West Coast Knitters Guild

The West Coast Knitters’ Guild meets the first Tuesday of every month at Oakridge Mall in the Oakridge Senior’s Centre. Continue Reading »

Members and non-members are invited to picnic and knit/crochet in Stanley Park on Saturday, August 16th, 2008, from 9:00 am to dusk.  Rain or shine.

Location:  at the picnic shelters near the Childrens’ Farmyard & miniature train.  Take the #19 Stanley Park bus on Pender Street or park in the nearby lot. 

Bring a chair or blanket to knit in the sun or sit on the picnic benches (cushion advised) under the shelter.  Laura P. generally provides refreshments for this event but this year she is moving her house and business.  That being the case, this year will be “pot luck” so please bring some finger food/beverages. 

Stay an hour or stay all day.  Consider joining the Guild to knit with us every month and enjoy the perks such as a 10% discount on purchases at most LYSs (Local Yarn Shops).

We’ve been toying with you for a while about bringing Susanna Hansson up from Seattle to teach a workshop for us. It’s official now. The weekend workshop will be September 26 to 28th. Susanna Hansson Workshop Registration.

Friday evening Susanna will talk to us about Knitting in Norway: Past and Present or What did Napoleon have to do with the Fana Cardigan? We’ll have refreshments and a chance to schmooze with Susanna afterwards.

The Saturday workshop will be Bohus Stickning. Susanna will supply kits with specially imported, hand-dyed yarns from Sweden for us to work with. Come prepared to knit with small needles and fine angora blend yarns. Susanna will also give us presentation on the background of the Bohus garments and cottage industry.

On Sunday we’ll learn about the mittens from Rovaniemi while we work on an intriguing intarsia-like technique to create the distinctive sawtooth design that appears on the back of the mittens of that region. The unique technique is like none I’ve ever heard of before and I, for one, can’t wait to learn more.

Susanna comes highly recommended. Just read some of her reviews on other people’s blogs such as The Yarn Harlot, Yin & Yarn, The Intrepid Fiberwizard and Spinning My Life Away.

You might also want to scroll through The Yarn Harlot’s February 2007 archives for glimpsed of the beautiful gold Bohus sweater that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee knit after taking Susanna’s workshop. I had the honour of seeing that actual completed sweater being worn by Stephanie last year when we chatted at the Victoria Knit-Out. It is truly beautiful.

The workshops are open to Guild members and non-members alike. There is an earlybird rate so register early to secure your spot. You have the choice of taking one workshop, both workshops or just come to the Friday evening presentation.

When I saw the baby beluga being born at the Vancouver Aquarium the other day a bizarre thought occurred to me, “Boy, that birth was easier than giving birth to our new logo.” Don’t ask me where that thought came from but there it was, full blown.

Read more about the Birth of a Logo in the July/August 2008 issue of West Coast Knitters’ News.

by Maureen P.

Holli Yeoh
“I brought completed samples of some of my Bee’s Knees Knits designs knit in new yarns that I carry. These samples will be going with me to the Victoria Knit-Out and I’ll have kits available for sale in those colourways.
Kieran is knit using Opal self-patterning yarn and an Opal solid yarn. Kieran is a pullover with a solid-coloured body and the sleeves, collar and button placket are all knit with the self-patterning yarn. The colours are light brown with highlights of golden yellow and a subtle purple in the striping. It will look lovely on a little boy.
Chloë is a cardigan with an intriguing stitch pattern. The solid-coloured stripes in the self-patterning yarn and knit in reverse stocking stitch and the jacquard sections are knit in stocking stitch. The effect is a bit like corrugated cardboard or the Michelin man. I used Opal’s Prisma in red and white with black flecks and paired it with a solid black Opal.
The last sweater was actually knit by my Mum who is a great help to me with my business. Lucy is a colour block sweater with red and orange on the upper bodice and sleeves. It’s paired with an energetic self-patterning yarn in reds/oranges/yellows/whites and dark greens. All yarns are by Opal.”

Joan T. knit herself a beautiful multicolour shawl from the Folk Shawls book – the pattern is called ‘Peddlers Shawl’. She chose Koigu yarn because it gradually shades from one colour to the next. Her main challenge was doing a lace pattern again which we saw she accomplished very well.

Janis W. has been very busy creating knitting/shopping bags from plastic. You all know that plastic bags collect at an alarming rate and Janis has shown us a great way to recycle them using crochet. Her challenge was finding a strong enough crochet hook and the work out it was for her hands. Janis is donating all these bags to the Oakridge Seniors Centre.

Margaret V. is assembling 25 knit squares into a beautiful multi-coloured blanket. The lucky recipient is a widow who is moving to Edmonton – this should help chase away those chilly nights.
Margaret also had over a dozen hats which were knit by Pat L. for Lydia H.

Paulette L.
When Paulette attended the 10th Anniversary of the Okanagan Knitting Retreat she brought back a beautiful souvenir. Her Cutting Edge Thread Cutter Pendant was designed by Celeste Culpepper from Nelson and was knit in Hand Maiden Seasilk green with gold seed beads. All attendees were presented with an Altoids tin to store their pendant. The pattern/kit is available from www.celesteknits.ca.

Nigel P. has been knitting socks again. This beautiful pair are knit from a Cat Bordhi cable pattern in Noro Kureyan sock yarn and are for him.
He has also knit himself a seamless hybrid sweater with shirt yoke. The pattern is from Elizabeth Zimmerman and is knit in Cascade 220 (purple heather) and one ball of Rowan Pure Wool DK in orange. There were a few intricacies to the pattern on the hems, the yoke back, underarm and yoke grafting which he overcame superbly.

Mariela J. has been a very productive knitter and brought in three items for Show and Tell this month. The first is a blue cardigan knit from Schachenmayer yarn a wool/acrylic blend and Patons classic wool. She designed the pattern herself and found her only challenge was in getting the sleeves exactly the way she wanted them because this sweater is for her.
Her next two projects are for the Guild sale. The first is a blended mohair and acrylic yarn knit into a hat. Mariela used the pattern that came with the yarn.
She also designed and knit a multi-coloured cardigan from kroy sock yarn.

by Maureen P.

Judy D. had chosen a pattern from a Patons book – Bazaar Items to knit her Mom a warm and cozy pair of slippers.

Pat D. did a fun and fast project knitting the Little Sky Sock a sample from the Cat Bordhi book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters using Big Ben sock yarn.

Janis W. has been most busy knitting baby booties, and wrist warmers in addition to all her toques. She used Moda Dea yarn from Coates & Clark and is generously donating them to the Oakridge Senior Centre. Her main challenge was matching stripes.

by Maureen P.

Wendy E. modeled her project at the meeting. She had completed the Marion Toppings ‘Yellowknife Vest.’ A very happy completion from the UFO portion of Wendy’s knitting bag – good work. Continue Reading »

Come out to the Victoria Fibre Festival and Knit-Out for a weekend of knitting and fibre events culminating at Saxe Point Park on Sunday. The event starts this coming Friday, June 20 with a dinner and fashion show. Continue Reading »

by Maureen P.

Mary S. not only had a great holiday in Mexico, she also came back with a new pair of hand knit gloves using Holli Yeoh’s Guess Who glove pattern. She made her gloves from multi-coloured Regia super soft sock yarn with cherry red accent yarn. Continue Reading »

by Grace E.

Our guest speaker for March was Carmen Craig-Martin of MelonHead KnitWear and she gave a presentation regarding herself and her business. She also brought some wonderful samples of her work. Continue Reading »

by Elizabeth P.

Pam W. wore her beige alpaca and wool crocheted jacket with coloured cross-stitch embroidery on the front panels and an exciting motif on the back (a very effective way of making a boring space interesting a la Janet Armstrong!). Continue Reading »