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 »

Originally scheduled for the April WCKG meeting, Tom’s talk has been postponed to our May meeting (May 5, 2009). Everyone is welcome.

In the 1950s and 1960s Mary Maxim sweaters were one of the most popular Canadian fashion statements. All over the country home knitters were creating heavy sweater-coats featuring flying Canada geese, crossed curling brooms, or leaping salmons. Other wild animals, sports teams’ symbols, patriotic emblems, and a vast assortment of icons (both Canadian and universal) were popular motifs.

Tom Graff was the first person in the country to draw academic and aesthetic attention to these humble, but important, elements of the Canadian fashion scene and his presentation will discuss his reasoning, his collecting, and his conclusions. Join us for an enjoyable evening. Bring your sweaters and tell your own stories of Mary Maxim.

We are lucky to have Jean Wong teach us two workshops on the weekend of May 23 and 24. The first workshop is all about Fine Finishing and will help put you put the perfect polish on your handknits. The Sunday workshop will be an indepth pattern drafting day where we’ll learn how to design a tailored vest.

If you’ve never had a chance to take one of Jean’s classes before then this is your opportunity. Download the Jean Wong Workshop Registration form for more information on the workshops and the weekend.

The workshops filled up really quickly so if you’re interested, contact Margaret (see registration form) to put your name on the wait list.

We recently received an email from Greenland informing us of an interesting knitting technique and a new book that describes the technique.

Hello From Greenland,

My name is Drissia El Yousfi, I contact you from Nuuk capital of Greenland. I have just published a little book about knitting of course. But not any kind of knitting … The book is about “tajarutit” Greenlandic wrists warmers. I provide in my book all the information about how to knit the wrists-warmers in the Greenlandic way (with glass beads onto the yarn). It´s the traditional way to knit the Tajarutit since glass beads were introduced to Greenland in the late 18th century. The purpose of this little book is not only knitting. I wanted to share with people some of a traditional handcraft unknown, to keep it alive and useful. I have created new patterns and used also one of our traditional pattern (for the Tajarutit we use with our national costume).

The book is already a real success in Greenland for the new generation who learns how to knit Tajarutit but also abroad like in Denmark and France. The book is now available in 4 languages: French, English, Danish and Greenlandic.

Knit Tajarutit, Greenlandic wrists-warmers is my first book. I´m looking for places where I can promote it and people who could help me in such big challenge.

Kind regards from Greenland

Drissia

A number of years ago, Deirdre A. knitted a stunning cardigan for her father-in-law based on an Alice Starmore pattern. The blues, greens and reds of this colourwork sweater blend together in the gorgeous geometric design. Deirdre used scraps of Peer Gynt to make the sweater.

At the spring workshop, Wendy E. won a kit of one of Holli Yeoh’s designs. She has knitted up the baby sweater now, and the blues of the self-striping Opal yarn are beautifully complimented by the pinky-mauve of the solid contrast yarn.

Pearl C. designed and knitted a felted multi-coloured Entrelac purse. The resulting pattern is black alternating with rainbow coloured diamonds, a bright and cheery market bag. She also knitted an adorable small grey/green frog finger puppet which she donated to the door prizes for the evening.

Not all the show and tell is knitting! Janis W. shared some wild wooden knitting needles from Bali. These interesting needles are carved with birds on the ends. They would make for interesting knitting! Janis also shared with us the vest she was wearing. In mauve tones, the vest used yarn recycled from a purchased thrift store sweater. The pattern was from a Family Circle magazine circa 1990s and the resulting vest has a significantly different look from the original sweater.

Attention to details in knitting are what make the garment. Neglecting the all-important gauge swatch can lead to disasters, and Lorna B. wanted to be sure to avoid any problems when working with a new yarn. In preparation for knitting a sweater for her grandson, Lorna knitted a swatch out of blue Cotton Comfort, which is 20% organic cotton and 80% wool. At 3.75 mm needles, the gauge was too loose, and Lorna settled on 3.5 mm needles which gave the correct gauge. However, she wanted to be sure of the sweater maintaining its size after washing, so she washed and dried the swatch in the machine, carefully measuring at each stage. The swatch lost 20% lengthwise! Lorna can plan the garment more accurately with this information; we are looking forward to seeing the result!

Carol S. shared a very cute knitted Piper doll that was made for her husband by a friend. This piper, Scotty McHaggis, wears red plaid pants and sports a beard like Carol’s husband did when it was made.

Nigel P. has been enjoying working with lace lately, and decided it was time to try and design some lace himself. Using Barbara Walker patterns as his inspiration, Nigel developed a pattern for a beaded lace bookmark. Worked in orange Louet Gems, he found that developing the points at the ends of the bookmark to be challenging. It was necessary to work the increases and decreases while maintaining the integrity of the pattern – not an easy thing to do.
Nigel also shared a sweater that he knit for himself some 35 years ago. It started as an Elizabeth Zimmerman Nordic ski sweater in black and white, but Nigel developed and charted all the colourwork patterns himself and modified EZ’s design by adding a turtleneck. He turned to a friend for help with the steeking, and the result is a beautiful sweater that has been worn by Nigel, and more recently, Holli Yeoh.

Using some odds and ends of worsted yarn, Eileen K. has been knitting stuffed bears for the Teddies for Tragedies charity program. Doctors without Borders, working in China, have repaired cleft palates on over a hundred children in China. These small teddies are left with the patient to help him or her with recovery from the surgery.

Jeanie M. knitted herself Paulette L’s Ripple Vest in Briggs and Little Regal yarn. This white, dark denim blue and medium blue striped vest has ruching built in to the stripes. Jeanie found the crochet crab stitch edging somewhat of a challenge, but did master it. She also has been knitting some of Paulette’s Folk Art ornaments to be used as Christmas tree ornaments.

Fleece to garment! Heather S. shared a beautiful deep blue hat that she made for her two and a half month old grandson. She spun, dyed and knit this wee hat – truly a labour of love.

Jane S. is also knitting hats. When her daughter saw her knitting hats for the sale, she asked to have one too. Together, they went stash diving and found an old yarn (probably about 20 years old!) and combined it with some novelty yarns from Australia. Her daughter loves the pink and purple, and loves the way the hat turned out, but unfortunately it is too big for her, so Jane has to make another! This could be frustrating, because she found working with the novelty yarns to be somewhat challenging; all those loops keep getting caught in the points of the needle.

Choosing Sivia Harding’s Norwegian Woods lace shawl for the pattern Debbie M, knitted a stunning prayer shawl for her sister who was undergoing radiation treatment. Using Samira Silk in a beautiful red, Debbie got to the end of the shawl to find she was short of yarn by few stitches. She ripped it back over half way and took out a repeat in order to complete the pattern without purchasing an extra skein.

Debbie spoke about how the prayer shawl can be a way of demonstrating caring and support in those situations where we would like to do something for a loved one but are not sure how to help. She thinks of the red of this shawl as representing life, courage, and vitality, and the pattern’s branches transforming into buds and leaves as being symbolic of life as well.

For her first intarsia project, Annette C. chose Susan Duckworth’s Ellipses pattern. With a base colour of dark blue, Annette added circles of red, yellow, and pink in Rowan DK yarn, for this lovely cardigan. It took a year and a half to complete, and she showed us that she did indeed, work in every single end!

An old project that Linda H. brought in to share was a grey Fair Isle pullover she knit for herself using a pattern from an old Beehive book. She thinks the wool was likely from Woodwards, purchased in the 1970s. Using red, black and white as the accent colours, this was her first attempt at knitting on circular needles, and Fair Isle techniques. Her main challenge with this sweater was trying to figure out what to do with the live stitches in the armpit!

A more recent sweater that Linda knitted for herself is the Angus cardigan from Noro Simply Knits. In blue and aqua Noro, she has knit this pattern before, but this time made some adaptations. In particular, she adapted a lace collar for the sweater. She finished off the sweater with a button from Joan Tayler.

Taking machine knitting lessons has been an inspiration for Valerie P. to knit herself a shawl sweater. Using green variegated Bambu and dark green Kid Mohair from Silk City, she knit a long rectangle and added sleeves to create a sweater that is part shawl, part cardigan with several possibilities for wear. It is a very soft and very warm garment!

Kyrgyzstani Felters  November 29-December 1, 2008

Swirls of creamy brown and earthen red felt on thick carpets transformed the textile studio at Capilano College into a Kyrgystan Yurt on a recent visit.  Sponsored by a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) grant Janyl, Manager/Director spoke through her interpreter/anthoropolgist Guljan to the rapt audience about their struggle to feed their families post-Russain occupation.  The slides show women, who are widows and divorcees, children and the elderly plying their traditional felting art outside in freezing temperatures over cauldrons heated by open fires.  For all their efforts the cooperative, Altyn O, of Bokonbaevo, make about $18,000 a year split among 36 members.  Yetta Lees S, one of the original founders of Circle Craft, has been supporting this felt co-op for the past 8 years and has formed a foundation called Friends of Bokonbaevo.  The women are here to participate in Fair Trade markets in Campbell River, Nanaimo, Gabriola and Victoria.  Also they have been giving lectures and slide slows at community colleges, guilds, and other special interest groups.

The felters will be in Vancouver at Atelier Istanbul and Suzy Baker Design on Granville Island (1814 Maritime Mews, the lane with the big propellers) from Nov. 29-Dec 1 from 11 am to 5:30 pm.  Their work will be available for purchase, including felted home decor, wearables, and accessories.  The public is invited to come see their amazing traditional and contempory designs and enjoy a cup of tea from the samovar.

This “Scrap it, Stitch it, Craft it” event is coming up this weekend. The dates are Friday, November 7 and Saturday November 8 and it will be held at Canada Place in Vancouver.

There are still spaces in the knitting workshops so don’t be disappointed and sign up now! For more information visit their website.

Grete R. showed us a beautiful shawl knit in Harrisville New England Shetland wool. She chose a mixture of blue, turquoise, gold and yellow and Vivian Hoxbro’s Small Wing Shawl pattern. The knitting of the shawl posed no challenges and is a substantial size. Grete also mentioned that this is project comes as a kit.

Mariela J. researched the Drops website for her project. She chose Magic Garden Allsorts in blue and although she modified the pattern she found it to be quite straightforward. And a big thank you Mariela for donating your work to the Guild sale.

Mary S. modeled an exquisitely patterned red sweater which she created for herself. The wool is Karabella Aurora in a rich red and the pattern Travelling Cables. The cables created the most flattering shaping and truly a piece of wearable art. Mary has been knitting this sweater at our meetings so it has been wonderful to see it appear on her needles. Great work!

Irene M. went traveling this year and somehow got separated from her knitting – we can all imagine the discomfort. Her husband sent her into the first yarn shop they found – this happened to be in Sweden where she picked up some Drops sock yarn and made a pair of mitts from Holli Yeoh’s pattern. They are beautiful and just in time for the cooler weather that is coming.

Debbie M. went to the Susanna Hanssen Bohus workshop and brought in her projects to show us. She had made two pairs of wrist warmers using the Bohus techniques and blends of angora and merino. The most interesting aspect for her was learning the new techniques and using a very fine gauge yarn. We saw from her samples that she is a very good student.

Judy D. is getting ready for the cool weather as well. She had knit two toques from stash yarn – all 100% wool. She used the Minnesota Winter Knitted Hat pattern for these two multi-coloured hats. The one she modeled she will keep for herself and the other she is donating to the Guild sale. Thanks for your donation.

Talk about topical! Chris S. was thinking about Hallowe’en when she knit this very cute felted Trick or Treat Bag. Her grandson is going to be the envy of all his friends when he goes out sporting this black bag with green skull.

Catherine A. has caught the lace knitting trend and completed her first lace project. She used a pattern from Fiber Trends and rainbow variegated Kauni yarn. She easily overcame the challenge of knitting and blocking her first lace project.
Using Drops Alpaca in a soft green and her own design Catherine knit herself wrist warmers in a delicate cable pattern. Her design challenge was counting and figuring out the cables. She will be keeping this successful project for herself.

Nigel P. chose Zitron Lifestyle 4 ply merino for this toe up socks in purple/orange/ black and white. He is keeping these great socks for himself. The only challenge was the low yardage in the 50 gram ball – there was very little to spare.

The WCKG has put to rest the myth that you can’t knit in the summer because it’s too hot. Although we have had one of the best summers in my memory our guild members have outdone themselves with an amazing array of creative, beautiful projects. Read on.

Carol S. chose Luxury Diamond Merino yarn to create a beautiful baby shrug and beanie for her daughter’s friend who has a new baby. The pattern from Debbie Bliss had only one challenge and that was working the second colour up the edges when increasing and decreasing. Lucky baby and Mom.

Naomi R. modeled the beautiful shawl that she created from stash yarn and a hank of Colinette Ribbon.
Making up the pattern as she went along, Naomi started with a rectangle sewn end to to side and added a moebius ring at the neck to pull it all together. While turquoise is the main colour, there are vibrant oanges, pinks and maroons.

Cat L-S has been experimenting with needle felting and shared some sucessful examples. She used yarn that she purchased while in Estonia for this fun project.
Cat also had a baby blanket knit from KnitPicks washable cotton. The multi-colour blanket pattern came from Knitty.com and the umbilical cord hat pattern is from “Stitch ‘n Bitch”. The only challenge was not falling asleep while knitting – blankets can do that to you. The lucky recipient of these last two items is her tap teacher’s baby.

Using a cotton/acrylic/linen blend yarn from Spain – Katia Pisco, Mariela J. knit herself a white sweater. Her only challenge was the buttonholes.

Do you remember that intricate, delicate grandchild baby blanket Jane S. showed us at the last meeting? Alas that is now only a memory – and the base of Jane’s UFO project pile. Jane came to this meeting to share her disaster with us. Knitting disasters can happen to any of us – what a great place to get support from fellow knitters. And like a true knitter Jane is on to other projects.

Jean W. was wearing a true work of art she designed and taught at the last Madrona Fibre Arts Retreat. The inspiration for her vest was quilting. The back is done in two pieces with the shaping and the colours of the variegated yarn matched perfectly along the centre seam line. The challenge with the project was this perfect matching – finding exactly the right colours for each section. Great work.

Debbie M. has taken up the challenge of lace knitting this summer. Her first project was the Wool Peddlers Shawl knit in Koigu – 5 different colourways and Indigo Moon for the border. She is keeping her first lace success for herself.
She tried Malabrigo Silky Merino for her second lace project using the Swan Lake Shawl pattern in natural. This shawl was a bit more challenging to knit and block as the ‘wing’ was knit on the bias. This one is also a keeper.
Her husband was next on the list and Debbie took on the challenge of knitting him a sweater in denim yarn. His black denim sweater is knit from Den-M-nit for Elann.com using the stitch pattern from “The Knitting Man(ual)” by Spurkland. As Debbie was drafting the pattern she had to allow for 20% shrinkage in the yarn. She was successful and is already planning another sweater for that lucky man.

Nigel P. is maintaining his title - the sock guy. The first pair was knit in Lorna’s Laces rainbow dyed in an entrelac pattern from the book “Socks, Socks, Socks”. If you have ever tried entrelac you can imagine the challenges of knitting it in the round. Nigel is keeping the socks.
His next pair of socks proved a little frustrating/challenging because of the wool. Nigel used Fleece Artist yarn bought on a trip to Kelowna to make these toe up socks for himself. The challenge was getting two socks to look the same colour. His first sock was almost black – not so the second sock. He had to knit two more from the same ball to get a matching pair of socks. He succeeded and they do look warm and cosy.
And versatile guy that he is Nigel has knit a deliciously delicate Cobweb Doily. The pattern by Marilyn Van Keppel – Gathering of the Rose was knit in copper Fiddlesticks Zephyr Wool silk. The most challenging – by pleasureable part of the project was the edging.

Holli Yeoh’s first project this month was a pair of ‘Plain Jane’ top down socks which she knit for herself in a Opal wool/silk blend – a perfect accessory for blue jeans.
Her vacation project was a Hand Maiden Scarf Kit. She combined one strand of silk boucle with one strand of kid mohair lace weight in a simple YO, K2tog stitch pattern. She finished it quickly to keep her warm and cosy for those chilly days on the beach during her Oregon travels.
Her final accessory was a sample of the ‘Guess Who’ gloves pattern in Opal self patterning yarn. This is the kit that Holli donated as draw prizes at both the Victoria Knit-Out and the Pic-Knit event in Surrey this summer. What a great prize for those lucky knitters.
Holli’s biggest project this summer was the launch of her newly redesigned website. If you want to check out her new site, it’s www.holliyeoh.com . You will see her new logo and business name (i.e. Holli Yeoh).

Valerie P’s first project was a sweater for her son Stewart. She chose Elsebeth Lavold silk wool in a rich green and used Debbie Bliss’ Denim Ribbed sweater pattern. Although Valerie did a guage check, the pattern was oversized thus the sweater is too big for him (even with 20% yarn shrinkage).
Valerie’s sister is going to be 50 soon and to celebrate Valerie has knit her a beautiful off white sweater in Philosopher’s Wool using Norah Gaughan’s Bark Texture pattern. Her only challenge was patterning around the joining of the shoulder seam. Her sister has tried it and it’s a perfect fit.
Knitting for herself this time, Valerie chose Mission Falls 1824 in green for a shawl using Annie Modesitt’s Backyard Leaves pattern. Joining the two halves was the challenge as there are fewer stitches at the cast-on edge which makes for a narrow join.

Joan T. has been knitting ponchettes this month. The first she showed was in black linen and is for herself. The second was knit in cream hemp for her non knitting friend Maria.

Lorna B. was so busy at the meeting taking in donations for the Guild sale that she wasn’t able to show us her the beautiful gift she has made for a relative in Calgary. The lucky recipient will be receiving a reversable wool hat knit from Custom Woolen Mills which is rough spun with weed chaff. Lorna chose a soft grey for one side and a dark charcoal for the other. This will definately be a great head warmer for those cold Calgary days.

Or what did Napoleon have to do with the Fana Cardigan?

Come and hear Susanna Hansson speak about the history of Norwegian knitting; how traditional Norwegian designs evolved and where they’re headed today. We’ll make a brief stop at the Selbu Knitting Museum and enjoy some of the scenery around Trondheim as well.

You will have a chance afterwards to meet and visit with Susanna.

Date: Friday, September 26, 2008
Place: Canadian School of Natural Nutrition, 100 - 2245 W Broadway, Vancouver (between Yew and Vine)
Time: 7:00 to 9:00 pm, Doors open at 6:30 pm (come early as seating is limited)
Cost: $10.00 per person at the door

Refreshments will be served.