Knit One... Purl One...

If there's one thing Paris is very good at it's putting on a big fair or exhibition. Very often, these fairs are held at the Porte de Versailles convention centre on the south-western edge of the city. Every year, the first thing Matthew does after we arrive is to book his ticket to go to the Retromobile show there, where he spends hours ogling vintage and futuristic cars.

Then, there's the annual agricultural show which fills all the pavilions at the Porte de Versailles with adorable farm animals and all of their products.

This year, something new caught my eye. I saw this brochure in my local wool shop, but then it seemed to involve more than just wool -- something about celebrating "l'aiguille", the needle, a focus on the threads of the Orient, exhibits from around the world? Curiosity piqued, we decided to head down, once again, to the Porte de Versailles to check it out.

We were greeted at the entrance by this exquisite hand embroidered panel from India. "Au fil de l'Orient", indeed! The colors were so bright they almost hurt your eyes. We were "hooked" right away.

Stepping further into the pavilion proper, we found ourselves immediately and completely swept up in a maelstrom of all things sewing, knitting, crocheting, kneedlepoint, cross-stitch, quilting -- anything that involved a needle and thread from the finest silk to the thickest wool!

Overwhelming would be an understatement, and it soon became clear that Matthew was one of maybe three male visitors in the entire place! Good sport that he is, he happily tagged along capturing many of the images here.

Moving to the side aisles where it was less crowded, we came upon these three women on a stage, knitting away, waiting for others to join them in a Speed Knitting competition (I kid you not!)

Before long, there were six pairs of knitting needles flashing furiously for three minutes to find out who could knit the most stiches - the record, apparently, is 220 stitches, but the most any of these brave women recorded was 130! (Maybe a fun activity one day for the Witty Knitters of Inverness?)

 Aisle after aisle featured bolts of pretty fabrics, measured the old fashioned way, with a yardstick.

For those really good with needle and thread,  sewing kits were for sale to make these pretty little girl frocks (I could see Clio in all of these!)

I especially loved all the colors at this stall, which you could buy in small samples.

Of course, if you were planning on doing some sewing, you would need the latest machine to work on -- I thought of my trusty old Singer from 1970 sitting in my house in Inverness, and found this multi-bobbin machine way too intimidating...

But that was nothing compared to this computerized embroidery machine -- you create your design on the computer on the right, load up the colors, select the stitches and press "go" and the machine proceeds to "jabber" its way through the pattern in a mere matter of minutes! All very impressive, but on the other hand, where's the creative satisfaction of just hitting a button and having the machine do the work for you...

Back roaming the aisles, we came across more and more of all the "accessories" that get added to the main materials, things you'll find at the "mercerie" (haberdashery shops)...

...spools of amazing, bright colored cotton and silk threads...

...buttons in all shapes and colors and sizes. These round ones looked good enough to eat!

My pace automatically slowed whenever we came upon a wool display. So many yarn shops in Paris alone, never mind from other parts of France, and from England, Ireland and Scotland!

I couldn't resist a few skeins of this lovely Fonty Merino wool for one of the grandkids, beautiful quality and so many good-looking colors.

This proprietor also sells yak wool, which has to be the softest texture imaginable. His Tibetan supplier reports that the yaks are in trouble there because the world loves pashmina cashmere so much, that the goats that produce that fibre are now eating up all the herbiage, leaving yak numbers to dwindle alarmingly.

But if yak wool was not your choice, there were so many other wools available -- bright beautiful mohair...

...barrels of remaindered cottons and wools...

...sparkly, pretty silk skeins, hanging on a rack...

...and these delicate silk colors that came all the way from China.

If you're not into knitting or sewing garments, then there's always the animal menagerie to tackle. From these crocheted animals...

...to cloth rag dolls with the barest of faces...

...to this adorable appliquéd Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandma/Wolf!

At a central stand, a brisk business was under way in pattern books of all kinds. I was tempted, but then realized they were all in French, and I would have trouble trying to understand "knit one, slip one, psso (pass the slipped stitch over)" in French!

We did pause at this stand, though, right in the centre of the fair. It took us a few minutes to figure it out, then we saw the sign "Pink Bra Bazaar" and realized it was an organization supporting victims of breast cancer. You were invited to sit down and either embroider, crochet or in some other way, decorate these bras, which would then be given to breast cancer patients.

This woman chose to crochet a piece. What a great way to make something pretty and raise consciousness!

And in another part of the fair, we found this little booth, where three delightful grandmothers explained that their organization (Ecole des Grand Parents Européens) knits children's items for families in need. They all three also told us that whenever they knit something for their own grandchildren, it is always with the understanding that once the child outgrows the garment, it must be donated to charity. Spreading the wealth and beauty of hand-made items.

Always sensitive to the needs for a "gouter" (snack), the fair also included a good array of chocolate...

...bread, cakes, cheeses and patés...

...and glorious organic honey from M. Lionel Collomb's apiary at Maubec in the Vaucluse.

By this time, we were ready for something a bit more substantial and headed for the brasserie across the street. On our way out of the fair we took a few minutes to appreciate this intricate work of art by Béatrice Coron -- imaginary towns, buildings, fairy tales, cut out of a synethetic material called tyvek, which resembles paper but is some kind of polyethylene. Not exactly the organic feel of wool, silk, or cotton, but beautiful nonetheless.

Back home, I'm finishing up a pair of pretty socks for Miss Flo, before diving into my new wools and some new projects for the cute grandkids (as long as the parents agree to donate them to charity once they are outgrown....)

À bientôt!