns you sell, so I definitely appreciate more the reason for the difference in cost. I’m planning to write an article about my favorite yarn stores in Montreal, so I’ll be sure to include this information in my article. 🙂
Thank you Jane! that would be really helpful!