Victoria at its fibre finest.

I had decided that I wasn't going to be too cliche and put in all kinds of pictures of the beautiful flowers in Victoria as with our mild spring back east I actually got to see some lilacs beginning to bloom in our neighbour's yard before I left on May 4th! Unheard of.

I resisted the seduction the few roses that I've seen in bloom but there was something about this gorgeous peony struggling up beside the reconstruction of the sidewalk beside my brother's place that I just couldn't resist. Isn't it lovely? A few more weeks and we'll have our own back home to admire.



This is the gate to Chinatown in Victoria. Although Chinatown here is but a couple of blocks of great restaurants and a few grocers and oriental trinket shops, it does have the distinction of being Canada's oldest Chinatown. The other reason that I thought it interesting to mention this area is that both of the knitting stores and the main quilt shop in the city are all within 2 blocks of these gates...I have no idea what that means or why that is but I found it very interesting.




The Beehive Wool Shop has been a fixture on the Victoria fibre scene for many years (from 1906-2010 to be precise...now that's longevity). This felted hat is from a display that customers are treated to as they walk in the front door. It's from a collection of Everett Wong, a young fine arts student at UVic whose grad project was to design the costumes for the main characters of Alice in Wonderland. Can't you just see this top hat at the tea party. I was hoping that there would be other pictures available on line but alas, no.





I found an extremely interesting home in Knotty By Nature the newest fibre arts store in the city. Link to the site and be patient as it's not exactly obvious how to navigate - the concept is fantastic: lots of beautiful yarns (many that we carry) tastefully displayed and supplemented by fantastic attractions (like this knitted bicycle) and a wonderful selection of items for sale on consignment from the many wonderful fibre artists in the city. It's lovely to read the "about us" page on the site although the site itself doesn't do them justice. It a fabulous store and it says a lot that I plan to return tomorrow to learn more about this great young couple.