Toronto Spiders

[vaneramos]

ghostsandrobots is in Toronto for a surgery convention. Work is putting her up at the Fairmont Royal York, so I had the opportunity to see inside. Swanky! The lobby is fabulous, and can easily be accessed from the underground concourse. Looking out her room window, I was surprised by the view, which brought back a memory. My parents stayed there for my eldest brother's first wedding when I was eight years old.

Yesterday we went with djjo to Black Creek Pioneer Village to see the back-to-back competition. The objective is to make a sweater, from shearing to spinning to knitting, in under six hours. Last year the Toronto Spiders won the international competition and set the Canadian record. This year they were competing against their own best time and the world record.

Now here is the "small world" element. Several weeks ago at my Mom's memorial celebration, Danny met my cousin Doug's partner, Brenda. When she learned that he was a spinner from Toronto, Brenda asked whether Danny knew her sister, Karen. He did, of course. In the photograph of the three spinners, Karen is the woman on the right.

Wannietta, the knitter in the foreground, is the fastest knitter in North America (2005 & 2006). The two knitters in the bottom picture worked on the front and back of the sweater, while two other women (not shown) worked on the sleeves.

Comments

[missprune.livejournal.com]

Oh, what fun, Van. Love the first photo specially!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

It helps having photogenic friends!

[djjo.livejournal.com]

It sure was a fun day.

You know - Judy's name has been niggling me. I did a little digging...

http://www.downtownknitcollective.ca/backtoback.html

and yup, I thought her name was Karen and it is!

Judy is the spinner of the left of the picture above. She's the woman who initially put the group together 6 or 7 years ago.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Got it. Thanks!

[ghostsandrobots.livejournal.com]

You take such good pictures! Thank you and Danny both for showing me a wonderful time. We can trade some more pics when I get back and upload mine.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Too bad your moustachio didn't show in that light. I hope the rest of your visit goes well. Happy birthday!