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    Stitching news

    Here are this month’s stitching in the news links and info CBC The CBC Wool’d Report was aired on CBC radio recently. Did you have a chance to listen? It was fascinating. Check out the recording here! And a link to the accompanying CBC article, ‘Young people are starting to knit and crochet for mental health’ here! Long Thread Podcast: Melanie Falick Season 6, Episode 7: The treasure in a handmade life isn’t just mastering skills and making goods, Melanie Falick says—it’s the power in creation, connection, and expression along the way. Have a listen here! Reflections of Ourselves “Reflections of Ourselves”, a collaborative art project celebrating the rich cultural…

  • The Fabric of Canada: The Knitters of Newfoundland & Labrador

    Hey, folks! Have you had a chance to view The Fabric of Canada: The Knitters of Newfoundland & Labrador? If you haven’t, give it a watch! The video was created by the Campaign for Wool – Canada. From their YouTube channel: The Knitters of Newfoundland & Labrador highlights the story of NONIA and Yvonne Sheppard. NONIA is a social enterprise that allows families to supplement their incomes by knitting. They employ roughly 175 knitters throughout the province. The NONIA knitting collective has been a part of Newfoundland & Labrador’s cultural community for over a century. Have a look and enjoy! Happy Stitching!

  • Knitting in code

    I just finished knitting this lovely lady as a gift for someone special. I’m experimenting and playing with the idea of including a message within the stitchwork itself. This heart has one word stitched into the gray section: look for the odd stitches. I used Madame Defarge’s cipher; each letter of the alphabet is represented by certain combinations of stitches. Here’s the link to more info & to the cipher: https://blog.uwgb.edu/…/knitting-code-a-tale-of-two-very-d…/

  • New wristers pattern underway

    So November is here and there’s snow arriving in Huron County. It’s time to return to mitten knitting. It’s been years since I’ve made mittens; about 20 in fact. But, I’ve been thinking about a history-inspired stranded mitten pattern and I can’t get the colour-work idea out of my mind. The fair isle portion (see next post) that I plan on doing is a reproduction of the colourwork pattern of a pair of heirloom knitted gloves in the collection of the Huron County Museum and Historic Gaol located in Goderich, Ontario. Happy Stitching!

  • Silk test samples on the needles

    October update: silk on the needles

    Greetings and a happy October to you! It’s been a very long time since I’ve been able to sit down and add an update to the blog. What a beautiful autumn it’s been so far! So much lovely sunshine – perfect weather for fall hikes and finishing up the last of the backyard work. As for me and my knitting… In early summer, I was offered a spot at the Fibre Arts and Creative Textiles Studio gallery in Blyth as a Peer Artist. I have just completed a project that I have been working on: a wool pillow for the FACTS Gallery. The pillow pattern is a recreation of the…

  • The quest for sheen begins

    The search for the right fibre for the wedding dress recreation is underway. For the first time ever, I find myself trying to knit with silk in the quest for a sheen to match the lovely shine of a vintage wedding dress dating from 1911. The lace-weight silk yarn in my test swatch has a lovely shine. I’ve never worked with silk before, so it feels a bit awkward, a bit too thin somehow. I’m so used to knitting with worsted-weight wool, my hands feel clumsy. I’ve been experimenting with needle sizes and types, trying to see what feels right. The bamboo needles seem to work best with the silk.…

  • A dress of many patterns

    Hi, everyone! Today on the blog it’s all about the wedding dress recreation project: a dress of many patterns. Last month, I shared the idea of recreating a vintage wedding dress from the collection of the Huron County Museum & Historic Gaol. The plan is to recreate the basic pattern of the dress using swatches of recreated needlework items. So, it’s a reproduction on two levels. The needlework techniques used in the swatches will depend on the skills of the volunteers that take part. If there are tatting experts, for example, tatting reproduction swatches could be worked up and incorporated into the dress. The backstory to this idea is here…

  • Volunteer test-stitchers needed!

    Greetings, fellow knitters! Would you be interested in becoming a volunteer test-knitter? I’ve just completed a draft of a pattern for Knit Fingerless Mitts and I’d be happy to get some feedback on the pattern. Each mitt is worked from one corner to the opposite corner, with reverse-stockinette-stitch surrounding an embossed leaf in the lower half of the unit, a row of eyelets through the middle, and alternating stockinette-stitch and reverse-stockinette-stitch ribbing above. The garter-stitch rows feature a yarn-over increase at the beginning of each row. In the image, half of the mitt (the embossed leaf portion) uses yarn dyed with red onions, Burdock, Goldenrod, and Black Walnuts. The other…