Prairie Sunset

I was shocked!  A few posts back, I showed this selfie of Sis and me doing some touristy stuff.

Marie of Sel & Poivre commented that she liked the sweater I was wearing in the selfie and  had spent quite some time searching  for the sweater on my ravelry project page. She wanted details.    I was shocked to think that anyone would spend their precious, limited time  searching for info about one of my wardrobe  pieces.    I had knit that sweater  long before ravelry existed and have never put it on my project page.  

 Marie's  time spent deserves reciprocity so here is the info about that sweater.

Years ago, I had my eyes opened wide when I received my first copy of Knitters  Forum from The Knitting Guild of Canada.  It was a magazine for knitters.  Although it finished its life as a sophisticated magazine with beautiful, colour  photography it began as a very homespun publication in a  photocopied, black and white, stapled format.    But what it did for me, I'll never be able to explain.   Until that first magazine arrived, I was convinced I was weird, a loner.  No one I knew, knit.   I had no like-minded friends with whom I could talk knitting.  Those not addicted to a hobby cannot understand those of us who are.  Alone with my needles, I knit in solitude and  shared my passion with no one. 

Then,  one day in a local yarn store, I picked up a flyer encouraging knitters to join The Knitting Guild of Canada.  The brain child of  Cindy Nicholls, membership offered the magazine, and not much more that I recall.  I sent off my cheque and waited for my first issue  of Knitters Forum.     Even today, I can still remember the feeling of awe, of finally feeling understood, of thinking - there are people out there just like me  -  that surged through me as I read that first issue.  Thank you Cindy. 

Sadly, eventually the running of the Guild with its magazine, Master Knitting Program and other various and sundry features  became too much for Cindy and she gave up her position.  The TKGC as I knew it,  died.  Today there is a Canadain Guild of Knitters but I still miss Cindy.

Shortly before giving up the Guild, Cindy collaborated with John Little from Brigg & Little Yarns to publish a book of Canadian designs knit with the iconic B&L yarn.  She called for  knitters from across Canada to submit their  designs for the book and Knits From The North Country was the result.

I waited for the book to be published and was first in line at my LYS to purchase it.  I couldn't resist such a treasure of Canadiana.  Some of the patterns  are not at all to my taste but I would have purchased it  even if there wasn't  one pattern I liked.  It tickles my Canadian heart.  

And it was from that book that I chose to knit Prairie Sunset.  It was the Saskatchewan design entry, submitted by Rena Bartsch from Saskatoon Sask.  Rena's original design featured a  coat-length garment but I made mine sweater-length by eliminating a few bands of colour work. 

There are setting suns and  sheaves of wheat cleverly constructed by cabling where the sheaf would be tied together.

There are leaves from a variety of tree types falling just above the two-coloured ribbing.

I cannot say that it was a fun knit, but it is one that I wear with pride every fall.  I can still remember saying to knitting friends - thanks to Cindy, I had some by the time I knit this -  that when I wore this sweater up north at our trailer, I expected that  "all the eyes, in all the heads, of all the women, on all the decks, of all the trailers  would turn as one when I walked by and exclaim -

 what a beautiful sweater."   I believe they still do.  

Thanks for your search, Marie. It is good to bring this design, the book and Cindy into the spotlight once again.

A Much Improved Knitters Fair

Christmas In September or   Christmas For Knitters is the way knitters often describe the Kitchener Waterloo Knitters Fair.    Saturday was fair day and my Meaford Group took 2 cars and 6 knitters down to smell the yarn fumes.  We were anxious to see what the KW Guild was offering for 2014 as last year, the first year in 'The Aud' as the grand old arena is called,  was such a disappointment.

Accustomed as we knitters were to the  ballrooms, carpeted halls and fancy washrooms at the previous location, we all found the arena to be a let down.  Crowded.  Poor food. No seating.   Cement floor.  Arena washrooms. 

Of course, nothing could be done about the washrooms or the floors, but otherwise the Guild had made changes to make the day a much more positive one.  Two venue spaces versus one eliminated the crowding. 

 

Large areas with tables and tablecloths set aside for lunch and sore feet.

A spa where knitters could get their nails polished and take a class in chair yoga. 

 Those are my nails, calling out for a manicure.  The little squiggle painted on the index and middle finger is a ball of unwinding yarn. 



 Fashion shows and speakers on the same floor as the show.  All in all, well done, Kitchener.  Our group certainly enjoyed our day.


Were there purchases?  Oh Yes.  And my purchases  were exaactly opposite to what I normally buy.  Normally I say the Fair is not for bargains.  Rather it is for great, unusual product not seen every day in every yarn store and all under one roof.

But this year.  I got bargains. 

One skein Americo Cotton Flamme.  $10. Half price.  To be used for ???   -  probably a scarf, shawl or wrap.   One skein Super 10 cotton.  $5.  Same colour, same yarn  as I purchased locally last week for $15.  To be used in a summer skirt I have planned. One ball of Sock yarn.  100 G $8. Half price.   

Two great books. 

One an impulse buy, but the Barbara Walker book has been on my list FOREVER!

I ran into a far-away friend  - Laurie M of London

and saw her purchases.

A bit of star gazing as we were greeted at the door by Sally Melville!  Always fun.

Good friends to share the drive and the day.

  All in all a great day. 

The Homefront

What a wonderful day some of the Meaford Knitters had on Friday.

First Stop was the sock exhibition called The Homefront, at the Tom Tomson Gallery in Owen Sound.  The curator did a marvellous job of displaying the hand knit socks in a creative, artistic way that paid tribute to the soldiers who wore them.

 

She made papier mache forms to insert in each sock - and given that we counted 93 pairs that was had one heck of a lot of papier mache.  Then she hung every pair from a rod that she had carved and painted to look like double pointed needles.

 The socks were placed in platoons - just as the soldiers who wore them would have been.

 

In addition to the socks there were many letters written by soldiers during the first world war thanking knitters for sending them a pair of socks.  Some cited wet, cold feet.  Some told of how quickly their socks wore out.  All expressed gratitude that a knitter would knit and send them a new pair.  Given that we saw the display on the 70th anniversary of D Day, it was quite an experience.

The curator had  labelled each pair with the knitters name and  we were all able to find 'our socks'. 
There was a 'thank you ' list and Meaford Knitters Group was on the list.

After seeing The Homefront, there was a great lunch, some yarn shopping and the first ever experience of attending the 'store' at the Handspinners Association of Ontario's weekend seminar.

Fibre, fibre everywhere,  all day long.  Knitters to hang out with.

 

   What a great day. 

Knitting and Friends

Years ago - in the old days one might say - I met a knitter online.  It was so long ago that facebook was not yet invented and the common online way of interacting with others was through newgroups. I was new to my personal computer and loved my newsgroup for knitters and crocheters.  One day while wasting  investing time with my online activities I read a posting by a lady looking for knitting frends. She gave her age - same as mine, and where she lived - within an hour of my  home.  I thought 'how wrong can I go by contacting a female knitter of my own age?'  And so a knitterly friendship was born and has flourished over these last 15 +years.  The bonus was that my new friend already had a long- time knitting friend,  so right away we became the knitting trio.

We see each other less frequently now that Fred and I live three hours away, but we still get together a few times each year.  Saturday  was our day.   We met for lunch at Harrison Park Inn in Owen Sound.  A most picturesque setting for any outdoor activity you can imagine with the bonus of  a lovely restaurant right in the middle of the park.  After lunch of course, we headed to Riverside Yarns where the ladies dropped some cash.

Then back to my house for show & tell,

 

 

pattern browsing

 

and general fibre-related discussions.

 

One of the ladies is widowed and there are always some hilarious stories about her latest, dating-as-a-senior  experiences.  Then too, as we age we each seem to have had some very funny doctors' appointments.  My contribution to those stories was about a stress test I had last fall.  During the test, as I hopefully hoofed my way to healthy, on the treamill the doctor said to me "You remind me of my horse."  I hooted with laughter, as did the nurse and technician. I was about to ask him if he was referring to my rear flank but he quickly modified his comment saying he was referring to me being a good pacer.  It's been my hilarious story of the last few months.

We had a great day as only knitters who are friends or friends who are knitters can.  Any time I have to take off my glasses because they are steaming up from laughter is a good day.  Thanks guys.  See you in a few months.

 

A Box Of Greens

Nicki, yesterday at knit group, plunked a re-cycled, salad-greens box in front of me and said "These are for you.  They are your colours."

Her husband, a few years ago, had purchased  a Knit Picks Palette kit for her  as a Christmas gift.  She knit the project and had these left over.  All my colours.  Being spring, the time of year for divesting oneself of excess,  she gathered these up, put them in the plastic container and gave them to me.  I am one lucky girl.

Such beautiful colours.   I am torn between wanting to knit them right away and   letting them sit on the coffee table as a priceless work of art.  I think I will do a bit of both.  They can sit there all summer as a feast for my autumn-loving eyes, then come fall I will turn them into a great sweater.  That gives a few months for the design to percolate.

Sure gives a whole new meaning to 'a box of greens.'  Thanks so much Nicki.

Fatique

Fatigue.  Defined, initially,  by my mini Canadian English Dictionary as weariness.  True, been there many times.  But that doesn't describe this.

I need to read further to describe what you see above. "weakness of metals etc., subjected to stress".  Indeed.  I guess plastic, like metal, doesn't last forever.  The break happened mid-row, that is colour-work row,  on the weekend, resulting in the rapid drop of several stitches. 

This plastic demise by fatigue has been happening too much lately in my world,.  The knitting needle broke  just a few days after I came off the ski hill wondering why my right boot felt so loose.  Turns out, there was some fatigue happening there as well.  A piece of plastic the size of a greeting card had broken off the front of my boot.  Considering that skiing involves risking life and limb by hurtling down steep slopes at high speeds, I considered myself lucky to have survived that break in tact.  It put  the few, dropped, colour-work  stitches, caused by  the needle break, into perspective.  It was just a  minor incident.

Patting myself on the back for having had the foresight to  purchase not one set of Knit Picks Interchangeable Needles, but two, meant  it was a simple thing to switch out broken for intact.  Set number two is Nickel Plated. 

Knitting back on track, two working legs and the newly acquired knowledge that plastic tires more quickly than metal.  Quite a weekend!

The Mailman Rocks

Always a great day when the mailman brings goodies and today was no exception.   A few days ago, I spotted a new pattern on one of my favourite blogs.  A pattern for mittens with a curling theme.

 

 How cool! 

Purely as a spectator, I love curling.  But I have a neighbour who not only loves to watch the game, but plays too.  She came immediately to mind when I saw the pattern.  I intend to surprise her with these mittens. 

The pattern is a new one from  my cyber-friend Marian.  She is a  schoolteacher, yarn dyer, knitter, knitwear designer, etc., etc. who lives on Manitoulin Island, one of the world's most magical places.  You can see her work here   here or here.

Now, my goal is to finish the Scottish Kilt Sweaterrr in time to do the mittens before I start my Olympic Project.  Three weeks. 

Inspiring or Depressing?

I love to knit.    I like to brag that all my socks are hand-knit socks.  All my sweaters are hand-knit sweaters.  I always thought that put me somewhere high on the ladder of productive knitters.  This morning, I have doubts.

I have just read  Tanis Grey's blog  post for today.   Take a look.  Scroll down to the picture with four piles  of sweaters and read what Tanis has to say.

 Miss Tanis, of Tanis Fiber Arts gives new meaning to the word productive.  I'm not sure  if this inspires me or depresses me.