Walking Weekend - Part 1, Friday

Wow! What a wonderful weekend!

I had Friday off work, but due to a big project I'm involved in, I went in for the morning. So, noon comes, and off I go on the TTC! The only silly thing is that I didn't carry a camera on my Friday excursion. Sorry - with photos, I wouldn't have had to write so much.

First stop - City Hall for the annual Art Exhibit. Lots of people were there, and it was interesting seeing what other people take for art. I guess I'm just not an "art" person. But all the colours and ingenuity and activity were wonderful! I love to see this city so full of activity.

So then I wandered along Queen West, stopping in various shops as the spirit moved me.
I bought a wonderful top at La Cache - their Summer Sale is on!

I also stopped into Americo. They have such wonderful yarns!! Except that they are only sold by weights, with no yardages on them. I would really love to knit up a cable afghan this winter, and something from Americo might fit the bill, but I really don't know... And yes, I know that size doesn't really matter for an afghan, but still. I'm just not comfortable enough with my ability to gauge yarn weights just by looking at the strands.

From there, I headed up into Kensington to Lettuce Knit, where I picked up a girl's Tulip Cardigan kit. I looked at some of the sock yarns, and was very glad I picked up the Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock last week, because the colourway that I loved was gone. That's the next sock - a boudoir sock of some kind for my grandmother.

On the way to Lettuce, I passed through the park in Kensington. Some people were playing guitar and singing; the wading pool was full of kids; and lots of other people were outside enjoying the sunshine and the park.

From Kensington, I headed up Bathurst and poked around a bit in some of the interesting little shops along Bloor.

Next stop - St. Clair. And I wimped out and took the Bathurst Street bus - that hill up Bathurst is Brutal!!

I thought about stopping in to see Haley at Knitomatic, but I was just there a week or so back, and I really don't need anything right now. And yes, I know that yarn is nothing about need, but I already had the yarn for the Tulip Cardigan in my hot sticky little hands, and really didn't want to carry much more on my ramble.

The bus dropped me at St. Clair & Vaughan, and I headed west towards Alterknit. That whole stretch of St. Clair West, from Bathurst to Lansdowne, has a wonderful community atmosphere.
Along the way, I stopped into Zia Mosaics, a cute little Mosaic studio where they will host parties/events around a mosaic theme and teach you how. Sounds like Fun!!

It is so wonderful to have an afternoon's worth of hours with really nothing to do. If you're open, you see all kinds of interesting things and people. I wish I'd had my camera to capture some of the things that moved me. Like flowers - I saw these amazingly yellow-orange daisy-like flowers in a yard along St. Clair that was absolutely bursting with flowers. I didn't know what many of them were, but there were Yarrow and Canterbury Bells among them.

I got to Alterknit about 5, which is where Frank and I had decided to meet whenever he managed to get away from work. Our evening plans were to experience Corso Italia (the Italian street festival along St. Clair W). Revetelle, proprietor of Alterknit, (I'm not sure that's how you spell her name, but I hope it's somewhat close) was extremely friendly and accommodating. I had an Iced Americano (Yum!!) and sat and visited with her while other customers came and went, and while she went through closing up the shop. Finally, just as we'd decided that Frank might not arrive for a while and decided to lock the doors, there he was!

Thank you Revetelle - I really appreciate you allowing me to "camp out" on your stool for so long. (Not only are they friendly over at Alterknit, but they make some pretty wonderful Waffles on Sunday morning - covered in fresh berries and cream. They also make a pretty mean Iced Americano.)

When Frank and I got to Corso Italia, they were still setting up, so we just meandered from Dufferin over to Lansdowne looking for dinner, finally settling on a sandwich outside Big Ragu (on Lansdowne, just south of St. Clair). They had some Italian name for it, which I don't remember, but the sandwiches were full of tomatoes and bocconcini cheese and basil, and Frank's had Prosciutto as well. I poked my head inside the restaurant, and looked at the menu and the reviews, and we will definitely be back! It appears to be a nice family-run place. Nothing fancy, but with good basic food, and not too expensive.

What had first attracted us to Big Ragu was the band outside - they had a really good guitar player, who reminded us a bit of Levon Ichkhanian, and an awesome percussionist/drummer, Armando, who we have run into several times before.

Once they'd finished their set, we wandered back out onto St. Clair for more of the festival. Project Phoenix was just starting their 2nd set, and so we listened to some really good funky R&B (70s-style).

We got pretty lucky with the buses/streetcars, and finally made it home about 11.

Boy was I tired!! And I had no idea I was going to do it all again tomorrow...