New VK

The new Vogue Knitting arrived today. One of the over-the-top issues--not much in it I liked. My heart sank a bit--they just changed editors. I stopped reading Knitters after Rick Mondragon took over--his style just ain't my style. But maybe the next issue will be better (I think it took me a couple of years to give up on Knitters).

There are a couple of articles about Canadian yarn and designers, and it seems I missed out on a good thing. I went to Stratford, Ontario, in 2000 for the Shakespeare Festival, and just fell in love with the area. I think most people there survive by running B&Bs and having another job on the side. But there are also lots of nice little restaurants and shops, and I started thinking about what kind of shop I could open that might fill an unfilled niche.

Of course, I came up with a yarn shop. I think there are several in nearby London, but there wasn't one in Stratford at the time (there may be now). I thought, well, I'm a tourist, what would I want if I went into a yarn shop in Stratford? Not just any yarn, I'd want yarn and patterns that were--duh--Canadian (and it would be good if I could tie in with Shakespeare...).

I was going to call it Canadian Comforts. I had a logo all picked out, and had set up a year's worth of window displays in my head. I was going to have Canadian yarns (including quiviut), and patterns by Canadian designers (and Alice Starmore's Tudor Roses since that's the only book I knew about that had Shakespeare-related patterns). Maybe Marianne Kinzel's Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting since it has patterns for Irish Shamrock, Scottish Thistle, and English Rose. And I thought it might be possible to find local artisans who could make wooden knitting needles (which I love). By now I'd have added things like handmade glass knitting needles and sets of handmade stitch markers and handmade bracelet row counters. All Canadian-made. Small, pretty, not too expensive things good for impulse buys.

What else would I want? I probably wouldn't want to buy a ton of yarn, but might be tempted by small things--sock yarn, of course. So I thought about making up kits for a pair of socks, or mittens, or a hat, or, for people who could spend a bit more money, shawls or stoles (the scarf craze hadn't started yet)--featuring, of course, Canadian designs and yarns. Of course now in 2008 yarns from indie dyers would be fabulous.

The shop would have old wooden floors, walls lined with clean-lined bins of yarn, excellent lighting, and a corner with a couch and comfy chairs, and maybe herbal tea and good coffee and cookies, to encourage people to sit and knit (maybe while hubby and kids are visiting other shops or attending another play?). And of course, CDs playing Canadian artists from k.d. lang, Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot to Great Big Sea and traditional music.

And I thought maybe I could offer short workshops--like 2 hours (play-length)--some afternoons and evenings--basic knitting, basic socks, toe-up socks, 2 socks on 2 circs (which I would have had to learn how to do), mixing and matching colors and textures (that would be a good one for scarves) (a scarf in an afternoon workshop?).

And of course, since I had Stella, Stella was going to be the store mascot. We were going to walk to the shop together every morning, take a walk along the river every day at lunch, and walk home after we closed the shop. Now I guess it would be a cat--cats and yarn shops seem to go together.

That might get me through the theatre season--May through November--but I'd have to have some kind of job for the off-season. Since I was day-dreaming, I decided I could spend the winter in my cottage (ha! You should see the real estate prices in Stratford!) writing essays and maybe those long-forsaken fantasy novels.

'Tenny rate, my point is that my instincts were good--Canada is proving itself a real treasure house of talented artists and designers, and Canadian Comforts just might have made it.