1 March 09
The Longest Capitol Corridor Train Ever...
… was what we rode on yesterday, some friends and I.
It was full of knitters.
A train with 486 knitters, one knitter’s husband, fifteen staff. Knitters got on in Sacramento (described as lemmings over the cliff by Yvette who got carried along in that current), Davis, Martinez, Richmond, Emeryville, Oakland, and got swept down the east bay to Santa Clara. They had to put two trains together to fit us all in.
I have now, gentle reader, fondled qiviut hair, which costs $90 for a small ball. (And bison, which costs $50.) I bought some luscious Blue Moon yarn (hand-dyed silk/merino worsted). I gave myself a budget and stayed within it (this was nothing short of miraculous, let me tell you; I could have spent ten times my budget within the space of say 10 minutes, and that’s including the queues for paying). (I have, as I believe I mentioned, fondled qiviut.) It was like Macworld on steroids, this place. I overheard the gal at the Calistoga-based button shop say she was really glad she wasn’t into yarn. Ha.
Mostly the fun was the trip down and back, with Mary knitting up her hay bale twine to the amusement of the news crew and Maria working on the mobius scarf Mary had started just because she needed a knitting fix and Yvette learning how to knit on two different-sized needles and Elizabeth bringing her wit and smarts to the whole proceedings. I spent many a slackjawed moment yesterday. I ran into two people I didn’t even know were knitters.
I’m still a bit overwhelmed. But I will dream of qiviut.
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We are trying to figure out how much a scarf made of quiviut would cost. You are really amazing! What a kick to read of this adventure.
Love G (and G)
Wow! Sounds like a fun journey!
Sounds like a fabulous journey and that’s a fabulous-sounding critter: qiviut! Never heard of him but I’m sure his hair is lovely. Hope they cover him with a beautifully knitted blanket after they’ve shaved all his hair off?
Oh now … these pictures bring back fond memories of the wonderful sensory overload that this event was!
I am saving my Blue Moon stash to knit up after I take this class on seamless sweater knitting, for which I already did my homework, with the cheapest yarn I could find … given that I spent a bit at Stitches myself.
Natalie: a qiviut doesn’t quite exist. A musk ox does. It sheds its fur in vast quantities on willows and other low shrubs of the sub-arctic, which makes collecting it difficult (and expensive). These people have some domestically (I didn’t know this was possible.)
Qiviut-combing would be an interesting occupation, now wouldn’t it?