“Truly a Canadian yarn, well spun.” Amazon Reviewer
When we travel in our RV I like to knit. My husband reminds me that my mother did the same. On a recent trip I posted a few pictures of “knitting while driving” on Instagram, and got a recommendation to read this book.
Sylvia Olsen has a PhD and has spent most of her life living in Tsartlip First Nation, where her children and grandchildren now live. Because Sylvia is non-native and her children are of mixed heritage, most of her stories are about the place—the time—the experience of where different sorts of people come together. She also knows a lot about sweaters made in Canada.
She and her partner Ted embarked on a cross-country road trip for the purpose of interacting with Canadian knitters to gain a deeper understanding of knitting and a fresh appreciation for Canada and for what it means to be Canadian. “Along the road, I intended to find my people.” She asked those people for stories and she includes many of them alongside her own travelogue from coast to coast. The stories are about knitting, but also about being Canadian.
Every knitting circle the author joined on the trip was unique, but also similar in promoting craft, creativity, and community. Ted was indispensable on Sylvia’s ‘Great Canadian Knitting Tour’, and brought humour and expertise to the journey in addition to doing all of the driving. Olsen’s writing is funny, thoughtful, and educational, shedding light on Indigenous issues and many varied aspects of Canadian history, as well as the craft of knitting.
There are only two “problems” with this book: 🙂
1) Although Sylvia’s descriptions are vivid, I would have loved pictures as examples of things she talks about like authentic Cowichan designs by Salish knitters, and Newfoundland “trigger” style mittens, designed for thumb and pointer finger dexterity while keeping the rest of the fingers warmer together. (I’ve added pictures in this post to save you from googling like I had to). 🙂
2) The conundrum for a knitter who is reading a book about knitting, is that it takes extreme will power to keep reading and not pick up your own knitting needles. Still, I managed to finish the book in record time and finish a sweater while reading it! (Unfortunately it was not Cowichan but it was colourwork!) 🙂
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