SCHEDULE OF CLASSES FALL 2009

CROCHET FOR THE CONFIRMED KNITTERS
Learn to crochet a simple border around your knitted pieces or finish an afghan with a lovely edging.

Teacher: Janette Atwell
When: Sat. Sept 19th, 1-4pm
COST: $35. Includes all materials.


SOCK-IN-A-DAY
2 dates to choose from!!
Our most popular class. Learn the basics of 4 needle sock knitting and how to adapt any pattern to fit any foot...all in a day.

Teacher: Anne Woodall
When: Sat. Sept 26th OR Sat. Dec. 12th 10am-2pm
Cost: $45. Includes all materials.


TRADITIONAL RUG HOOKING - BEGINNERS
What an opportunity to learn the fine nuances of this beautiful craft, combining the use of cut fabrics, spun wool and fleece in a time honoured tradition.

Teacher: Rhonda Kellett
When: Sat. Oct. 3rd, 1-4pm
Cost: $45 for the class and $45 material cost.


TRADITIONAL RUG HOOKING - FINISHING TECHNIQUES
A demonstration of professional techniques to finish hooked rug pieces.

Teacher: Rhonda Kellett
When: Sat. Oct 24th, 1-4pm
Cost: $45. Materials not necessary for this demonstration.



CRAZY MODULAR KNITTING
Modular knitting is fun, adaptable to many types of knitting projects and easy to learn. Pick up all the tips and tricks while creating a scarf of glorious self striping yarns.

Teacher: Deb White
When: Sat. Oct. 17th 1-4pm
Cost: $35. for class and $20 for materials.



EASY LACE - Feather and Fan
Introduce yourself to this beautiful traditional yet easiest of lace patterns - for scarves, shawls, afghans, baby blankets, sweaters, bags etc.

Teacher: Anne Woodall
When: Sat. Oct. 31st 1-4pm
Cost: $45. Includes basic materials.

FELT AS ART - DEMO

We are proud to feature Andrea Graham, renowned felt artist, who will demonstrate different techniques of felt making as art.

Andrea Graham will show how to create one of a kind, handmade felt from unspun wool fibre using ancient nomadic feltmaking techniques! She will discuss incorporating other fibres and fabrics, using resists and also demonstrate needle felting techniques and other options to embellish finished handmade felt projects.

Check out her website http://www.andrea-graham.com/

When: Sat. Nov 7th, 1-4pm

Cost: $45.

DROP SPINDLE

The simplest way to discover the wonder of spinning fibres is with a drop spindle. Try your hand at this age old craft.

Teacher: Kim Parkinson

When: Sat. Nov. 14th 1-4pm

Cost: $45 for the class. $10 material cost.

MITT-IN-A-DAY

Learn the basics of knitting mittens for the whole family on 2 needles and/or 4 needles. Options for fingerless gloves and "convertible mitts will also be presented.

Teacher: Anne Woodall

When Sat. Nov. 21st, 10am to 2pm

Cost: $45. Includes all materials.

MYSTERIES OF THE INVISIBLE SEAM...The Mattress Stitch.

Here it is: your opportunity to learn all there is to know about the magic mattress stitch, which easily and quickly seams your knitted pieces together...invisibly. Just in time to finish your Christmas knitting projects with a professional touch.

Teacher: Anne Woodall

When: Sat. Dec. 5th 1-4pm

Cost $45. Material list handout available upon registration.

Who knew that Roller Derby was still around???

A couple of weeks ago I discovered this knitting book on the New Arrivals table at the local library. (By the way, this is a plug for all of the local libraries who carry an amazing range of Knitting and other craft books. Right On!)
I was shocked to learn that Roller Derby is alive and well in the western world, and that many of the participating "roller girls" are avid knitters!

Toni Carr, alias Joan of Dark, has combined her 2 loves to come up with Knockdown Knits, this most creative (if not 100% practical for the rest of us) book that includes chapters with titles such as: The Injury List (armpit cushions for crutches, Frozen Peas for Bruised Knees=ice pack cover - shown above, a Booty Pillow, etc); Skating in Style (Slinky Leg/Arm Socks, Broken Arm Sweater, Belly Warmer, If You've Got it, Flaunt it Skirt, etc); Ref's Gear (Smile and Wave Ref Mittens); and lots more.

Toni has also included some great Roller Derby facts: The "sport" was actually invented by Leo Seltzer in 1935. It began as a marathon race, until he realized that what the crowd really loved were the fights and falls that happened between all the skaters. The focus is now on those most prized moments of connection and is reflected in the names of the girls to whom J of D introduces us: Blazin Ace, Shadi Layne, Lilly Whip, Sin Lizzie, Slammy Faye, and so on.

Although many of the projects are real groaners in how they make us wince at their uses, Toni/J of D is also incredibly creative as shown in the arm warmer with an attached drink holder known as Dill and Brownie's Beer Saver.

I love to have an opportunity to discover aspects of our world that I would not have thought would come across my path. This was one fun hour I spent getting to know a bit more about J of D and her buddies and their world of Roller Derby.
Check it out! (and I mean that literally: get to the library and check out some of the knitting books that they have on offer.)

The joys of a Blogger

Last week I spent 7 blessed days (thanks to the only so-so weather at the cottage) with my nose in one book or another. I had brought 3 books, the 1969 Time magazine retrospective and 7 Canadian Geographic magazines, not to mention the 200 page NY Times Crossword puzzle book.

By Tuesday afternoon I was going a little stir crazy so I made the big trip into the nearest city (pop. 9 000) and found myself in WalMart where I had to check out the books. I picked up a copy of the latest hit to be made into a Hollywood movie: Julie and Julia. This memoir takes us through a year in the life of Julie Powell who, approaching the age of 30, decides that it's important to make some kind of a statement with her life and thereby chooses to prepare all 500+ recipes from the Julia Child "Mastering the Art of French Cooking - vol 1" within 365 days.

This amazing challenge may or may not have died a premature death but for Julie's introduction to the world of blogging. Having announced to the on-line world that she was taking on this challenge, she seemed incapable of backing out of the proposition.

(I'm including the pictures above left to show the magic that Hollywood can perform. Turning Amy Adams (bottom left) into Julie Powell was no challenge at all. But Meryl Streep into Julia Child!!?? -

I believe that Meryl deserves some kind of Oscar for Character Jumping: sexy mother in Mama Mia, staunch and terrifying Mother Superior in Doubt, and now 6'2" Julia Child. Amazing! And all in the space of a year.)

Okay, so what does this fun little romp through my reading preferences have to do with knitting??? Well actually, not much. Except that having read all of the Yarn Harlot's books, I was amazed at the similarities between Stephanie's view of the world in relation to Julie's: they both have a wonderful ability to maintain a tremendous sense of self discipline while being able to pull back and laugh at themselves and what they see as their foibles. And they are both VERY FUNNY ladies (although be warned: Julie is a self proclaimed "sailor mouth". This is not a PG13 book for language.)

I too, have had some fun with my on-line relationships lately. Lynne from the North of England is a regular receiver of our monthly e-newsletter and very kindly emailed me this weekend to let me know how much she appreciated receiving it, having been directed to the site by her Canadian cousin. I love it. How fun.

"I Made It Myself"

"Labor is not just a meaningful experience – it’s also a marketable one. When instant cake mixes were introduced, in the 1950s, housewives were initially resistant: The mixes were too easy, suggesting that their labor was undervalued. When manufacturers changed the recipe to require the addition of an egg, adoption rose dramatically. Ironically, increasing the labor involved – making the task more arduous – led to greater liking. "

So begins the article by Michael I. Norton of the Harvard Business School. This reality, how we are sometimes fond beyond the value of an end product when our labour is involved in production, is known as the "Ikea Effect". So named, it explains how generations of Ikea shoppers are still so proud of the slightly wobbly book cases that they assembled then moved around with them since graduation 20 years ago, or the pot rack painstakingly hung from the ceiling of a first home, or the kid's bed knocked together with such pride to mark the passage beyond toddlerhood.


I understand this phenomenon and see it alive in the dish cloth that my 9 year old knit for my mother over a decade ago, which still comes out every Christmas. There is no question that we are unusually proud of our accomplishments, no matter their aesthetic appeal to the rest of the world, but I'm getting a little sick of the tone of the non-DIYs of the world. Their beliefs insinuate that we who are willing to take a chance on our skills and our ability to learn and express ourselves creatively are to be looked down upon as not sophisticated enough to accomplish something that can be valued by others.


In the days when goalie, Jacques Plante, helped his mother by knitting socks, mitts and long johns for his younger siblings, crafting wasn't chic, it was a necessity to acquire the things one needed to keep warm in the winter. But even in our grandmother's day, who can tell me that women spent countless hours knitting fashionable 3 piece suits or "twin sets" of the finest fingering yarn for the savings they would achieve. I believe that many of these people were driven to express themselves and often produced garments that were beyond anything available in stores.



For the ultimate book dedicated to encouraging the hidden artists within each of us, read Julia Cameron's book: The Artist's Way. You'll never be critical of "homemade" attempts at creativity again.
By the way, here's the link to the full article on the Ikea Effect.

http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/web/2009/hbr-list/ikea-effect-when-labor-leads-to-love

Knitting in Living Art Project.

Yesterday must have been a slow news day, or perhaps the editors at CBC News just felt that we needed something uplifting. Whatever, one of the main news features throughout the day was about Anthony Gormley's art project to put a different Brit atop the 4th "plinth" (who knew what a plinth was before yesterday? I didn't) in Trafalgar Square for an hour of pure, wonderful exhibitionism. The idea was to make art more about the present than the past. Here's a link to the Daily Mail's great article.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1197704/Now-theres-poo-Trafalgar-Squares-fourth-plinth.html

Okay, so aside from sharing my discovery of the meaning of "plinth", why am I writing about this in my blog, you might ask. Good question.
The other thing that CBC mentioned in each of these news features was that participants could do anything (legal) for their hour on display, including knitting!
I thought: how wonderful to have the world recognize how the profile of knitters and knitting has changed in the past few years and how wonderfully expressive it can be. I was anxious to get on-line and see pictures of the new face of knitting in Britian atop one of its most memorable sites. As you will see if you click on the Daily Mail article, there are lots of photos of individuals doing intersting things, but I couldn't find the knitter!

Then I found her in this picture. That's right, bless her heart, the lady in black, second from the right.

Okay, so where is Debbie Bliss, Jean Moss, Kaffe Fassett??? The kid down the street who has learned to make knitted hackey sacks? The young mom knitting a beanie in eco cotton for her newborn? The grandmother making rainbow coloured socks for the whole family? Where is anyone who is not dressed from head to toe in black, knitting with white acrylic???

I guess I can console myself with the fact that CBC thought that it was noteworthy enough to mention that there was a knitter among the participants. Perhaps they were just a bit too squeamish to mention the gentleman that the Daily Mail leads off with wearing his excrement costume.
Oh well, we sometimes think that knitting is the just the coolest thing on earth these days, then we do get put back in our place when we realize that 99% of the rest of the world (the non-knitting Muggles, to quote the Harlot) still don't get it. Alas.

A different kind of Girly-Girl.

One of the things that I love to discover as I browse the internet looking for quirky things in the world of fibre arts is how different people see the same world that we all see, but choose to pair different aspects of it in such interesting ways.

This picture is of Theresa Honeywell's 1980 Kawasaki motorcycle cozy (www.theresahoneywell.com) The article on her site explains how her art combines "girly" crafts with macho images like this motorcycle.

If you Google images of Theresa Honeywell, there is a whole array of examples of how she plays with delicate needlecrafts and incorporates them into the world of construction (toolbelt, jackhammer), warfare (a tank cozy and machine gun), and a whole selection of beautiful and delicate tatoo art. Many of you know that I'm a fan of tatoos so that makes me a fan of Theresa who has rigged up her sewing/embroidery machine to produce tatoo art for in embroidery for sale at craft fairs.

"Ukelists" unite on Ravelry

At the store, I hear of people who do get some time to browse on Ravelry for fun. I get to do it as part of my job (how lucky is that?) and am here to share some discoveries with those of you who might just get a few minutes to check out your own site and perhaps a favourite group or two, or those of you who haven't discovered that insanely gigantic community of committed knitting crafters that meets regularly on line.

So in my browse today, I was going through the new groups that have been formed recently and noticed that number 17 down the list was called Ukulele and Ukulele Stringers! and featured this lovely young Hawaiian lady as their mascot (I wonder if she was squished on purpose to make her have more realistic build than we usually see on hula dancers?)

When I went into this group I discovered some interesting things:

-it was only formed 2 days ago and already there are 16 other groups that have been formed since it became part of the Ravelry world.

-in 2 days, 15 people have found it and have signed up as members from the US and the UK. (Does that mean that only people from countries that begin with U are interested in the ukulele?)

-8 people have posted

-from this thread, I was lead to a site http://rockthatuke.com/ that appears to be a documentary subtitled "a peek at human nature through a very tiny sound hole" and has an endorsement from film industry big gun: Ethan Coen, Academy Award-winning writer, director and producer.

-there is a CD of Beatles Music on the ukulele.

In the interest of actually getting something else done today, I finally closed down the Ravelry site that originally led me on this path of ukulele discovery but was amazed to realize that this tiny segment of the of the wider population of knitters has found each other and, for some of them, may have rekindled another creative interest.

I keep hearing about how the Internet is isolating us more and more, but I have to say that I just don't get that.

Maybe I'm just a bit too eclectic in my tastes, but I love to stumble on such fun things as ukulele knitters and learn about what they find important.