Beautiful days in Winnipeg

The weather and the city have been beautiful during the past couple of days here in Winnipeg. It is predicted that the "MOSQUITOS" are 3 to 5 days away...quite early they say, brought on by a wet winter and very warm spring weather. It would appear that Winnipeg MOSQUITOS really do deserve a whole set of capitals. I'm glad I missed them.


This scene made me feel right at home. It's a clematis in full bloom around a light standard. Winnipeg is built, as Kingston is, on a bed of limestone which accounts for our wonderful blooming clematis, but full bloom on the 20th of May is a little incredible.



I'm here in Winnipeg with my daughter, Catherine and her boyfriend. As he grew up in Winnipeg, we have a great guide. Yesterday we went to Assiniboine Park, home of one of the best zoos I've ever been to. This is a picture of Catherine who was thrilled to meet a new friend except that the turtle got one of her last clean shirts dirty, but he (the turtle) was very cute and posed well for the camera and so was forgiven. We know that it was he as the keeper explained how you can tell the difference between the boy and girl turtles: the boys have concave undershells, and the girls have flat shells.


Day 2 in Winnipeg had me meeting up with a friend from my teens whom I hadn't seen since 1976. How fun! We might look different but inside, we're all pretty much the same.


Then I got to do the yarn store tour. First to Ram Wools Yarn Co-op which has recently moved up Portage Ave from downtown. Many of you will remember Ram Wools and their gorgeous catalogues. For years, we at WOOL-TYME Kingston were the unwitting recipients of the excitement that always followed their mail out. I knew that they had stopped publishing the glossy catalogue a few years ago and had gone strictly to on-line marketing in addition to their storefront, but I was surprised and intrigued upon entering their store to see the addition of the "Co-op" in the name. I went on-line to discover that a worker owned cooperative has been established to keep growing this highly respected fixture on the North American yarn scene following the departure of Inge Gaspard, its founder and driving force.


On to WOLSELEY WARDROBE, a really fun store that has found a couple of great overlapping markets in the lovely Wolseley neighbourhood of Winnipeg. Check out the website and see how they delightfully blend a quality second hand clothes boutique with a lovely little yarn shop. Both the clothes on display and the selection of fine yarns show that quality and fashion are where this business has made it's commitment.



One of the great things that I've seen over and over in the past few weeks of meeting business people of all stripes, from my brothers' friends, Schnepps and Kathleen in Victoria who spend winters in Asia purchasing beautiful jewelry to bring back and sell at markets all over Victoria area, to the folks at Knotty By Nature in Victoria, is that it takes a LOT of resources to start up and continue a small business at the best of times. If you don't have a LOT of money at your disposal, then you have to rely on other resources: friends to scavange from, barrels of creativity and great ideas, and a certain chutzpah and commitment to keep you on track for as long as it takes. Book store/cafes, yarn store/picture framers in Sidney, farm/residential care centre/ general store owners in Glenora, and now Wolseley Wardrobe in Winnipeg...all of these people have found their multiple niche-S that have supported them and enriched their business lives.

Heading East - part I

Heading back east again, with a stop over for a couple of days in Winnipeg.


This is the train as we stop in Blue River B.C. for a smoke break/fresh air break. How beautiful this little town is. This is very long for a passenger train (about 20 cars) as we pick up 2 tour groups in Jasper. By the way, Blue River is home of the oldest store in Western Canada. It's just a little storey and a half frame house that now sports a somewhat weathered sign that says "Janie's Convenience Store."


While stopped here, I found this spike. I'm not sure why I decided to bring it with me, but it just seemed like a fitting souvenir of this wonderful trip, to have a real piece of the railroad...it just looks so old!

The time on the train really does remind me of a lazy visit to a cottage. You mozey along doing whatever you feel like doing...reading for a bit, napping for a bit, going to the dome car to enjoy the scenery for a bit, playing cards or Scrabble or just socializing with others in the club car while you feel like it. We had a lovely little passenger on this trip named Coco. She's just 3 months old and was on a trip to visit her great grandmother. Coco's mom was more than happy for any help and so we all got to play pass the baby.

On the trip west, you miss out on the true visions of the prairies as the train goes through this area at night. There aren't nearly as many of these great horizon views as you get on the Trans Canada Hwy further south, but just enough to remind you of the effort that the early settlers must have put out to claim this land. I had lunch with a couple who had come from Britain 50 years ago and settled in Kamloops. They were struck by the stories of the trains of war brides who came through this territory after the war. I would think that many of those young women might have been horrified at the thought of the remoteness that faced them.

So, after day 2 on the train, here is the rug hooking sampler that I've been working on. Some of the same passengers from my trip west are back on the this train and recognize me from our trip out because of the rug.

By the way, I ran into a customer of mine who had moved last year to Edmonton and was coming back east for a family get together. Also played Scrabble with a lady from Kingston with whom I share a dear mutual friend. It is a small world.

Now in Winnipeg, I'm looking forward to a visit in Neil Young/ the Guess Who territory. Although it would appear that Winnipeg has another reason for being famous that isn't so great: Coco's mom says that it's the home of the largest swarms of mosquitos in the world (or so she remembers from her childhood). I don't do bugs well. I'm hoping that it's too hot for them...we're expecting 30 degrees tomorrow.

Last few days on the Coast.

A few notes about the last couple of days on Vancouver Island, as internet time is very limited. (I can't believe that I'm actually here answering emails and working on the computer while standing in the train station in one of the most magnificent towns in North America - Jasper, that is).

One of the reasons that I wanted to go back to Vancouver Island was to try and discern the origin of our store mascot: this beautiful Cowichan sweater. I did locate it's store of origin (Sasquatch Trading Co. on Government St) and was even able to get a couple of likely possibilities of knitters, which is quite a feat considering that the people in the know in Duncan figure that it was knitted about 30-35 years ago. I'll be getting it back on display early in June and hope to keep researching from home based on the info that I got here.

This is Anita. She is by her own account a "fanatical knitter" andd is selling her beautiful socks as the Moss Street Market on most Saturdays. I had to get a picture of her with her LOOOONNNGGG double pointed needles. She explained that her family is Dutch and always knitted while supporting one needle under their arm. So obviously to do that with dpns, they too must be very long. The other lovely thing that I discovered when speaking with Anita is that she's originally from Napanee and will be visiting Kingston this summer. Hope to see her then.

The reason that we got to go to the Moss Street Market was that for the first time in my brother's very long history on Vancouver Island, the foot traffic tickets for the ferry to Saltspring Island were sold out when we arrived at the terminal on Saturday. Oh well, all the more reason to hope for a return visit in the near future.

This great little shop The Button and Needlework Boutique between Trounce Alley and Bastion Street caught my eye and imagine my suprise when I went in expecting a million buttons and nothing more, to be met by a wonderful selection of yarns and exquisite array of knitted sample garments. In speaking with the owner, he explained that they decided to take on the knitting world a couple of years ago to offer a broader selection to their needlework customers and to bring in a few more new customers. It's a great location, a lovely and friendly shop...and I love the button.

On Sunday morning, the day I was leaving, I took one last walk into the downtown area and was browsing around when I met this lovely lady. Victoria is full of interesting people of all ages who are "living the dream". This lady explained to me that she went shopping for a scooter for her friend who had been recently diagnosed with cancer. As she entered the store she saw this lovely pink scooter that was designed to support Breast Cancer Awareness. She never did tell me if her friend got a scooter but she said that she fell in love with this model, and despite the fact that she is able bodied, she bought it as a convenient and safe way to get around the city and carry groceries, etc. She then dressed it up with pink and black Skull and Crossbones and is quite a noted figure around town.
I love to be inspired by seniors who are thoroughly enjoying their life.

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.

A big walk down memory lane.

Yesterday I got to take the day in Duncan and area where we lived when we were first married over 30 years ago. This is the 1st house where we lived: it was a camp that was owned by the Diocese of Victoria on Shawnigan Lake but because of size and liability issues, it was no longer being used as a kids' camp.

Imagine my surprise to see that everything was exactly the same...30 years later, including the young carpenter who was working on the main house, who reminded me so much of my husband, apprentice that he was in those days and who was probably the last person to have worked on those front stairs.

Then up the highway I went to WhippleTree Junction, a wild west era shopping mall...actual buildings from the turn of the last century and before were transported to a site just south of Duncan and were turned into retail space. At that location is The Loom, which is one of the knitting stores where I began my knitting career when we lived here, making samples for the store. It seems a lot smaller than I remembered it, but just as vibrant.

The irony is that my husband's cousin Ronald Woodall, whom we have never met, is the artist who created these lovely pieces of "disappearing architecture", which includes a piece entitled "Old Chinatown" I believe (bottom left), which is how the stores at WhippleTree originally looked before they got gussied up.

Later in the day, I got lost and literally drove into (the parking lot of ) a lovely little case of serendipity. This is a picture of Andrew who works at Glenora Farms' Weavery. Link here to their site to read more about this wonderful community just south of Duncan BC. The Glenora Farm community refers to itself as: "A place where special needs are met..." Andrew is an amazing weaver and I bought 3 of his cotton and linen tea towels. His fine wool scarves are also greatly prized. He told me with great pride that he loves to bake too and often makes his special lemon loaf which is sold at the Glenora general store. It's wonderful to think that lovely people like Andrew have found a warm place to live and be productive, within the confines of their special needs. Isn't it fun to get lost?

This is Victoria?

Victoria is just as beautiful as ever. For Mothers' Day, my brother, Anthony, took me to Hatley Castle, now part of Royal Roads University. There was a craft fair on the front lawn and the castle and its gardens were open to the public. Absolutely amazing.

While we were there we met Wendy Mitchell of Sea Bluff Farms in Metchosin, near Victoria. Wendy is the creator of Barbie here, she is a papier mache sheep who has been dressed in a cardi and balaclava that were knit by Wendy of locally grown sheep's fleece that she spun. Wendy had called her creation Barbie and one of the guests at the castle suggested that Barbie could be Barbie Dollie in honour of Dollie, the cloned sheep.

Wendy is hoping to encourage knitters from her local fibre arts guild and crafters across Canada to donate knitted clothes to Barbie Dollie's wardrobe. You will notice the colourful leg warmers that she now is wearing but she could certainly use a hat or scarf or tail warmer, or shawl from other parts of Canada.

If anyone would like to help clothe Barbie Dollie, please contact Wendy at wendyncmitchell@shaw.ca

P.S. A hat to fit a medium adult or large sized child would suit the bill perfectly.

Nearly There...

Arrived this morning at the Vancouver station. By the way, for anyone who is interested: this trip is absolutely amazing. And much to my husband's eventual dismay, I've discovered that there are similar rail services all over the US too. I think I'm hooked...oh yeah, I do have to go back to work at some point.

So here is a picture of one of the first mountains that we came upon just before Jasper. How pretty, but I realized that although I was impressed, mountains don't actually do anything. If you've seen a picture, you've seen a mountain. BUT at 5 am this morning, we rode through the Fraser Canyon. WOW! How sad that the schedule doesn't allow for travellers to see it unless they are chronic insomniacs like me.

This is a lovely knit and quilt shop that I got to visit in Jasper. I noted the coincidence as my store is called WOOL-TYME and one of the customers in the store said: "Why, I've been to WOOL-TYME!" It is a very small world. After my visit came the best part of our 1 1/2 hour stop over in Jasper: I dropped $40 plus tip for a shampoo...and worth every cent.

I've come along a bit on the toe up socks. The pink stripe is the waste yarn for the "afterthought heel" which will be added when the rest of the leg is done. Any observers, knitters and non knitters alike, had great difficulty visualizing the afterthought addition of a heel.

Off to get the bus/ferry/bus to Victoria where I hear that there is a giant rally/parade for earth day and protesting the local fish farms. My brother says that they planned it for today as they knew I'd be arriving. I think not!