Thursday, November 21, 2019

The Story of my Hat

Last night, I attended the Toronto Knitters Guild meeting. Those are always fun and entertaining and I enjoy sharing knitting talk with passionate makers.

A few of us met for dinner beforehand at L'Espresso and one of the knitters showed us her fabulous hat! I made a joke about MY little hat- I'm sure hers took 300 hours to make and mine took 3!


My friends encouraged me to show the item during Show-and-Tell because the beginner knitters in the audience should see some simple works to inspire them.

So my little hat was featured during that segment of the meeting!


I used Lana Grande, a Peruvian Highland Wool distributed by Cascade Yarn. It didn't look that great in the ball but I had used that yarn before for a hat I gave away and it had worked out well so I bought this ball for half the price- yes, Kyle Vey of Vector Knits,  sometimes a good price influences me to buy a yarn.

The candy-cane effect of the yarn (white and grey) looked smashing as it was knit up!


I showed a trick for putting on a pompom.


Insert the two legs of the pompom on either side of the closure hole and run them through a large button. Tie a bow. This helps the pompom from flopping around.


My pompom is a fake fur one...I thought I was being ecological but my daughter who works in fashion in Paris said those are the worst!! Made of plastic, very bad for the environment. I should source out real fur from reputable companies that have their own fur farms and treat the animals in a  humane way.

Well, I am not getting a fur pompom from Louis Vuitton for my $6 hat!

Food for thought, though!


Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Umbria, Italy


A few friends and I will be visiting Umbria next summer. We are all artists and we will be collecting ideas for future art works.


Garden where I stay


Walk from the villa to the town 


A few friends sketching on a hot afternoon

Being inspired in Italy! Can't think of anything better.


A collage I made one day after an earthquake!

I've collected ideas from Umbria before. My booklet, shown here, is full of sketches and comments and inspiration to translate into art work, stories, textile work or quilts.

Typical views

Medieval town of Trevi

These pictures were taken by me on a previous visit to Umbria.