Originally published February 18, 2006 In checking my spelling of Amaryllis, I discovered that it is also the name of the shepherdess in a love poem by Virgil. How appropriate! This is the intricate layering of Art and Nature, yarn and knitting. I also found another pattern that made me think of being wrapped in […]

Originally published February 16, 2006 Amaryllis always make me think of the work of Georgia O’Keeffe. That wonderful American artist who paints pictures of flowers – amazing flowers – flowers so big you could crawl inside them, like Thumbellina. The image of actually living inside a flower is so surreal, maybe even sublime. Just think.

Originally published February 14, 2006 To-day is Valentine’s Day or St. Valentine’s Day as it used to be called before St. Valentine was stricken from the roster of saints by the Catholic Church for seemingly not having created any miracles. I don’t know about that. He used to be reverred for his letters, mainly on

Originally published February 11, 2006 There are more signs of Spring in evidence even though our mild January has turned into a pretty frosty February -10c with wind chill factors. Don’t put those needles down yet. There’s plenty of time to wear out a mitten or two. Still Orion is in the Southern (oh, how

Originally published February 9, 2006 When I asked the question in an earlier post whether a work of art bore the “genetic” imprint of the artist, I thought of Robyn Gallimore of Red Bird Knits. Robyn is a sock knitter and a phenomenal sock designer. She has a sock of the month club and so

Originally published February 8, 2006 Venus is the goddess of Love. Her other name is Aphrodite – may have something to do with aphrodisiac – not sure? I mentioned in my last post that Dorothy Siemens of Fiddlesticks Knitting has just finished a gorgeous garment called the Venus Vest- the graphs are being checked at

Originally published February 6, 2006 My husband came home last night to say that a child had been born on the subway some where between Bloor and Wellesley. Now I have always considered one’s lot in life to be primarily an “accident of birth”. I know for many parents, birth is not an accident. It

When I started out in the knitting business or this business of knitting, there was a small mail order yarn store in Quebec called La Folie de Laine. I once asked the owner what the name of her business was in English – not a great question since we should be a totally bilingual country

Originally published January 30, 2006 For those not born within the sound of the bells of St. Mary – le – Bow, the complete phrase is: “Me old china plate – me mate.” It’s a Cockney phrase. When you refer to someone as “Your old china..” you are actually calling them your mate or friend

Originally published January 24, 2006 We are starting to see the signs of Spring. 1. In January the raccoons come out of hibernation. Some believe they never really go into hibernation, but the naturalists who write their columns, swear that there is a month or so when they are not knocking over our garbage cans,