Friday, September 19, 2014

O, Canada!

Dear Hearts,

One of the delights of visiting Canada–and if you have not yet, you must–is that the nation is so very much what you imagine it ought to be. Friendly, polite, outdoorsy, and unabashedly generous when it comes to handing round the beer.

I fell in love with the idea of Canada as a little girl, curled up on a balcony seat in a fading second-run movie palace, watching Nelson Eddy (as a Mountie with a golden voice) crooning to Jeanette MacDonald in Rose Marie.


At that moment I knew I wanted nothing more than to cross the border into a magic land of moonlit lakes, clear air, and handsome law enforcement officials with perfect pitch.

It has never yet disappointed me.

I cannot myself spend as much time in the gorgeous north as I might wish, so I am over the moon to report that after the most recent Knit Trade Sunday our yarns will be débuting at no fewer than eleven Ontario shops.

Here they are:
AB Originals (Rockwood)
Eliza's Buttons and Yarn (Barrie)
Grey Heron (Collingwood)
Kniterary (Whitby)
Purlin' J's Roving Yarn Company (Kingston)
Serenity Knits (Newmarket)
Sheeps Ahoy (Nepean)
Singing Hearts Studio (Orillia)
Stix and Stones (North Bay)
Sweet Yarns (Sudbury)
The Wool  Boutique (London)
Elsewhere in Canada, the wonderful people of The Needle Emporium–who have been friends from the first–brought us to the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitters' Guild Knitters' Fair, where much good company and many fine knitters. You can read all about it (and marvel at the number of suitcases required) if you'll just pop over to the shop's blog.

Must dash now, darlings, as the clock on the mantel indicates it's time to dress for my curling lesson.

Yours Ever,
Mrs. Crosby
Calgary, Alberta







Tuesday, September 16, 2014

I Fell In with Playful Companions

Dear Hearts,

It does a woman good to sit down at an internet café in Dubrovnik, open her blog and find more than a dozen dauntless souls have joined in her game.

As I expected, our circle of friends does not run short of imagination. I laughed aloud to find myself compared variously to Mary Poppins (quite a compliment), Neville Longbottom's grandmother (ditto), and Lillie Langtry (I blush!).

A good hostess? I do hope so. An optimist? I should say so. A clotheshorse? Guilty, darling. So guilty.

I do hasten to reassure all (including the gentleman himself) that my beloved husband, Dash Crosby, is still very much in the present tense. You may read the story of our first meeting here.

As to the rest–the dark, the fair, the slim, the less so…I think it best at present to leave the veil of mystery in place. Not to mention that veils are very much au courant this season, at least in certain happy quarters where a good hat is still an object of admiration.

Now, as to the winner. Who shall be our winner?

This was our first game, and upon reflection I find myself inclined to dispatch grand prizes (one skein of Carpet Bag, and the "Bettie's Bell" pattern), to three of you:

CanAm, whose suggestion that I nearly toppled a monarchy with a love affair hit terribly close to the mark. (You mustn't ask, dear hearts. One has pledged never to tell.)

Widha, whose evocation of perfect hospitality reminded me of the person whom I wish to be, and hope I sometimes am.

Mommaontherun, who carries off the prize for cleverness with her imaginary (?) conversation with a skein of our yarn. (We thank you for giving it a good home.)

And I also wish to hand Honorable Mentions to…all the rest who entered:

Rinkchick

Grace

Abigail Goben

SDKnitter

Tom T

Amy (Noknotz)

Hardknitlife

Debbie VanDerMolen (Debbieamy)

Ilovemycello

Winterspastkris

For keeping me company here in Croatia, as I sip a flavored soda and ponder where to wander next, I would like to send you tokens of esteem drawn from my Ephemera lines of soap (from Thrive Handcrafts); or gift tags (from a. favorite design).

If you are listed above, I invite you (in the next week or so, please) to be in touch via the e-mail address frolic@mrscrosbyplays.com with a mailing address, so that we may dispatch your prizes with all due haste.

Now, what shall our next game be?

Yours Ever,
Mrs. Crosby
Dubrovnik, Croatia

Monday, September 8, 2014

How Do I Look, Darling?

Dear Hearts,

I have had the most intriguing message from a knitter named Emily.

Now, Emily is in the employ of one of our company's dear friends–Eat, Sleep, Knit. Even so, the vagaries of chance have prevented our meeting face-to-face.

Emily offered a veritable bouquet of compliments about a bundle of yarns we'd sent over, and then–and this is the intriguing part–she told me that she'd imagined me to be:

"…a beautiful elderly traveler… dressed in a peacock blue suit with a beautifully knit cream shawl and large gold jeweled brooch…".

Was she right? Am I thus? Perhaps. Perhaps not. The thing is, my dears–though I am not shy in most respects, when a camera is pointed in my direction I will more often than not retreat behind the brim of my hat.

I have on occasion sat with pleasure for a painter or sculptor, but I'm not much for being casually photographed. I travel not only to see things but to watch people. People are most like themselves when I blend quietly into the background. And so there I most often choose to remain.

But after Emily's message, I am curious.

You and I, we have probably not had the chance to sit down over drinks for a tête-à-tête. Have you wondered what I look like? Do you imagine me as tall? Short? Slender? Plump? Pale? Dark? Young? Old? Very old?

Paint me a word picture, if you would please–and just for the ducks of it, let's make it a bit of a contest. In the comments below, tell me how you imagine me to look.

What we judge to be the most creative description will receive a skein of Carpet Bag, and a copy of the "Bettie's Bell" hat pattern by Beth Gonder. Cute, is it not?


(No, that is not me in the photograph.)

Entries posted below in the comments for this post, and only those entries, will be considered.  One per person, if you please – and we regret that wholly anonymous entries cannot be counted as we would have no way to let you know if you've won. Your submission must at least include your Ravelry name.

Entries will be accepted through noon, Central Standard Time, on Monday, September 15, 2014. The winner will be announced here, in the blog, a day or so thereafter.

I shall look forward with great anticipation to reading what you scribble.

Yours Ever,
Mrs. Crosby
East Rosebud Lake, Montana