In The Loop Café, Toronto

Ok, I’m catching up with my Toronto-related postings bit by bit. First, let’s do my book signing for The Pillow Book at In the Loop Café last Thursday night. Here’s their front door. If there is anything happier than a yarn store with a big neon “OPEN” sign, I don’t know what it is.

Do you see the embroidered stitching right above the title? If you have a copy of the book, look at the pattern opener pages. All that embroidery was hand-done by the book’s designer. Chronicle is just that hardcore.

Yay! Welcome me! I wish I had a giant chalkboard like this. It should probably read “Welcome Shannon and all the money she’s going to spend on Malabrigo tonight” since I bought a sweater’s worth and started knitting it immediately.

In the Loop owner Elayne (far right) chats with my friends Denny and Laura. If you knit in Toronto, chances are you know Denny, aka the “Gandolf of Knitting.” Laura sells hand-dyed yarn and knitting patterns at her website Cosmic Pluto. She also has a fantastic pattern in my upcoming book Alt Fiber, which you can see in another day or two after I post the More Big Girl Knits party photos.

Denny saved my sanity this weekend. (I only have a little bit left, I have to conserve). We had a pajama party Thursday night after the signing, then she was stuck working at the Festival with me for 12 hours the next day. We knit. A lot. That Malabrigo gave me an “aha!” moment late in the afternoon when it just told me what it wanted to be. Have you ever had that happen? It’s like the yarn knows what it should be, it’s just relying on you to do it because you’re the sucker with the hands. You know…kind of like cats and the can opener.

You want classes? Oh, In The Loop’s got you covered. Right down to monkey-making! And let’s not forget the “Café” part of their name – they have fantastic coffee, butter tarts, and the night I was there, Elayne’s sister-in-law catered some mouthwatering Mexican fusion cuisine plus margaritas. Really, really good margaritas. What’s better than crafts and coffee? Crafts and margaritas, of course!

Thanks go out to Elayne, In The Loop and to all the SSK knitters (Sip, Sip, Knit) who came out for the signing. More Toronto photos to come soon…

Tagged with: Knitting