Monday, December 3

For a while now I've been following Honey Nutbrown's blog. Recently she has been using PicMonkey, a free online collage service. I couldn't help but make one of my favourite pup!


Wednesday, November 7

Poppygate

What was intended as a "fall project" for TJ and I has blossomed into a red and black media explosion. Back in August TJ suggested we do a November 11 window display at Yarns on York, and Knit Poppies to give (for a donation) to folks in the store. Honestly we assumed knitters would want the pattern for the poppy more than the knit item itself. Boy were we WRONG.





As several lovely local knitters began to knit the "A poppy for Remembrance" pattern by Laura Chau they also started to post on Facebook, tweet, and use Ravelry to display their poppy projects, this is how word spread and the poppyrazzi began!
















Awesome Photo Credit : http://www.kandisebrown.com/2012/10/poppies-for-remembrance-fredericton-photographer-kandise-brown/

The first media outlet to pay us any mind was CTV’s Andy Campbell. He did a story on Friday Nov 2nd and it was aired that evening. Here’s the transcript of that piece.

From that point we, via Yarns on York and Trish, were informed the Legion held either a trademark or patent or copyright (and we’re still not sure which) on the poppy and that we were not allowed to be doing what we were. By this point the store was getting so many requests for Poppies, we couldn’t keep up with the demand, and were continually selling out.

On Monday a Legion rep was interviewed and that story also aired on CTV. During this interview local business owner and one of Konrad’s favourite people Stephanie said a little blurb that really captured the sentiment of what we were doing.

“I like the knitted poppy because I can wear it and likely will wear it longer than a traditional poppy,” she says. She also says she can’t understand the legion’s position on the project.

“Embrace a member of the community that’s trying to do something that’s really good, with no profit to themselves,” says Shipley.

“Their time, their overhead, the materials, everything is being donated and they’re going to walk down to the legion with a fistful of money to say ‘Here, help our veterans.’ I think that should be embraced by our Royal Canadian Legion.”

That night we decided to stop making and accepting donations for the poppies as the focus was shifting from Vets to semantics.

The next day the official news came that we were to stop ‘poppy production’ in the form of a visit from a local, and seemingly embarrassed, local Legion member. All this was aired on CTV once again. At the beginning of this video you can see a bit of TJ’s window display!

Although it seems this story is over media coverage continues. Global has run two pieces, we were discussed on CBC's Maritime Noon and we're on the front page of the Daily Gleaner today (sidebar).

We also have coverage from a St. John Country radio station CHSJ. They have been the first to address the real question. Who gets the money (Over $1,000 at this point) which was raised to support local Veterans.

"The Legion has said they will accept the $800+ the knitters raised, but Campbell says they'll now discuss whether they'll donate the money to Fredericton's veterans' hospital or to a specific legion division. Regardless, she says 100% of the money raised will go to vets."

Finally, I saw this morning Yahoo Canada News has run a piece as well, which not only speaks to our little campaign, but also how the knit Poppy is embraced in other Commonwealth countries.

As for now, we’re getting an overwhelming amount of requests from supporters all over North America who want to order poppies! In fact, one Niagra Falls woman paid over $17 to have her poppy sent Xpress post so she would have it to wear on Remembrance Day.

TJ, Trish and I met last night and made the final decision of what our next steps will be.
  • All proceeds will still go to support local Veterans through a donation to the Vets wing of the Dr. Everett Chalmers hospital.
  • As of today any person wanting to purchase a knit poppy will be put in touch with a local yarn store.
  • As of today any person who has ordered a knit poppy will receive it, and will be asked to make a donation to a local Vets charity and not send the donation directly to us.


Monday, April 2

MFAR

Enjoyed a lovely weekend near Mahone Bay NS, at the Maritime Fibre Arts Retreat. It was held at the Atlantica Spa and Resort in Oak Island NS, yes THE Oak Island; the one with buried treasure!
Adele and I stopped into the Loop in Halifax on our way. We may have also fallen down and landed at Pete's Fruitique!

Enjoy, the weekend in pictures...




Halifax at the Loop

bah

Fibre from Paulette, singles plied with simple thread

part of my falling down at the Loop...Alpaca.

This was ONE of the  spinning circles-photo credit goes to Lloyd.

 
Have a Yarn in Mahone Bay

View from Saturday supper

Bobbin lace...just lovely

The ceiling at Have a Yarn.

Monday, March 19

Gracie Baby Leg Warmers

I have no babies, but recently a work fiend asked me to knit up some leg warmers for her precious daughter Gracie. Some of the patterns I found on Ravelry were cute, but I thought this would be a great opportunity to strike out on my own and whip up this pattern. I believe this is also called 'winging it'. :)

The finished product:

 


Here is the basic pattern:


Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Bravo Jacquard Color
Needles: 4mm bamboo circulars (for magic loop)

Pattern:
  • CO 24 Stitches
  • Join, and start the rib section: K2, P2 rib for approx 6 rounds (or until you feel you have enough).
  • Knit one plain knit round
  • Increase 6 sts, spacing evenly around the leg warmer.
  • Continue knitting these 30 sts in the round for about 12-14 inches.
    Note: If you know the length of the babys legs this helps.
  • Decrease back down to 24 stitches using the ssk decrease method. 
  • Knit one round.
  • Work in K2, P2 rib for approx 6 rounds. 
  • Loosely cast off.  
 For those of you who are iterested; My Ravelry Pattern Page

Thursday, March 1

Day 11: A WIP



Day 11: A Work I Progress
This is my Wood Hollow Hat by Kirsten Kapur.
It was started as my month of February PINK project.
Wanted to finish up at lunch today,
but left my 2nd ball of yarn at home,
or in the car, or at boyfriends house.....
 
Ravelry Project Page: Wood Hollow Hat

Monday, February 27

Day 23: Inspiration from Clothes

Day 23: Inspiration from Clothes
Every city or town has at least one; mine is
called Value Village, and I spent a good amount of
time here on Saturday AND Sunday. One thing that
really inspires me here are the knit patterns on many
of the sweaters. Cat Bordhi wrote once that she buys
knit items  unique patterns, and try's to deconstruct, 
and then figure out what combination of stitches were
used to create the pattern repeats in the first place.

Day 16: Texture

Day 16: Texture
This is a lovely 'little' (well too little for me) top or sweater from MEX.
The texture of the 'yarn' is almost like a woven fibre. When
this is knit, an entire other dimension opens up!

Friday, February 24

Day 24 & 29: Up Close & Latest FO

Day 24- Up Close
Day 29-Latest FO

A co worker recently (Hem, in December) asked me to make some
dishcloths for his mother. As I wove in the ends and stacked them
one on top of the other I was struck with how nice they looked,
and couldn't resist taking a photo.

Tuesday, February 21

A month of Craft Photos

Kelly from Celtic Cast On has been doing a Month of Craft photos. This is an idea which she got from Andi Satterlund over at Untangling Knots. I loved looking at Kelly's blog and reading all her little stories that related to each photo she posted. In fact I loved the idea so much I thought I would join in!

Who says a 'month of something' has to start on day 1...let's get the month started with day 30.

Day 30: Your Craft Companion


Mr. K is my constant companion, however it seems
when I am not scratching his ears or dropping cheese
on the floor he has no interest in what I am doing.



See others 30 day crafting journey at Flickr

Friday, January 20

If I do anything....

If I do anything this year it's going to be to follow this knitting schedule.


Other than colour there are no limitations. You know, I'm also not even going to limit myself to sticking to the schedule. If I want to switch June for October's colours I will.