Kimonos, socks, skating, Scotland

This week I received notice of an upcoming exhibition at the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto. www.textilemuseum.ca. The opening is Tuesday, 28 January. It's called: "From Geisha to Diva: the Kimonos of Ichimaru". It sounds as though there will be a beautiful display of kimonos and I plan to attend. As I've mentioned in previous posts, the museum has an excellent library and I've spent many happy hours reading there.

Today, Shirley (Shirl the Purl) sent me an update of the New Lanark Mill in Scotland. http://newlanarkshop.co.uk/. For years, I've thought this would be an interesting venue to visit during the Scottish Skeins & Skerries tours, (www.joycejamestours.com) but the location just didn't fit in with our itineraries. Just too much to see in Scotland!

I'm knitting one of my granddaughters a pair of socks from a 100% Superwash merino yarn. Her (current) favourite colour is purple. I was able to find a lovely hand-dyed purple yarn--think it's more like a lilac--from Kathryn Drysdale of Riverside Studio. (In the past, I've bought a number of skeins of Kathryn's beautiful yarns, and took them to Shetland as gifts to members of the Shetland guild.) Kathryn dyes the skeins in her studio in the little village of Wakefield, Quebec, north of Ottawa in the Gatineau Hills.

Anyone who is familiar with Ottawa will know there is a canal which runs through the city and actually continues to Kingston, Ontario on the St. Lawrence River, through a system of locks. A highlight of winter in the capital is when the Rideau Canal freezes sufficiently, and locals and tourists alike enjoy the skating. I used to skate on the canal a number of times a week until I fell and broke a wrist a number of years ago. I still feel wistful when I drive along the canal and wish I could get my courage up to try again. I see from the website that the Canal is closed today due to rain. Hopefully, the temperature will drop again soon.

Have a look at this site: http://www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca/places-to-visit/rideau-canal-skateway. When conditions are better, there is nothing like it, especially to stop and have a hot chocolate and a beavertail--a local pastry.