YARN HARLOTSTRUNG ALONG RETREATSUNCATEGORIZEDTHRUM FAQYARN HARLOTSTEPHANIE PEARL-MCPHEETSF FAQ I like korma pink, saag green, biryani yellow, you see where I’m going with this. Dirty colours. I am not much at all for the pastels colours of spring, or the vivid tones of a summer, or even the cool crisps of the deep winter. I am fall. Autumn, the reaping and the

gathering.

HOW IT STARTED/HOW IT’S GOING How it started/How it’s going. Time continues to pass in the strangest way – we’re still under lockdown here, with stay-at-home orders in place, and I’m trudging along. Some days fly by and I can’t believe that I ran out of time to accomplish all that I wanted, and some days are like yesterday, where after a long,

difficult and full

APRIL | 2021 | YARN HARLOT It happened to Picasso too. Posted on April 28, 2021 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. 148. I’ve deleted a thousand posts because they all sound a bit sad and whiny, which I suppose is a little accurate- Toronto is still in a stay at home order and lockdown and I am rather sad and whiny about it, especially when I see my friends and

colleagues to

PICK-UP LINES

If I were married to “pick up” rather than “pick up and knit” at this point I would have some trouble collecting the little gaffers. Luckily, I have another way to go about it. I’m going to switch to “pick up and knit”. Step 5. I find the first loop of the source bind off, and choose the inner leg. THE REASON FOR THE DIVORCE* The reason for the divorce*. Here I sit, drinking my coffee and getting my day together, and I have a little story to tell you. I don’t know if it showed on the blog or not, but last week was not really a winner for me. My get up and go, to say the least, had gotten up and gone. I struggled to have productive days, I was so tired I

could

ONE ROW HANDSPUN SCARF Row 1: * knit 2, knit into the back of the next stitch, purl 1. Repeat from * till there are 2 stitches left. Knit 2. Repeat that one row every row until you can stand it no longer, your scarf is long enough or you run out of yarn, whatever comes first. Cast off. BLOCKING- A LITTLE SWEATER The most important part of blocking has already happened for this sweater. The bath has smoothed and evened the stitches, helped the yarn settle in to its new shapes, and finished the wool. Step 4: I spread out the back. I make it straight along the bottom hem, patting everything gently where I THE MITTENS OF ROVANIEMI The Mittens of Rovaniemi. Posted on February 1, 2007 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Warning: This post is picture heavy. My sincere apologies to my friends on dial-up. While I was at Madrona, I was lucky enough not just to teach some classes, but to have enough holes in my schedule that I could take a couple. (This is a job perk that to

a knitter

THE STEPH SCHOOL OF SLIGHTLY LESS CRAPPY KNITTING #6 works for so many other attempts that we make in our lives. I just copied that section to a new weaver. She has only dressed a loom two times and was absolutely certain that she had totally screwed up the third one; she had not.

KNITTER FUN

When I was at Rhinebeck I had a quick visit with Jennifer, who is the lady who makes the yarn for the way far out there crazy-compelling Tsock Tsarina sock kits, which spring from the brain of Lisa and are a very big sort of knitter’s fun. You will see here shortly that I am

defining ”

YARN HARLOTSTRUNG ALONG RETREATSUNCATEGORIZEDTHRUM FAQYARN HARLOTSTEPHANIE PEARL-MCPHEETSF FAQ I like korma pink, saag green, biryani yellow, you see where I’m going with this. Dirty colours. I am not much at all for the pastels colours of spring, or the vivid tones of a summer, or even the cool crisps of the deep winter. I am fall. Autumn, the reaping and the

gathering.

HOW IT STARTED/HOW IT’S GOING How it started/How it’s going. Time continues to pass in the strangest way – we’re still under lockdown here, with stay-at-home orders in place, and I’m trudging along. Some days fly by and I can’t believe that I ran out of time to accomplish all that I wanted, and some days are like yesterday, where after a long,

difficult and full

APRIL | 2021 | YARN HARLOT It happened to Picasso too. Posted on April 28, 2021 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. 148. I’ve deleted a thousand posts because they all sound a bit sad and whiny, which I suppose is a little accurate- Toronto is still in a stay at home order and lockdown and I am rather sad and whiny about it, especially when I see my friends and

colleagues to

PICK-UP LINES

If I were married to “pick up” rather than “pick up and knit” at this point I would have some trouble collecting the little gaffers. Luckily, I have another way to go about it. I’m going to switch to “pick up and knit”. Step 5. I find the first loop of the source bind off, and choose the inner leg. THE REASON FOR THE DIVORCE* The reason for the divorce*. Here I sit, drinking my coffee and getting my day together, and I have a little story to tell you. I don’t know if it showed on the blog or not, but last week was not really a winner for me. My get up and go, to say the least, had gotten up and gone. I struggled to have productive days, I was so tired I

could

ONE ROW HANDSPUN SCARF Row 1: * knit 2, knit into the back of the next stitch, purl 1. Repeat from * till there are 2 stitches left. Knit 2. Repeat that one row every row until you can stand it no longer, your scarf is long enough or you run out of yarn, whatever comes first. Cast off. BLOCKING- A LITTLE SWEATER The most important part of blocking has already happened for this sweater. The bath has smoothed and evened the stitches, helped the yarn settle in to its new shapes, and finished the wool. Step 4: I spread out the back. I make it straight along the bottom hem, patting everything gently where I THE MITTENS OF ROVANIEMI The Mittens of Rovaniemi. Posted on February 1, 2007 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Warning: This post is picture heavy. My sincere apologies to my friends on dial-up. While I was at Madrona, I was lucky enough not just to teach some classes, but to have enough holes in my schedule that I could take a couple. (This is a job perk that to

a knitter

THE STEPH SCHOOL OF SLIGHTLY LESS CRAPPY KNITTING #6 works for so many other attempts that we make in our lives. I just copied that section to a new weaver. She has only dressed a loom two times and was absolutely certain that she had totally screwed up the third one; she had not.

KNITTER FUN

When I was at Rhinebeck I had a quick visit with Jennifer, who is the lady who makes the yarn for the way far out there crazy-compelling Tsock Tsarina sock kits, which spring from the brain of Lisa and are a very big sort of knitter’s fun. You will see here shortly that I am

defining ”

MARCH | 2021 | YARN HARLOT Happy Birthday Charlotte. Posted on March 16, 2021 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. 132. I woke up very early this morning and it was almost exactly the time that Charlotte was born. I wished her a silent Happy Birthday, and lay there thinking about that beautiful morning. As this day approached, I have been working hard on my heart. 21 | JANUARY | 2021 | YARN HARLOT Posted on January 21, 2021 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. 139. Time continues to pass in the strangest way – we’re still under lockdown here, with stay-at-home orders in place, and I’m trudging along. Some days fly by and I can’t believe that I ran out of time to accomplish all that I wanted, and some days are like yesterday,

where after a

KNITTERS WITHOUT BORDERS Knitters Without Borders. This page is the home of Tricoteuses Sans Frontières or Knitters Without Borders. TSF was born as a response to the tsunami disaster on December 26th 2004, but exists to fundraise for Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders. STRUNG ALONG RETREATS Strung Along Retreats take place several times a year (almost always Spring, June and November) and provide a unique opportunity for knitters (and usually spinners) to indulge their interests and have an opportunity to fill their creative wells to the brim. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLOTTE I woke up very early this morning and it was almost exactly the time that Charlotte was born. I wished her a silent Happy Birthday, and lay there thinking about that beautiful morning. IT HAPPENED TO PICASSO TOO Autumn, the reaping and the gathering. That’s my jam. Now- that’s not to say that fall is my favourite season, far from it, actually. I am a summer child, and I’ve always found fall to be a little bit sad since it’s the end of all that I adore and the beginning of the long-dark-tea-time-of-the-soul that is the Canadian winter, but I SEVENTEEN | YARN HARLOT Seventeen. The blog is seventeen today. If this blog was a person it would be in their room blasting obnoxious music and angrily texting all its friends about how horrible I am for not letting it go out during a pandemic and see everyone. (I can sort of relate.) Last year, I wrote about how much things had changed – how much I’ve changed. ITSY BITSY TEENIE WEENIE 1. We had Megan’s baby shower on Saturday here at the house. I thought that you were only supposed to have a shower for your first, but the girls said I was being old-fashioned and I couldn’t think of a good reason not to celebrate getting a baby, so we did. 2. I made

cookies.

THE LONGEST NIGHT

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world. Came people singing, dancing, To drive the dark away. They lighted candles in the winter trees; They hung their homes with evergreen; They burned beseeching fires all night long. To keep the year alive. And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake. They shouted, revelling. NOW I HAVE A SPREADSHEET Now I have a Spreadsheet. Posted on November 26, 2012 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. A few years ago, I got sick of Christmas being a train wreck. Not for the family, the family always had an awesome Christmas, but by the end of our big, fancy holiday, I was always YARN HARLOTSTRUNG ALONG RETREATSTHRUM FAQUNCATEGORIZEDSTEPHANIE

PEARL-MCPHEETSF FAQ

It is in keeping with the rather craptastic nature of 2020 that I begin the month of December by blowing a deadline. In the past this month has been the scene of some of my most glorious triumphs – grand knitting plans pulled together at the last minute, supernatural amounts of work coming together, spreadsheets and lists galore culminating in glorious family gatherings and joyful holiday HOW IT STARTED/HOW IT’S GOING How it started/How it’s going. Time continues to pass in the strangest way – we’re still under lockdown here, with stay-at-home orders in place, and I’m trudging along. Some days fly by and I can’t believe that I ran out of time to accomplish all that I wanted, and some days are like yesterday, where after a long,

difficult and full

PICK-UP LINES

If I were married to “pick up” rather than “pick up and knit” at this point I would have some trouble collecting the little gaffers. Luckily, I have another way to go about it. I’m going to switch to “pick up and knit”. Step 5. I find the first loop of the source bind off, and choose the inner leg. THE REASON FOR THE DIVORCE* The reason for the divorce*. Here I sit, drinking my coffee and getting my day together, and I have a little story to tell you. I don’t know if it showed on the blog or not, but last week was not really a winner for me. My get up and go, to say the least, had gotten up and gone. I struggled to have productive days, I was so tired I

could

THE LONGEST NIGHT

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world. Came people singing, dancing, To drive the dark away. They lighted candles in the winter trees; They hung their homes with evergreen; They burned beseeching fires all night long. To keep the year alive. And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake. They shouted, revelling.

THE BUTTON THING

The Button Thing. Posted on February 6, 2009 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Turns out that if you point out to me that the buttons are on the wrong side of my sweater, you get feminist rant #27 Subgroup D – “Institutionalized and traditional impairment of the ease with which women move on the earth”. Alternate title – “Why

your life is

THE STEPH SCHOOL OF SLIGHTLY LESS CRAPPY KNITTING #6 works for so many other attempts that we make in our lives. I just copied that section to a new weaver. She has only dressed a loom two times and was absolutely certain that she had totally screwed up the third one; she had not. ONE ROW HANDSPUN SCARF Row 1: * knit 2, knit into the back of the next stitch, purl 1. Repeat from * till there are 2 stitches left. Knit 2. Repeat that one row every row until you can stand it no longer, your scarf is long enough or you run out of yarn, whatever comes first. Cast off. THE MITTENS OF ROVANIEMI The Mittens of Rovaniemi. Posted on February 1, 2007 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Warning: This post is picture heavy. My sincere apologies to my friends on dial-up. While I was at Madrona, I was lucky enough not just to teach some classes, but to have enough holes in my schedule that I could take a couple. (This is a job perk that to

a knitter

UNEXPECTEDLY CONTROVERSIAL Test knitting is sort of fun, but here’s what most designers need in a test knitter is the ability to A) Work on a deadline and keep that deadline. B) Provide valuable feedback to the designer that they can use to improve the pattern. If you’re going to have expectations of someone, then you should pay them. YARN HARLOTSTRUNG ALONG RETREATSTHRUM FAQUNCATEGORIZEDSTEPHANIE

PEARL-MCPHEETSF FAQ

It is in keeping with the rather craptastic nature of 2020 that I begin the month of December by blowing a deadline. In the past this month has been the scene of some of my most glorious triumphs – grand knitting plans pulled together at the last minute, supernatural amounts of work coming together, spreadsheets and lists galore culminating in glorious family gatherings and joyful holiday HOW IT STARTED/HOW IT’S GOING How it started/How it’s going. Time continues to pass in the strangest way – we’re still under lockdown here, with stay-at-home orders in place, and I’m trudging along. Some days fly by and I can’t believe that I ran out of time to accomplish all that I wanted, and some days are like yesterday, where after a long,

difficult and full

PICK-UP LINES

If I were married to “pick up” rather than “pick up and knit” at this point I would have some trouble collecting the little gaffers. Luckily, I have another way to go about it. I’m going to switch to “pick up and knit”. Step 5. I find the first loop of the source bind off, and choose the inner leg. THE REASON FOR THE DIVORCE* The reason for the divorce*. Here I sit, drinking my coffee and getting my day together, and I have a little story to tell you. I don’t know if it showed on the blog or not, but last week was not really a winner for me. My get up and go, to say the least, had gotten up and gone. I struggled to have productive days, I was so tired I

could

THE LONGEST NIGHT

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world. Came people singing, dancing, To drive the dark away. They lighted candles in the winter trees; They hung their homes with evergreen; They burned beseeching fires all night long. To keep the year alive. And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake. They shouted, revelling.

THE BUTTON THING

The Button Thing. Posted on February 6, 2009 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Turns out that if you point out to me that the buttons are on the wrong side of my sweater, you get feminist rant #27 Subgroup D – “Institutionalized and traditional impairment of the ease with which women move on the earth”. Alternate title – “Why

your life is

THE STEPH SCHOOL OF SLIGHTLY LESS CRAPPY KNITTING #6 works for so many other attempts that we make in our lives. I just copied that section to a new weaver. She has only dressed a loom two times and was absolutely certain that she had totally screwed up the third one; she had not. ONE ROW HANDSPUN SCARF Row 1: * knit 2, knit into the back of the next stitch, purl 1. Repeat from * till there are 2 stitches left. Knit 2. Repeat that one row every row until you can stand it no longer, your scarf is long enough or you run out of yarn, whatever comes first. Cast off. THE MITTENS OF ROVANIEMI The Mittens of Rovaniemi. Posted on February 1, 2007 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Warning: This post is picture heavy. My sincere apologies to my friends on dial-up. While I was at Madrona, I was lucky enough not just to teach some classes, but to have enough holes in my schedule that I could take a couple. (This is a job perk that to

a knitter

UNEXPECTEDLY CONTROVERSIAL Test knitting is sort of fun, but here’s what most designers need in a test knitter is the ability to A) Work on a deadline and keep that deadline. B) Provide valuable feedback to the designer that they can use to improve the pattern. If you’re going to have expectations of someone, then you should pay them. HOW IT STARTED/HOW IT’S GOING How it started/How it’s going. Time continues to pass in the strangest way – we’re still under lockdown here, with stay-at-home orders in place, and I’m trudging along. Some days fly by and I can’t believe that I ran out of time to accomplish all that I wanted, and some days are like yesterday, where after a long,

difficult and full

MARCH | 2021 | YARN HARLOT Happy Birthday Charlotte. Posted on March 16, 2021 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. 132. I woke up very early this morning and it was almost exactly the time that Charlotte was born. I wished her a silent Happy Birthday, and lay there thinking about that beautiful morning. As this day approached, I have been working hard on my heart. APRIL | 2021 | YARN HARLOT It happened to Picasso too. Posted on April 28, 2021 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. 148. I’ve deleted a thousand posts because they all sound a bit sad and whiny, which I suppose is a little accurate- Toronto is still in a stay at home order and lockdown and I am rather sad and whiny about it, especially when I see my friends and

colleagues to

JANUARY | 2021 | YARN HARLOT Seventeen. Posted on January 23, 2021 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. 259. The blog is seventeen today. If this blog was a person it would be in their room blasting obnoxious music and angrily texting all its friends about how horrible I am for not letting it go out during a 21 | JANUARY | 2021 | YARN HARLOT Posted on January 21, 2021 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. 139. Time continues to pass in the strangest way – we’re still under lockdown here, with stay-at-home orders in place, and I’m trudging along. Some days fly by and I can’t believe that I ran out of time to accomplish all that I wanted, and some days are like yesterday,

where after a

IT HAPPENED TO PICASSO TOO Autumn, the reaping and the gathering. That’s my jam. Now- that’s not to say that fall is my favourite season, far from it, actually. I am a summer child, and I’ve always found fall to be a little bit sad since it’s the end of all that I adore and the beginning of the long-dark-tea-time-of-the-soul that is the Canadian winter, but I ITSY BITSY TEENIE WEENIE 1. We had Megan’s baby shower on Saturday here at the house. I thought that you were only supposed to have a shower for your first, but the girls said I was being old-fashioned and I couldn’t think of a good reason not to celebrate getting a baby, so we did. 2. I made

cookies.

THE GREAT AND MIGHTY MITTEN HUNT The Great and Mighty Mitten Hunt. I want to make a pair of mittens, and I am consumed with the thrill of the hunt. I’ve spent two days looking now and although I have seen many wonderful mittens, none of them are quite right. I feel like I’ll know it when I see it,

THE BUTTON THING

The Button Thing. Posted on February 6, 2009 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Turns out that if you point out to me that the buttons are on the wrong side of my sweater, you get feminist rant #27 Subgroup D – “Institutionalized and traditional impairment of the ease with which women move on the earth”. Alternate title – “Why

your life is

JANUARY | 2004 | YARN HARLOT Sorry kids. Posted on January 27, 2004 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. This morning as I lay in bed trying to motivate myself, I could hear two of my daughters, Megan (12) and Sam (9) talking in the next room. Megan has the top bunk, so without getting up, she can see out the window. YARN HARLOTSTRUNG ALONG RETREATSUNCATEGORIZEDTHRUM FAQYARN HARLOTSTEPHANIE PEARL-MCPHEETSF FAQ I like korma pink, saag green, biryani yellow, you see where I’m going with this. Dirty colours. I am not much at all for the pastels colours of spring, or the vivid tones of a summer, or even the cool crisps of the deep winter. I am fall. Autumn, the reaping and the

gathering.

STRUNG ALONG RETREATS Strung Along Retreats take place several times a year (almost always Spring, June and November) and provide a unique opportunity for knitters (and usually spinners) to indulge their interests and have an opportunity to fill their creative wells to the brim.

PICK-UP LINES

If I were married to “pick up” rather than “pick up and knit” at this point I would have some trouble collecting the little gaffers. Luckily, I have another way to go about it. I’m going to switch to “pick up and knit”. Step 5. I find the first loop of the source bind off, and choose the inner leg. KNITTERS WITHOUT BORDERS THE REASON FOR THE DIVORCE* The reason for the divorce*. Here I sit, drinking my coffee and getting my day together, and I have a little story to tell you. I don’t know if it showed on the blog or not, but last week was not really a winner for me. My get up and go, to say the least, had gotten up and gone. I struggled to have productive days, I was so tired I

could

ONE ROW HANDSPUN SCARF Row 1: * knit 2, knit into the back of the next stitch, purl 1. Repeat from * till there are 2 stitches left. Knit 2. Repeat that one row every row until you can stand it no longer, your scarf is long enough or you run out of yarn, whatever comes first. Cast off.

THE BUTTON THING

The Button Thing. Posted on February 6, 2009 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Turns out that if you point out to me that the buttons are on the wrong side of my sweater, you get feminist rant #27 Subgroup D – “Institutionalized and traditional impairment of the ease with which women move on the earth”. Alternate title – “Why

your life is

THE STEPH SCHOOL OF SLIGHTLY LESS CRAPPY KNITTING #6 works for so many other attempts that we make in our lives. I just copied that section to a new weaver. She has only dressed a loom two times and was absolutely certain that she had totally screwed up the third one; she had not. THE MITTENS OF ROVANIEMI The Mittens of Rovaniemi. Posted on February 1, 2007 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Warning: This post is picture heavy. My sincere apologies to my friends on dial-up. While I was at Madrona, I was lucky enough not just to teach some classes, but to have enough holes in my schedule that I could take a couple. (This is a job perk that to

a knitter

UNEXPECTEDLY CONTROVERSIAL Test knitting is sort of fun, but here’s what most designers need in a test knitter is the ability to A) Work on a deadline and keep that deadline. B) Provide valuable feedback to the designer that they can use to improve the pattern. If you’re going to have expectations of someone, then you should pay them. YARN HARLOTSTRUNG ALONG RETREATSUNCATEGORIZEDTHRUM FAQYARN HARLOTSTEPHANIE PEARL-MCPHEETSF FAQ I like korma pink, saag green, biryani yellow, you see where I’m going with this. Dirty colours. I am not much at all for the pastels colours of spring, or the vivid tones of a summer, or even the cool crisps of the deep winter. I am fall. Autumn, the reaping and the

gathering.

STRUNG ALONG RETREATS Strung Along Retreats take place several times a year (almost always Spring, June and November) and provide a unique opportunity for knitters (and usually spinners) to indulge their interests and have an opportunity to fill their creative wells to the brim.

PICK-UP LINES

If I were married to “pick up” rather than “pick up and knit” at this point I would have some trouble collecting the little gaffers. Luckily, I have another way to go about it. I’m going to switch to “pick up and knit”. Step 5. I find the first loop of the source bind off, and choose the inner leg. KNITTERS WITHOUT BORDERS THE REASON FOR THE DIVORCE* The reason for the divorce*. Here I sit, drinking my coffee and getting my day together, and I have a little story to tell you. I don’t know if it showed on the blog or not, but last week was not really a winner for me. My get up and go, to say the least, had gotten up and gone. I struggled to have productive days, I was so tired I

could

ONE ROW HANDSPUN SCARF Row 1: * knit 2, knit into the back of the next stitch, purl 1. Repeat from * till there are 2 stitches left. Knit 2. Repeat that one row every row until you can stand it no longer, your scarf is long enough or you run out of yarn, whatever comes first. Cast off.

THE BUTTON THING

The Button Thing. Posted on February 6, 2009 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Turns out that if you point out to me that the buttons are on the wrong side of my sweater, you get feminist rant #27 Subgroup D – “Institutionalized and traditional impairment of the ease with which women move on the earth”. Alternate title – “Why

your life is

THE STEPH SCHOOL OF SLIGHTLY LESS CRAPPY KNITTING #6 works for so many other attempts that we make in our lives. I just copied that section to a new weaver. She has only dressed a loom two times and was absolutely certain that she had totally screwed up the third one; she had not. THE MITTENS OF ROVANIEMI The Mittens of Rovaniemi. Posted on February 1, 2007 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Warning: This post is picture heavy. My sincere apologies to my friends on dial-up. While I was at Madrona, I was lucky enough not just to teach some classes, but to have enough holes in my schedule that I could take a couple. (This is a job perk that to

a knitter

UNEXPECTEDLY CONTROVERSIAL Test knitting is sort of fun, but here’s what most designers need in a test knitter is the ability to A) Work on a deadline and keep that deadline. B) Provide valuable feedback to the designer that they can use to improve the pattern. If you’re going to have expectations of someone, then you should pay them. HOW IT STARTED/HOW IT’S GOING How it started/How it’s going. Time continues to pass in the strangest way – we’re still under lockdown here, with stay-at-home orders in place, and I’m trudging along. Some days fly by and I can’t believe that I ran out of time to accomplish all that I wanted, and some days are like yesterday, where after a long,

difficult and full

YARN HARLOT

Beautiful soft blooms – and strong canes and thorns. Bonnie (the elder) was soft hearted, but it came with a wicked fierceness that I wished for my Charlotte Bonnie (the younger). There are four roses on each trellis, the same number of children my mum had. Me, James, Ian and Erin. Beyond that – MARCH | 2020 | YARN HARLOT Charlotte Bonnie. Posted on March 19, 2020 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. 721. It is with broken hearts that our family tells you that our darling Charlotte Bonnie died suddenly yesterday morning. Though we only had two days with our beautiful girl, she has left the mark of a

lifetime.

21 | JANUARY | 2021 | YARN HARLOT Posted on January 21, 2021 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. 139. Time continues to pass in the strangest way – we’re still under lockdown here, with stay-at-home orders in place, and I’m trudging along. Some days fly by and I can’t believe that I ran out of time to accomplish all that I wanted, and some days are like yesterday,

where after a

ALL THAT I SURVEY

All that I survey. This morning, before I packed my bags and got ready to head for the airport, I spread out my knitting and had a little sigh about it. I brought three projects with me on this trip – and I didn’t meet my goals on any of them. I forgot how completely exhausted I am after skiing, and what it’s like to try and juggle my ITSY BITSY TEENIE WEENIE 1. We had Megan’s baby shower on Saturday here at the house. I thought that you were only supposed to have a shower for your first, but the girls said I was being old-fashioned and I couldn’t think of a good reason not to celebrate getting a baby, so we did. 2. I made

cookies.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLOTTE I woke up very early this morning and it was almost exactly the time that Charlotte was born. I wished her a silent Happy Birthday, and lay there thinking about that beautiful morning.

THE LONGEST NIGHT

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world. Came people singing, dancing, To drive the dark away. They lighted candles in the winter trees; They hung their homes with evergreen; They burned beseeching fires all night long. To keep the year alive. And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake. They shouted, revelling. BLOCKING- A LITTLE SWEATER The most important part of blocking has already happened for this sweater. The bath has smoothed and evened the stitches, helped the yarn settle in to its new shapes, and finished the wool. Step 4: I spread out the back. I make it straight along the bottom hem, patting everything gently where I PUTTING ONE SOCK IN FRONT OF THE OTHER Putting one sock in front of the other. Posted on September 20, 2007 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I think the last time I was this tired, I had a newborn. You will have to forgive me for being a bad blogger and not keeping it together on the posting front, but every time I get more than 20 minutes in one place where I don’t have a job to do, I YARN HARLOTSTRUNG ALONG RETREATSUNCATEGORIZEDTHRUM FAQYARN HARLOTSTEPHANIE PEARL-MCPHEETSF FAQ I like korma pink, saag green, biryani yellow, you see where I’m going with this. Dirty colours. I am not much at all for the pastels colours of spring, or the vivid tones of a summer, or even the cool crisps of the deep winter. I am fall. Autumn, the reaping and the

gathering.

STRUNG ALONG RETREATS Strung Along Retreats take place several times a year (almost always Spring, June and November) and provide a unique opportunity for knitters (and usually spinners) to indulge their interests and have an opportunity to fill their creative wells to the brim.

PICK-UP LINES

If I were married to “pick up” rather than “pick up and knit” at this point I would have some trouble collecting the little gaffers. Luckily, I have another way to go about it. I’m going to switch to “pick up and knit”. Step 5. I find the first loop of the source bind off, and choose the inner leg. KNITTERS WITHOUT BORDERS THE REASON FOR THE DIVORCE* The reason for the divorce*. Here I sit, drinking my coffee and getting my day together, and I have a little story to tell you. I don’t know if it showed on the blog or not, but last week was not really a winner for me. My get up and go, to say the least, had gotten up and gone. I struggled to have productive days, I was so tired I

could

ONE ROW HANDSPUN SCARF Row 1: * knit 2, knit into the back of the next stitch, purl 1. Repeat from * till there are 2 stitches left. Knit 2. Repeat that one row every row until you can stand it no longer, your scarf is long enough or you run out of yarn, whatever comes first. Cast off.

THE BUTTON THING

The Button Thing. Posted on February 6, 2009 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Turns out that if you point out to me that the buttons are on the wrong side of my sweater, you get feminist rant #27 Subgroup D – “Institutionalized and traditional impairment of the ease with which women move on the earth”. Alternate title – “Why

your life is

THE STEPH SCHOOL OF SLIGHTLY LESS CRAPPY KNITTING #6 works for so many other attempts that we make in our lives. I just copied that section to a new weaver. She has only dressed a loom two times and was absolutely certain that she had totally screwed up the third one; she had not. THE MITTENS OF ROVANIEMI The Mittens of Rovaniemi. Posted on February 1, 2007 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Warning: This post is picture heavy. My sincere apologies to my friends on dial-up. While I was at Madrona, I was lucky enough not just to teach some classes, but to have enough holes in my schedule that I could take a couple. (This is a job perk that to

a knitter

UNEXPECTEDLY CONTROVERSIAL Test knitting is sort of fun, but here’s what most designers need in a test knitter is the ability to A) Work on a deadline and keep that deadline. B) Provide valuable feedback to the designer that they can use to improve the pattern. If you’re going to have expectations of someone, then you should pay them. YARN HARLOTSTRUNG ALONG RETREATSUNCATEGORIZEDTHRUM FAQYARN HARLOTSTEPHANIE PEARL-MCPHEETSF FAQ I like korma pink, saag green, biryani yellow, you see where I’m going with this. Dirty colours. I am not much at all for the pastels colours of spring, or the vivid tones of a summer, or even the cool crisps of the deep winter. I am fall. Autumn, the reaping and the

gathering.

STRUNG ALONG RETREATS Strung Along Retreats take place several times a year (almost always Spring, June and November) and provide a unique opportunity for knitters (and usually spinners) to indulge their interests and have an opportunity to fill their creative wells to the brim.

PICK-UP LINES

If I were married to “pick up” rather than “pick up and knit” at this point I would have some trouble collecting the little gaffers. Luckily, I have another way to go about it. I’m going to switch to “pick up and knit”. Step 5. I find the first loop of the source bind off, and choose the inner leg. KNITTERS WITHOUT BORDERS THE REASON FOR THE DIVORCE* The reason for the divorce*. Here I sit, drinking my coffee and getting my day together, and I have a little story to tell you. I don’t know if it showed on the blog or not, but last week was not really a winner for me. My get up and go, to say the least, had gotten up and gone. I struggled to have productive days, I was so tired I

could

ONE ROW HANDSPUN SCARF Row 1: * knit 2, knit into the back of the next stitch, purl 1. Repeat from * till there are 2 stitches left. Knit 2. Repeat that one row every row until you can stand it no longer, your scarf is long enough or you run out of yarn, whatever comes first. Cast off.

THE BUTTON THING

The Button Thing. Posted on February 6, 2009 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Turns out that if you point out to me that the buttons are on the wrong side of my sweater, you get feminist rant #27 Subgroup D – “Institutionalized and traditional impairment of the ease with which women move on the earth”. Alternate title – “Why

your life is

THE STEPH SCHOOL OF SLIGHTLY LESS CRAPPY KNITTING #6 works for so many other attempts that we make in our lives. I just copied that section to a new weaver. She has only dressed a loom two times and was absolutely certain that she had totally screwed up the third one; she had not. THE MITTENS OF ROVANIEMI The Mittens of Rovaniemi. Posted on February 1, 2007 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Warning: This post is picture heavy. My sincere apologies to my friends on dial-up. While I was at Madrona, I was lucky enough not just to teach some classes, but to have enough holes in my schedule that I could take a couple. (This is a job perk that to

a knitter

UNEXPECTEDLY CONTROVERSIAL Test knitting is sort of fun, but here’s what most designers need in a test knitter is the ability to A) Work on a deadline and keep that deadline. B) Provide valuable feedback to the designer that they can use to improve the pattern. If you’re going to have expectations of someone, then you should pay them. HOW IT STARTED/HOW IT’S GOING How it started/How it’s going. Time continues to pass in the strangest way – we’re still under lockdown here, with stay-at-home orders in place, and I’m trudging along. Some days fly by and I can’t believe that I ran out of time to accomplish all that I wanted, and some days are like yesterday, where after a long,

difficult and full

YARN HARLOT

Beautiful soft blooms – and strong canes and thorns. Bonnie (the elder) was soft hearted, but it came with a wicked fierceness that I wished for my Charlotte Bonnie (the younger). There are four roses on each trellis, the same number of children my mum had. Me, James, Ian and Erin. Beyond that – MARCH | 2020 | YARN HARLOT Charlotte Bonnie. Posted on March 19, 2020 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. 721. It is with broken hearts that our family tells you that our darling Charlotte Bonnie died suddenly yesterday morning. Though we only had two days with our beautiful girl, she has left the mark of a

lifetime.

21 | JANUARY | 2021 | YARN HARLOT Posted on January 21, 2021 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. 139. Time continues to pass in the strangest way – we’re still under lockdown here, with stay-at-home orders in place, and I’m trudging along. Some days fly by and I can’t believe that I ran out of time to accomplish all that I wanted, and some days are like yesterday,

where after a

ALL THAT I SURVEY

All that I survey. This morning, before I packed my bags and got ready to head for the airport, I spread out my knitting and had a little sigh about it. I brought three projects with me on this trip – and I didn’t meet my goals on any of them. I forgot how completely exhausted I am after skiing, and what it’s like to try and juggle my ITSY BITSY TEENIE WEENIE 1. We had Megan’s baby shower on Saturday here at the house. I thought that you were only supposed to have a shower for your first, but the girls said I was being old-fashioned and I couldn’t think of a good reason not to celebrate getting a baby, so we did. 2. I made

cookies.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLOTTE I woke up very early this morning and it was almost exactly the time that Charlotte was born. I wished her a silent Happy Birthday, and lay there thinking about that beautiful morning.

THE LONGEST NIGHT

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world. Came people singing, dancing, To drive the dark away. They lighted candles in the winter trees; They hung their homes with evergreen; They burned beseeching fires all night long. To keep the year alive. And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake. They shouted, revelling. BLOCKING- A LITTLE SWEATER The most important part of blocking has already happened for this sweater. The bath has smoothed and evened the stitches, helped the yarn settle in to its new shapes, and finished the wool. Step 4: I spread out the back. I make it straight along the bottom hem, patting everything gently where I PUTTING ONE SOCK IN FRONT OF THE OTHER Putting one sock in front of the other. Posted on September 20, 2007 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I think the last time I was this tired, I had a newborn. You will have to forgive me for being a bad blogger and not keeping it together on the posting front, but every time I get more than 20 minutes in one place where I don’t have a job to do, I

YARN HARLOT

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IT HAPPENED TO PICASSO TOO Posted on April 28, 2021

by

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

150

I’ve deleted a thousand posts because they all sound a bit sad and whiny, which I suppose is a little accurate- Toronto is still in a stay at home order and lockdown and I am rather sad and whiny about it, especially when I see my friends and colleagues to the south and across the pond slowly finding a way out of this thing. Still, it doesn’t do my heart any good at all to be jealous, and it makes no sense to compare Canada to the vaccine producing giants that are the US and UK. We’re making progress compared to  most countries that don’t have any domestic vaccine production, and I am so grateful for that. Still, after enduring that long and lonely Covid winter I had hoped for a little more freedom this spring – but the ICU’s are rammed full, the crisis is deeper than it ever was, and every healthcare worker I know would love to beat the everliving snot out of people who can’t honour the restrictions right now while they struggle to keep people alive, so here I sit. I received my first vaccine three weeks ago – but Canada is separating the first and second doses by four months to make the most of the supply we have. I get it, as the variants savage the place it makes a lot of sense to try and give as many people as possible some protection, but it does mean that we don’t know anyone that’s enjoying the perks of being fully vaccinated. Hell, we don’t even have guidelines for those people yet, since it’s only 3% of the population. I know there’s an end in sight, but gentle readers, it just seems so far off. Was that too sad? Whiny? I think it’s okay, I’ll leave it. The truth is that we’re holding on, despite Toronto enduring one of the worlds longest lockdowns (for the third time) and we remain pretty grateful that we’ve been able to be as safe as we have been – and that the hardest thing we’ve been asked to do is stay home and miss our families. Elliot’s dad and Sam are both essential workers in public facing jobs, and both unvaccinated as of yet, and I worry about them a lot. My hair is enormous and wild (salons and barbers closed at the beginning of the pandemic and were only open for about 7 weeks last summer, same as our restaurants) but I am used to that now and it helps that everyone I see looks the same, and frankly my own wild mane is a small price to pay for the glory that is Joe’s fantastical tresses.  I know he’ll get it cut the minute a barber opens, but for now it’s a big part of my pandemic entertainment. If I didn’t think it would be a gross violation of every vow I’ve ever made to him that would surely result in divorce, I’d show you the pictures I’ve been quietly taking each morning. The big news though, is that something shocking has happened here, and I don’t know quite how to explain it. I have been knitting up a storm. I mean, just heaps. I think it helps me see forward movement and change in the face of all of this, and while knitting heaps isn’t odd, something else has been happening. First, I knit Elliot a

blue sweater.

That’s Dogstar

(rav link) again, I’ve knit him two now, though the look nothing alike – such a great pattern) and the yarn is Peer Gynt, a favourite worsted weight of mine. Hardworking, non-superwash, inexpensive, comes in a thousand colours… good stuff, that.  Now, there is nothing at all unusual about me knitting a blue sweater…for someone else. Me? My palette is famously more 1970’s appliance colours- or anything the colour of a dish you could get at an Indian restaurant.  I like korma pink, saag green, biryani yellow, … you see where I’m going with this. Dirty colours. I am not much at all for the pastels colours of spring, or the vivid tones of a summer, or even the cool crisps of the deep winter. I am fall. Autumn, the reaping and the gathering. That’s my jam. Now- that’s not to say that fall is my favourite season, far from it, actually.  I am a summer child, and I’ve always found fall to be a little bit sad since it’s the end of all that I adore and the beginning of the long-dark-tea-time-of-the-soul that is the Canadian winter, but I

digress.

The last Love Note

I made for myself

was perfect for me. I loved the sweater, I loved the yarn and it was exactly, absolutely the right colour. (Lichen and Lace Marsh Mohair in “Shrub” and 1-ply fingering in “Woods” held together) Now, I loved knitting that sweater so much, and I wear the finished product so much and the yarn was so fun that it made heaps of sense to me that I would knit another one, and so it wasn’t at all surprising that I found myself back on the website ordering more. What did surprise me was that I ordered this: Same yarn, but this time in beautiful blues -the mohair was “calm waters” and the fingering “rainy day”. Weird, right? I mean, me in blue? Me even knitting blue is a little odd, but for myself? A rather odd glitch I thought, but these are strange times.  I was confident that whatever this was, it was an isolated event. You could have knocked me over with a feather then, when mere days later, I ordered and received this: For another sweater, for me, and yes, there were other colours available. There was even a properly yucky green that should have been what came over me, but look at that.  This time I’m after making

Woven Shadows

and even though I am only just past the swatching phase, I am entirely besotted and it’s the colour that’s most of it.  I tried to knock some me back into me by knitting a green sweater – but then I helplessly added blue at all the edges. It’s like I don’t even know myself. (That’s Ellie, in Limepop

. It’s a

classic, as is his pandemic hair.) The crazy thing is that all this blue is delighting me.  Instead of rain and winter all I see in these blues are the things I long for, love and miss. The blue sky of Alberta and Saskatchewan, the ocean in Port Ludlow, Vancouver, Halifax and Spain, the bluebonnets in Texas at DFW, the cornflowers and lupins

of summer here.

I can’t explain it and it’s so unlike me, but I’m wearing that blue sweater to bits almost every day and all this blue is making me so happy. It seems so funny to me right now that blue is associated with being sad, because here it’s uplifting. Oh – here’s a picture of the finished sweater. It’s not awesome because there aren’t a lot of photographers around, but here’s a selfie from my walk today. I propped my phone on a fence but screwed up the timer. Anyway – just so that you know some things still stay the same?

Orange socks.

Posted in Uncategorized

| 150 Replies

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLOTTE Posted on March 16, 2021

by

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

133

I woke up very early this morning and it was almost exactly the time that Charlotte was born.  I wished her a  silent Happy Birthday, and lay there thinking about that beautiful morning. As this day approached, I have been working hard on my heart. It is so easy to let myself slide into heartbreak and loss, and while there’s no getting around that,  I really wanted today to have some measure of joy, to focus on all that went right that day and how perfect things were for a little while, and spend time thinking of how lucky

we were.

I remind myself that some people never get to know that kind of happiness, the kind I felt when I watched Meg give birth to Charlotte, when Alex held his daughter for the first time, when Elliot welcomed her – when she settled warm and soft into my arms, so heavy and perfect and present. I don’t think I’ll ever forget exactly how it

all was.

Not everyone gets that, I remind myself. Some people will never be that happy. Even as we have dragged ourselves through this horrible pandemic grief year, I have never wished that day away – I’ve never wished it didn’t happen. It has been hard to watch my daughter suffer, but I know that for all the pain she’s endured, she’s grateful for every moment we had with Charlotte too. No matter how

much it hurts now?

Goodness, what a wonderful day that was. Happy Birthday my little Charlotte. Posted in Uncategorized

| 133 Replies

SEVENTEEN

Posted on January 23, 2021

by Stephanie

Pearl-McPhee

259

The blog is seventeen today.  If this blog was a person it would be in their room blasting obnoxious music and angrily texting all its friends about how horrible I am for not letting it go out during a pandemic and see everyone. (I can sort of relate.) Last year, I wrote about how much things had changed

– how much I’ve

changed.  I re-read that this morning while I was thinking about this post, and laughed at how wild it is to look back and think that last year I believed that grief and loss had changed me a bit. I had no idea what was headed our way, none at all. There is no doubt, my dear blog, that this year I have had trouble coming here to write to you.  I have felt as I did right after my mum died, that I don’t have very good walls up – that at any moment a dam could burst inside of me and I will just type “CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE THIS SHIT” over and over again while weeping and laughing hysterically and honestly, I can’t imagine you want to hear it. (Yes. I swore. I know, I know. I try not to here, so as not to offend any tender sensibilities but I honestly don’t know how to put a cherry on the crap sundae that has been this year of blogging without at least one. There may be another. I don’t know.) I was so hopeful this time last year – so reconciled to the changes that had happened in my life and I even felt really good about change. I really did – and then Charlotte died, and I don’t have the words (or want to type them) about what it is like to lose a grandchild, or what it is like to watch your child suffer the loss of a child, and then to have the fear, loneliness and separation of a pandemic heaped on top of it. See what I mean? Aren’t we having fun now? I cannot imagine any of you would enjoy a(nother) post even remotely like that. Even if I leave all that out and just keep it light, well you might have noticed that the world is a little pear shaped right now, and besides all that…. I put on proper pants just twice this week – and the only person I really see in a day is Joe and Blog, I feel like the material just isn’t there. It is like we are all in suspended animation, waiting for life to start properly again, and honestly the most interesting thing that happened all week is that I realized that I didn’t order enough yarn for this baby blanket I’m knitting (the west coast branch is adding a member) and I know I’ve written that

post before.

For the first time ever my blog, I don’t want to tell you how I’m feeling, not because I don’t want to share, but because I feel like either you feel as I do – that you’re lonely and your life is small (and if it isn’t could you please change that so that we all get our lives back sooner) or that my life will be sad, or simply won’t be entertaining.  I have always come here to tell you what’s going on, and my blog, this year there is just… nothing going on, except for what it’s like to try to buy pants online and I’ve given up.  I was terrible at buying pants even when you could try them on, and now it’s hopeless. I am on the brink of adopting leggings and I hate leggings. Worse than that, I feel like if I do want to ditch all of real life and tell you simply about how I feel about the Channel Island cast on (hint: we are in love) then given that the world is on fire, it will seem callous or insensitive in the

face of it all.

Long story short, i know I keep promising that I’ll be better about coming here, and I mean it. The blog has been such a big part of my life for the last seventeen years, and it has always given me the most terrific comfort to write to you, and to read your comments – but this just feels unending and terrible and even when things happen that are really nice and make me happy – they make for boring blog posts because the bar is so low over here. Like yesterday? My bread really

came out nicely.

See that? That’s all I’ve got for yesterday – except for the blanket thing, which like I said… it would be a more interesting blog post if I didn’t run out of yarn. That would be the shocker. I am dreaming, blog, of what things may be like when I write to you on this day next year, when this thing is 18 and legally an adult. Will the pandemic be over? Will the border be open? Will our families be the same size and shape? I know that this has been a year of loss and fear for almost all of us, and I know that things are hard all over, and it’s because I understand this that I find it almost impossible to come here and talk about our family’s suffering – it is no more than yours, and I don’t want to make you look at it while you struggle yourself.  (Especially if you are having the trouble with pants that I am. It is a bridge too far.) For now, know that I am here as much as I am able – that I love you all and am grateful as ever- that this space is still my online living room, and I’ve got no intention of leaving it, but I’m also having trouble inviting company over while things are so strange. I’m working on getting some better walls up.  Thank you for being there for me, even when I am not there for you. _(PS. It is tradition, though I know this year is different, to kick off my fundraising for the Bike Rally today – in years past we have amused them mightily by donating a dollar for each year of blogging, a load of donations all the same amount (or a multiple) has always weirded the staff out over there, and I like that. That said – two things are true this year – first, while I’m signed up for the Rally I don’t know if there will be one – there’s no way to know now if it will be safe or possible, and second, I know that for many of us things are tight financially – so if either of those things are a deal breaker for you, I get it. If those things are cool for you- that’s awesome. PWA has stayed open during the pandemic as an essential service – even when nothing else was open – they were still running the foodbank for clients, and as you can imagine, there’s more help needed than ever. If you’re feeling it, a $17 donation here will be as weird as ever

.)_

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HOW IT STARTED/HOW IT’S GOING Posted on January 21, 2021

by

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

139

Time continues to pass in the strangest way – we’re still under lockdown here, with stay-at-home orders in place, and I’m trudging along. Some days fly by and I can’t believe that I ran out of time to accomplish all that I wanted, and some days are like yesterday, where after a long, difficult and full day, I stood up and headed to the kitchen to begin dinner, and suddenly realized it was still light out. I was stunned to discover that it was just a little after noon. Anyway, this is all a long way of saying that I have no idea how it is that it’s been months that I’ve been meaning to post about Pato and Keanu’s wedding blanket, but here I am. I’d feel worse about it but honestly, I’m pretty sure a lot of you don’t know what day

it is, so there.

Way back at end of the summer, when case numbers were so low and Torontonians were allowed to have close contact with a few other people outside their household, Pato dropped the bomb that he and Keanu had decided to marry. Now, this wasn’t shocking at all, after Sam got married we were all pretty sure that they would be next – they’ve been together for years and years and it seemed to still be going well, and if you love someone more than ever after months of being locked down together than honestly you should marry them. What was surprising was that they’d decide to marry in just a few weeks, in the middle of a pandemic, which makes tons of sense if you are confident in your love (and the length of a pandemic) but not so much if you’ve got to knit a wedding something. We immediately started trying to figure out ways to make it special, even though there were going to be so many restrictions – the gift was the first thing to think about, and Meg and I hatched a plan that afternoon, and ordered the yarn that minute so that we could give finishing by their wedding day a shot. (Spoiler alert we didn’t make it of course.) We decided that we- the whole family would knit Pato and Keanu a blanket.  After much discussion – what would be easy enough for people to help with, what would disguise changing gauges and what would be a good fit for their style, we settled on the Moderne Log Cabin Blanket

,

(that’s a Ravelry link) knit in neutral shades of Eco wool

.  (The

pattern isn’t written for that weight of wool but it’s squares. What could go wrong. I’d knit it before so I felt good about our

chances.)

Now, the way this blanket works is that it’s a series of squares and rectangles worked off of each other. You knit a squarish bit, and then pick up stitches along the side of it and knit another, and so on and so forth. After a little consultation (and with the knowledge that it would be easier for me to match my gauge to Meg’s than the other way around) we decided that Meg would knit the first square, then give it to me. I’d pass it off to everyone in turn, knitting wildly on it in between, correcting errors and guiding anyone involved who didn’t know what they were doing. Now, I don’t know how this happened, but Meg is the only person I didn’t get a picture of while they were knitting – she beavered away at it, knitting the whole first square, and then gave it to me. This, I will tell you, wasn’t just smart, it was fitting. Our relationship with Pato began with Meg- they met as little snips of things – and truly have proved to be one of the worlds great matches, just not a romantic one in the end. They’ve stayed the very, very best of friends, and our family didn’t break up with Pato either. From the time they became friends until this day, we’ve just lumped him into the pile of “our kids” and gotten on with it. It was so appropriate that since Meg started our relationship with him, that she should start the blanket. It was passed off to me, and time since time was short I did a crazy amount of knitting while Joe and I were

camping.

The whole time we were camping though, I remember thinking “this looks a little big” and then executing the classic knitter error – which is thinking “Never mind, if I keep knitting maybe it will get smaller” which it never does. It was the only thing I’d taken with me to knit for the weekend (to force me knitting on it) and so I was reluctant to face the truth. Once home, pattern in hand I realized my error .  I ripped it out, handed it back to Meg, she re-knit the first square the proper size and we were off again. (For the sake of Meg’s reputation as a knitter, I will make it clear that the error was mine, and not hers. The only mistake she made was doing what her mother told her and that’s never

really wrong.)

Back in my hot little hands, I started making the rounds with it. Getting it to some people who care for the gentlemen was going to be easy – we had a family bubble at the time, but I had to find a way to get it to everyone else in a way that was distanced, and outside,

of course.

The worlds top knitwear model put in her stitches for her brother from another mother – I wasn’t surprised she remembered how to knit – the force is strong with this one. She’s picked up the needles a few times over the years, and the knitting was easy for her. What did surprise me was that Amanda was flawless. Of all my children she is the most knit-resistant and always has been. She knows how, of course, I mean what sort of mother allows a child to grow up without the most basic of skills, but I don’t think she’s knit anything since she was a child, so when she knocked off her rows with effortless ease, I was really kinda stunned. (This is evidence for teaching them young. It stays with them forever whether they want it

to or not.)

Meg’s husband Alex needed teaching – he was a quick study though – as was Sam’s husband Mike. they both picked it up in a snap, and were absolutely chuffed with themselves that they managed it. (Without a word of a lie, they were so thrilled. Several rows from both of

them!)

From there- onto the knitters. Jen swung by when she was off call and installed herself in the backyard. I plied her with wine and she knit heaps. We told Pato and Keanu stories. Amber, longtime friend of the show – I thought I’d have to teach her, but she revealed a secret – she’s a perfectly competent knitter. (This being Canada, you’d be surprised how prevalent a secret power this is.) She ripped by the back garden,  working the stitches with so much affection for her friends. Maddy! If you’ve been reading this blog a long time, then you might even remember when Maddy learned to knit . Meg and I taught her when she was quite little. Meg, Maddy and Pato have run as a pack since the beginning of High School, and Mads is quite a good knitter now – she doesn’t have a car and the covid-times means she couldn’t subway to me, so I went to her.  It is a pleasure to see these kids grown up and still all caring for each other.  (As an aside, Maddy had so many sleep-overs at our house over the years, that we began to call the trundle bed in the back bedroom “the Maddy bed”. We still do – enough so that even though he has no idea why – Elliot will ask if he can lie on the Maddy bed.) Cameron knit his bit – putting a little fondness in each stitch for him and Keanu. Bike Rally connection for them – lots of thoughts of Team Knit (and the few times that Keanu joined us on the Rally – so not his jam let me tell you) but Pato and Cam love riding together and I’m pretty glad I taught Cam to knit years ago – it would have been hard to show him how from a distance. The big challenge for Ken was that his turn came a week or two later, when it was cold. He’s was outside our bubble (by then, things had changed – everyone was) so he bundled up and got it done. (Please note he is wearing a dorky onsie both because it is freezing, and because it was Hallowe’en and he was dressed as a shark to amuse Elliot.) Pato knows how much Ken loves the cold, so feel the love,

buddy.

Last – Joe did his share. I won’t lie- he grumbled a bit, but he knows how, and he loves Pato a lot, and so Pato and Keanu became the third and fourth people in the world that Joe has knit for. Me and my mum are numbers one and two, so it’s a pretty elite club. Somewhere in there – when the blanket was almost done, but not quite, the big day came. Pato and Keanu were married outside, at a beautiful albeit socially distanced wedding with just a few people in attendance, and the rest of us watched on Zoom. Meg was in person- standing up for Pato (with more than two metres between them at all times) and I was proud of both of them for learning love in all its

forms so very well.

It was a beautiful wedding and I none of the things I thought might happen did – they didn’t feel alone, or like enough people weren’t there, or like people were missing.  I know that they would have liked us all to be there (I think) but in the end this is love, and it is the same as it always is. On their wedding day, the only people Pato and Keanu really needed close by were each other, and we could all see (even over zoom) that it was more than enough. Naturally, and us being us, we couldn’t leave it there. A mission was launched to give them the closest thing to a reception possible. Our back garden was transformed with twinkle lights and candles,

tables and flowers.

We used measuring tapes to make sure that Pato and Keanu were more than safely distanced from us at a tiny “head table”  we made sure that we had no more than the provinces allowed number of people for outdoor gatherings. (At that time, things were so much more open than they are now, we were allowed TEN!) We set the table with care using our best dishes. We chose a four course menu to please them – we cut the date of their wedding into sourdough and baked it. We baked a tiny little wedding cake for them,  and little single serving ones for everyone else. And they got their musical surprise, the same as every other family wedding – this time, over the internet from a family friend who’s an artist Pato adores and (obviously) couldn’t come and play for

them.

We did our best to have a proper party – pandemic style. Tiny and distanced (and freezing!) with no hugging and lots of kisses blown from afar. At the time we felt a little deprived, but looking back what a luxury it was to be able to be together even that way. I have a list of things that I feel this pandemic has stolen from our family, as I’m sure you do too.  The ability to be with each other in times of need, to hold and comfort each other, to walk holding hands, or the ease with which we were able to make connections with each other, and how simple it was to invest in our relationships. Know I add this to the list now – that even though we did our best, and I think it was good enough, and I know Pato and Keanu felt our love and support that day – I will always regret that in that in the moment they were married, they could not look out at the crowd of us, as we were looking at them, and see the complete love, acceptance, pride and happiness we all felt as they committed to each other. I think they love their blanket, and I hope that when they use it, they can remember what knitting really is. It’s more than a way to make something- it is a love container, and we have all poured what we hope for you into it. Much love in a long and an happy marriage. Stay warm. Stephanie, Joe, Ken, Amanda, Megan, Sam, Mike, Alex, Cameron, Maddy,

Amber and Jen.

Posted in Uncategorized

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AS I MEAN TO GO ON

Posted on December 31, 2020

by Stephanie

Pearl-McPhee

133

I don’t want to talk about Christmas – do you?  I mean, we did it, such as it was, but the whole thing was a little hollow for me. (If by “a little hollow” you understand that I mean it was horrible and a husk of a season, and left me miserable beyond measure.) Ontario is back in the kind of lockdown we were in the spring (and have been for a while now) with no family bubbles and no shops open and no haircuts again. (Already we are all looking scruffy.)  We did all the right things. I arranged our annual Gingerbread Party over Zoom – I baked cookies and made icing and dropped them off at the doors of all parties concerned.

We had Old Joe do the annual reading of Santa Mouse for all his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren – again, Zoom. We opened presents with each other on *&^$Cing Zoom, and while I am normally a very resilient and optimistic person, I admit that this season just knocked the snot out of me. I’m so tired of this stupid pandemic. I was overwhelmed this holiday by thoughts of how things were “supposed to be” and that included missing my mum, Tupp, Susan and my Uncle Tom (Mum and Tupps brother) died just two weeks before Christmas, and of course – little Charlotte, who was supposed to be fat and happy, crawling around and trying to eat paper. Ironically – it’s that sense of loss that’s made us so careful.  We can’t stand the thought that another family would lose someone because we blew it – so this is it, for now – and on the upside I did learn a ton about what Christmas means to us – and surprise surprise, a lot of the things I work at every year don’t mean anything without people. I’ve always suspected this of course, I mean, I have seen The Grinch Who Stole Christmas lots of times, and it’s not like I’ve been ignoring the messages out of whoville, but this really brought it home. I bet it was like that for a lot of you

too.

Long story short, I should have cancelled the thing rather than giving it a go under these circumstances, and as a result I’ve bought 4 boxes of Christmas crackers, and Amanda has an artificial tree and the minute that the restrictions allow everyone we love to be together, we are having a *&^%$ing Christmas complete with wearing the hats and putting up a tree and I don’t care if that’s August. Screw you

Covid.

So, I’m moving on. If you’ve been reading this blog for a long time, then you know that we have lots of traditions around the New Year. Ahead of midnight on the 31st; I pay all my bills, I clean the house, I sweep one last time and throw the dust out the back door – all so that I don’t carry anything bad forward into the new year and I end as I mean to go on. I put coins out so that the light of the old year and the new year’s moon can shine on it and we’ll have enough money for the coming year. I make sure I have a first footer, a dark haired man who’s the first across my threshold after midnight, and on the first day of the New Year I do a little of everything that I’d like to carry into the rest of the year, and start a new project. I also don’t do laundry on the first, so that no-one is washed away in the year that follows. Now, mostly, I do this because it’s fun. My mum always did it, and she wasn’t at all superstitious, but I love the way it gives our family a sense of tradition, ceremony and contributes to our family culture. It’s how we do things, and it feels good. Last year though, if you remember, Joe talked me into going away for New Years. I left the morning of the 27th and flew to Nova Scotia for my Uncle Tom and Aunt Helen’s 50th wedding anniversary party (boy am I glad I did that now) and after a few days there, went to Banff to meet Joe. I completed none of the traditions. The house was a mess, I wasn’t even there, I think Joe washed some ski socks in the sink, I didn’t sweep. (Duh, hotel room.) Now, I’m not superstitious either, but I cannot help but notice that the one year I skipped… well. I’m sure there’s no connection, but you can be assured that I have spent the last week cleaning this house within an inch of it’s life. Closets, cupboards, whole rooms cleaned and repainted, I even put down the shelf paper that I bought at the beginning of the pandemic. Every room is edited, tidied, and at its best and I am taking not one molecule of last year’s crap forward, and you can bet that tomorrow I won’t wash anything (except myself which my mum says is not only allowed but encouraged) and you can bet that I’m ending this year as I mean to

go on.

2020, don’t let the door hit your arse on the way out. Posted in Uncategorized

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THE FELT IS A FUNNY COLOUR TOO Posted on December 1, 2020

by

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

183

It is in keeping with the rather craptastic nature of 2020 that I begin the month of December by blowing a deadline.  In the past this month has been the scene of some of my most glorious triumphs – grand knitting plans pulled together at the last minute, supernatural amounts of work coming together, spreadsheets and lists galore culminating in glorious family gatherings and joyful holiday parties. Instead, defeat. I blame the lockdown. (Today is day nine.) You would think that a lockdown would give you nothing to do but knit and organize, but that’s not my experience of it. Instead, whole mornings are lost to *figuring out how to get red embroidery floss through a website and curbside pickup only to pick-up said pickup and realize that it’s completely the wrong red, heading home dejectedly while realizing that you forgot green thread anyway so you might as well light this floss on fire and make another order, all while wondering how you got yourself in a situation where red floss is an “essential trip.” (Repeat from * when the green thread is wrong and doesn’t match the buttons you had to compromise on as well.) Everything takes that little bit longer, everything is just a little more complicated, and no matter how hard you try, everything is a

little bit off.

Still, it’s an advent calendar year over here, another little one in our family has come of age – I imagine you all figured that from the wee things settling around me in drifts, and I did have it completely in my head that it would be finished and in the mail by the 27th November and arriving in time for… well. For today. Instead, it still sits in bits on my dining room table and I think that if I really, really try, I might be able to finish it today, and figure out how to get it in the mail tomorrow, and then the rest of the Covid-Christmas knitting can begin in earnest. I did get smart and order most of the yarn I needed a few months/weeks ago, so hopefully nothing is too much of a disaster there. (I can’t believe I said

that.)

Today – I’m going to – well, first I’m finishing this blog post, then I’m finishing something for The Patreon (if you’re a patron, a new video headed your way today I think – can’t believe I said that either) and then – oh crap it’s Tuesday so I have to have a weekly meal plan and a grocery list together and text the neighbours to see if they need anything and it’s still snowing so I’ll have to shovel before I take the recycling out and … then. Then I’m going to finish the last ornament, cut the felt backing, cut the tree shape, appliqué it to the backing, cut and sand the dowels, cut the pockets, embroider and sew the buttons on, sew ribbon onto all the ornaments… and then… how does one get a mailing tube in a lockdown? Maybe there’s one at the Post Office? Maybe that’s tomorrow’s problem. Are you trying to finish something today? Tell me you’re past your deadline too. It will make me feel better. Posted in Uncategorized

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SMALL

Posted on November 23, 2020 by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

111

It’s day one of “lockdown” here in Toronto.  Not quite as scary as the first time – I feel like we all know how to to it now. We’re not scrambling around trying to figure out how you’re supposed to get things or what you have to wipe down or trying to figure out masks. The shops are all set up for curbside pickup and delivery, we’ve got our PPE sorted, and other than widening our bubble to include our immediate family (and then shrinking it again a few months later, as instructed) Joe and I have pretty much kept ourselves in lockdown the whole time anyway.  Joe’s still grocery shopping for his parents and others as needed, and we’ve kept it to once a week since mid March, so we’re all sorted there. It’s not so hard to only leave the house once a week for shopping if you’ve been practicing for so long. I haven’t been in a grocery store in eight months, and our list of close contacts for a week can be counted on one hand, and that’s if you put the both of us together.  (And you’ll have fingers left over.)  This lockdown, being asked to make our world a little smaller, it isn’t really that different from what we were already able to do. I’ve been knitting lots of tiny things of late, wee mice and minuscule hats (the experienced among you will guess why, of course) and mittens for Elliot and… I’ve been finding it rather satisfying, and it’s only just occurred to me today why that might be.  There’s a certain resonance isn’t there? My world has been so very small for almost a year that knitting small things just seems like a good fit. As we start this new phase, one that we’re being told is at least 28 days, I’m trying not to panic. Part of me is so sad. What about the gingerbread party? What about Solstice… What about Christmas? Then I remember that we couldn’t have our usual Thanksgiving either, and somehow we all survived that. I’m trying not too look to far ahead right now. A few days at the most, and worrying just about small

things.

I’m going to try and be here a bit more right now (at least in the next few days) but I am being gentle with myself, and keeping expectations low. It is the covid-times. Who knows what’s going to happen next. Except that I am probably going to knit this

.

Posted in Uncategorized

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THAT GOES DOUBLE FOR YOU Posted on October 3, 2020

by

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

226

For months now I’ve been telling anyone who complains that they’re off their game that these are exceptional times, and you’re allowed to roll with it however you need to. I reassure them that trying to weather personal storms while in the midst of global loss and fear in frightening times is challenging, and that if it means you’re not as productive or tidy or cheerful or laissez faire as usual, that’s cool. It’s a time to be gentle with yourself I say. Be as kind to yourself as you are to others. I go away then, having said just that, and do (for the most part) the opposite.  Instead of reassuring myself that I’m actually doing pretty well, what with this being the most craptastic half year of my life, I have been making little lists of the ways that I am screwing it up. You were going to blog every day during the pandemic, I tell myself. You were going to spin when it rains. What happened to brushing up on your Spanish, and weren’t you going to run a 5k? Be in the best shape of your life? Write two books? Bake bread for all your friends, and while we’re at it, isn’t the house supposed to be cleaner than ever now that you’re in it all the time? (This one is epic. Turns out that being constantly in your house and using it for every aspect of your life trashes the joint. Who knew?) I go to bed thinking essentially that tomorrow is going to be the day that I “get it all together” which is an awesome set-up for the next day, because it’s a goal that’s lofty but vague and therefore largely impossible to follow through on, and then I can disappoint myself properly that day too. I’ve essentially been setting a self-esteem trap every day and it turns out I’m great at it. I’ve been wondering how to come back here every day when I’ve failed yet again, and it stalls me right out. I’ll have to apologize (again) I tell myself.  I’ll just tell the blog I’m sorry and I’ll do better from here on, and THIS WILL BE THE DAY I GET IT

TOGETHER.

Well, it turns out it’s probably not. This is a time of great transition, and I want to be clear that I’m not miserable over here – I’m not lying at the bottom of a pit of despair ignoring a ladder right next to me. There’s good things and great things and bad things and for the most part I feel okay about how this family is doing.  I feel good about inventing a new job and getting us out of trouble, and I feel good about being as available to Elliot as I have been – If the kid can only have a few people in his life, they should be dedicated. I feel terrific about the time we’ve been able to spend together as a family this summer. I feel bad about how sad we are some days, and I feel sad too when I think of how many families feel the way that we do right now, with so much loss all around us. I don’t know how things are where you live, but here we are still under restrictions, mostly increasing ones right now,  and our world is tiny, and having the world shrink to this family and this house sometimes makes it hard to see outside of it.  (I realized the other day that I have lost my wallet. I mean, I’m sure it’s here somewhere, but it’s been seven months since I was in a store so its location has sort of slipped by me.) It is a strange and terrible time, and there are days when I just can’t be cheerful about it, and then days when I am with my family and I think that we’re in great shape, for the shape we’re in. I miss my friends (especially my American ones) and travelling and knitting classes and conferences and Port Ludlow, and I dread the coming winter when our ability to see people out-of-doors and distanced will go away, and I feel bad for Joe that there’s not likely to be skiing this year, and I am worried about his parents who’s world has been very, very small for so long now.  I really wish we had a fireplace, or that those backyard firepit thingies were legal here. I have anxiety about the holidays, worried about what size and shape they will be and what we will do, and I asked on instagram the other day what people were looking forward to this winter (since I was short of inspiration myself) and there were great answers. Candles and soup, twinkle lights in every room, walks in the snow, movie nights, warm jammies, knitting mittens, the knowledge that I don’t have to put on real clothes for another few months….there is a list of good things. A big list. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this, except that you are the blog. I am okay over here, I think. I worry sometimes that something is broken in us after all this, that we will never be the same, and I think that’s true. I think too many hard things happened to us too fast, and after this we will be different, and I think that’s okay. Different doesn’t mean bad, just changed, and maybe if I concede that I’ll stop waiting to feel the way I used to and just try to get used to…. whatever is normal for right now? I’m trying to figure out what normal grief looks like if we’re enduring a pandemic and damned if I know, but I wanted to tell you that I’m trying officially, starting now- to let myself off the hook for all of the messiness I experience while I figure it out. (Both literally, and

figuratively.)

Of course, it’s possible that knitting an enormous grey blanket isn’t helping – never mind a grey blanket I screwed up.  It’s been a while since I made a spectacularly enormous knitting error, but here you go, this one’s a classic.  Years ago, I knit the MDK Moderne Log Cabin Blanket

.

It went fine. I loved how it turned out. Sure, that neutral garter stitch does sort of go on a bit (if you understand that “by go on a bit” I mean that you’ll weep near the end and beg for it to be over) but the result is so, so lovely.  So, I decided to make it again. (I gave away the last one.) I ordered the same yarn, I opened up the book, and I started. Joe and I were going away for three days, and it was the perfect time to get a big chunk of it done, and I did. I started as we began our long drive, with a very good feeling. Now, here’s the thing. It seemed kinda big from the get go. Much larger than the last time, but I just thought to myself  that I didn’t recall correctly, and I kept going. Our getaway was a little yurt deep in the woods (the girls gave it to me for a birthday present. Neat, right?) No running water (except the river) no electricity, no civilization of any kind, and I thought that this would be perfect timing to really bash out a chunk of this blanket,

and it was.

The setting was idylic, and I had hours knitting by the woodstove by candlelight listening to audiobooks, and grand fun knitting by the fire. It was super cold while we were there too (almost zero at night) and that by itself was pretty inspiring in the blanket department. I can’t explain it,  but I did notice it was too big, but I kept thinking that it was going to work out. (Insane knitter theory #4: If I keep going, maybe this will stop looking too big. Essentially the idea that making something bigger will make it smaller. I can’t explain us sometimes.)  after three days, Joe and I came out of the woods, and as we drove back to the city, yay verily as the cityscape appeared on the horizon, I came to my senses. It was like being slapped in the face with reason and logic.  I opened the book to look at the instructions again and holy cats I am an idiot. There are two blankets on that page of the book. An adult size, and a baby size. Now, obviously I wanted the adult size so that’s what I was knitting, but the original is knit out of DK weight yarn and I am

using a bulky . The

minute I looked at it I realized what I’d done last time, and what I should have done this time.  Knit the baby size out of bulky to get an adult size. I’d only completed three sections of the thing and it was already halfway to the size I was aiming for. I came home and ripped it all out, and now I’m taking a second run at it – it’s coming out fine this time, thank you very much. Though it’s rather possible I’m going to blow a deadline on account of the gaff. I think I’ll forgive myself for that too. Posted in Uncategorized

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I DID TIDY A CLOSET

Posted on August 24, 2020

by Stephanie

Pearl-McPhee

118

There is a lot I don’t understand about this pandemic, but what is wrong with how time passes right now is clear up at the top of my list. I have no idea how so much time can be whipping by me when the days seem so long, or how I can be at home so much and still not get anything done.  Admittedly, I’ve been working very hard on the Patreon and on a few other work things – and that takes up loads of time. I’m determined to make the Patreon a ridiculously good value, and so far I think I’m succeeding. It’s still a little harder than it should be, meaning that because I’m learning everything takes ten times longer than I hope it will once I’m a pro. (This week, due to an error that was incredibly instructive, I managed to lose an entire video during editing and had to start over. It takes real time and commitment to make that kind of high quality error.) It’s a lot of time at my desk, but I’m so grateful to be able to keep the wolves from the door that I’m cool with it, and I’m sure I’ll get

better.

I’ve been a very busy grandmother – Elliot is here a lot, and I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what a busy three year old does to your available time.  When he is we spend our time doing very important things like visiting our ducks (they do not know that they

are our ducks)

and wandering through the “deep deep woods” or digging holes at the beach – and this marks the second week that Elliot has been confident enough to leap from the back of the anchored boat to swim in Lake Ontario. It’s already starting to cool off here and I know things will really change when the winter comes, so who am I to deny him (or me) any of the moments of summer? It’s such a brief time that I am trying to cheerfully abandon anything at all if anyone wants

to go outside.

Still, there is no explanation for why I haven’t found my way here more often, though I think of you every day, and then… well. Something happens to my day, though I can’t quite say what it is. (Secretly, I blame Joe. There is something about a big guy in his underpants hanging out in the house this much that just cramps the hell out of my style, as much as I love him.) I am perpetually staring at the clock in disbelief (it just happened again now. Four? It’s almost four? I swear it was 10am when I went for a ride, and then all I did was make lunch for me and Joe and… four?) I’ll write again soon (I mean that) but today my laptop is going in for repair. (Finally getting the keyboard fixed, hallelujah – we found someone who can do it without us having to go into a shop, so it’s perfect, except for the part where I have to part with it for a few days.) Meanwhile, I’m just here to show you some socks.  I meant it when I said that the lack of travel has really screwed up my sock production… but a concerted effort on my part has meant that three pairs (actually five but I am waiting to show you two others) have come off the needles in the last bit. First, I finished the Regia

Pairfect Rainbow

pair

–

Off they go into the (currently sparsely populated) long-range-planning-box. (Pattern is the plain vanilla top down sock that I taught on the Patreon.) It is worth noting that I did a spiral toe on these, but they spiral in opposite directions, because I can’t imagine anyone could easily walk straight if their toes were

unbalanced.

Another pair- I put these in the long range planning box too, but who am I kidding. They are for me. Yarn is Ancient Arts “Lichen in my Crevices

”

I am so fetched with this colourway and yarn combo that I have three more skeins of this one in my stash, all purchased separately. Helpless to resist that one, it turns out.  That same pattern that lives in my head again – with an eye of partridge heel this time. Finally, a pair for Cameron. That one is (again, my basic pattern) and the yarn’s Must Stash in Vespa. I am glad that Cam is a knitter so he knows exactly how much work his big feet are and can extrapolate exactly how much I love him. I know that non-knitters sometimes think it’s funny that I like knitting for other knitters so much. They often think that knitters won’t appreciate them as much because they could just make a pair of socks themselves, but it’s never how it goes.  I give a non-knitter socks and (unless they’ve been to school on the topic) they usually say something like “oh wow, thanks so much, these are beautiful hand knit socks”.  This is adequate, of course, and the best they can do- considering that for all intents and purposes they’re pretty sure they’re holding beautiful hand knit socks. A knitter though? When I give them a pair of beautiful hand knit socks? They usually say something like “these are beautiful” but then they look at you in a way that says what they’re really thinking, which is “thank you for thinking that I am worth this much of your time it makes me feel loved” which is really what we’re trying to say with knitting, isn’t it? Back soon – you know. When the laptop is fixed and I’ve seen to the ducks. I have a mini-rally to tell you about. Posted in Uncategorized

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MAKE YOUR OWN FUN

Posted on August 7, 2020

by Stephanie

Pearl-McPhee

54

When I was a kid my mum used to do this thing called Find Your Own Food Fridays. From the time that we were old enough to scrounge leftovers or make a peanut butter sandwich, on Fridays – we were completely on our own.  This was coupled with other parenting gems like pointing out that there were four of us and only one of her, and so it was our job to know where she was, not the other way around. When I became a mum that one started to make a lot of sense, and I also I kept Find Your Own Food Fridays, but one upped my mum by inventing Make Your Own Fun Mondays, in which I didn’t come up with any activities or plans for the girls, and they had to come up with their own fun that didn’t require parental support of any kind. You want a drive? Sorry kiddo, it’s Monday. Want me to make playdough? I’m happy to direct you to the recipe.  Find your dollie? Set up a fort? Read my lips. MONDAY. My mum loved it. I’ve been thinking a lot about that over the last few weeks, as the time when we would normally be leaving for the Bike Rally loomed, and Team Knit prepared to have a proper pout about it.  One that was rather serious in nature, because we’re not just bummed that we don’t get to have a Rally, we’re really rather more upset that The Rally (not really being a Rally this year) hasn’t been able to fund the agency the way that they usually do – which makes total sense but is still upsetting. It’s been very difficult to get a sense of momentum for an event that can’t happen, and it’s sad  that things can’t happen and…. Stupid virus. Here we are trying to deal with the fallout of the last great pandemic (that would be HIV/AIDS) and the current pandemic is preventing that. More than that – as someone who’s been on the inside for the last several years, I know how this is working.  The Bike Rally (thanks to awesome people like you) has been very successful the last few years, and that means that there is cash around, and that’s enabled PWA to do some amazing things during this crisis – like that they’re the only ASO (Aids Service Organization) who’s been able to stay open to provide food hampers and financial supports to clients (many of whom are women, mothers, and newcomers to Canada.) To be clear, that money is going to run out – the crisis is not over, and the Rally isn’t raising as much this year as last. Increasingly PWA is going to be asked to do more with less, and that’s hard to see coming. Team Knit has been trying to figure out how to fix it – or what we can do, or how it is even remotely possible to make some lemonade here, but absolutely everything has proved impossible, and Ken put it best a few weeks ago after a meeting when he said “I feel like all we do is talk about what we can’t do.” That stuck with us. What could we do? What if we flipped it, and asked not what’s restricted or impossible or hopeless…but what’s possible? We asked ourselves what was possible- what challenges we had and what we could do about them, and what could we do to drive donations and give PWA the biggest rescue we could. We can’t go to Montreal, there aren’t really places to stay on the way and without the rustlers we can’t really move our stuff, and even if we could figure that out the camping was a problem, and without food crew we can’t feed ourselves – and restaurants are still out. (Some are open, but Team Knit is sadly not in a bubble together – so we must remain 2m from each other at all times and that means we can’t sit at a restaurant table together – if we were going to, which we are not.)  There still aren’t any bathrooms open to the public really, and as the only member of Team Knit who can’t pee standing up (or at least really shouldn’t) that’s a strain too. Also, Covid-19 ate Pato’s vacation days so he can only go away for a weekend, and me and Ken and Cam have work too and… well, we got creative. We problem solved. We put on our cheerfulpants and asked ourselves what we could do, and now

… we have a plan.

Gentle knitters, Team Knit leaves in the morning for a mighty and triumphant MINI RALLY. Today we called it “packing day” and I drove around and collected everyone’s stuff, and drove it out to our overnight location. That’s Sam’s house – she lives about 80km away.  While I share a bubble with Sam and her husband Mike (and Mike’s awesome mum Marilyn) the rest of Team Knit does not – so while Sam and Mike have graciously agreed to let Team Knit use the bathroom there – we’ve got tents to put up in their backyard.  (Four – one each.) I solved the lunch problem creatively, you’ll see how tomorrow – I don’t want to spoil it for the rest of Team Knit, and we’ll be able to BBQ once we’re there, and we’ll ride home the next day. It’s imperfect. Like everything during this lockdown and pandemic, it isn’t what we want. (For starters, even though it’s only 80km (50 miles) away – it is uphill the whole way.) It’s not the Rally, it’s not easy, and there have been moments during the planning that we’ve wondered how much fun it’s going to be, but that’s never been the point anyway.  What’s been the point is all of us pulling together for one goal, for celebrating friendship and taking care of people, and trying to be the change we want to see in the world, and putting our time and efforts where our mouths are. So, we’re leaving.  I’ll try to post to instagram as we go along over the next two days, and show you what we managed to make work. We’re all turning on the “dings” on our phones, and considering the temperatures tomorrow (scorching) and the distance (far) and the grade (uphill the whole way, into the goddamn wind) and the fact that there haven’t been any training rides this year and we’ve all been on our own… we’d love it if you used it. I will let you know, but anticipate needing a serious boost at around 11am.) There will only be four of us, instead of a few hundred, and we have to stay 2 metres away from each other the whole time – but we’ll be together. Sort of. Mostly. Making a big push for PWA, and trying to inspire you to inspire us so we can help them, and trying to make our own fun – or fundraiser, as the case may be. It’s not perfect, and it’s not the Rally, but it’s the best we can do. It’s what we

can have.

Team Knit remains:

Me

Ken

Cameron

Pato

We love you. (And we all packed our knitting.) (PS I have been knitting a lot of socks I will show you soon.) Posted in Uncategorized

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