Six Days a Week Knitting in a Canadian Basement !!! allowed out Wednesdays By Ann Brown, PoshFrocks click here for some pics

You may all remember my previous write-up about my trip to The CardiKnits Seminar, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in April 2003, (www.cardiknits.com) well they loved my designs and patterns so much I was invited back to take Day Classes during October 2004. Pat Holbrook owner of CardiKnits came over to the UK in August, to visit her 97 yr old Mum, which gave us time to discuss finer details of my trip, (during our day together we visited Undy Yarns…….). Pat was unable to find a Hall in Hamilton where the machines would be secure, so the ideal venue was her shop, which is her Basement. Due to the size of her basement classes were restricted on numbers. My Demo days on the machine numbers were around 10 ladies, while those days were the girls brought there own machines maximum numbers were 7 ladies with Pat knitting in her office and answering the phone and packing yarn to eager Canadian knitters !

I flew to Toronto with an e ticket (thoroughly recommend , made things so easy) with 2 large suitcases weight totally 58 Kilos, allowance 2 cases of 32K each, the flight was delayed due to a PUDDLE, the plane was parked away from the terminal so they thoughtfully didn't want the passengers to get wet feet !!! My seat 'companion' for the trip was a gentleman that had endless supplies of food in carrier bags and a bottle which all drinks were poured into, then consumed !!

Seven hours later I was met by Elizabeth a fellow knitter who offered to pick me up from the airport and take me to Pats House in Hamilton Ontario which was to be my base for the next three and a half weeks. I had the following Day free, which hopefully would allow me to catch up with the 5 hrs I had 'lost'. The first weekend I was demo-ing both days. Saturday Cut & Sew, only to a few ladies as the Customs on the American Borders were on strike and none of the Americans who wanted to attend were able to cross the border (only One and a half hours drive way). It wasn't a good start to a series of classes…. Pats Overlocker seized up on me (honestly it wasn't my fault, I know the needle broke) luckily Pats Friend Yvonne came to the rescue with her machine. I was working on a newly acquired machine, all went well until I started to knit Cardy front Bands and the carriage refused to traverse from left to right ! And you ladies are so lovely and say 'I am so glad it happens to you!' Anyway by the end of the day I had demo-ed a single bed Cardy working with their Woolray yarn, imported from the USA. Sunday was a ribber Day, no problems there except the Woolray stretches then retracts, so as you knit double bed, it looks very open but once off the machine and steamed the fabric reduces and closes up. I had a quiet silent panic, even though I had done my tension swatch!

Week two was a teaching repeat of my first week with different ladies. During the week the girls brought their machines and knitted, 6 girls Monday and Tuesday doing single bed and a re-run on Thursday/Friday this time double bed and a few different faces. One of the problems was yarn / tensions, when isn't it ? Except not all our yarns are available in Canada and they also seem to knit at different tensions due to climatic conditions! Most popular was American Woolray 80% wool, 20% Viscose circa 4ply, followed by Woolway otherwise known here as Aurora by Yeomans, Pat is the Canadian Importer of Yeoman Yarns. A few of the girls had the right UK yarn but due to their heavy taxes and import duties our yarn works out rather expensive and isn't really suitable for there extreme weather conditions. Yeoman Panama is one of the most popular UK yarns (cotton and Acrylic). Average overall cost of a cone of yarn is circa £18. Another point also their Woolray doesn't have a good shelf life, drying out in their weather conditions, and then the wool breaks as you knit with it. (No good for loft insulation, long term storage!)

Machine Knitters are the same the world over, our same machines may have different names and our fascination with cones of yarn / colours remain equal, but with the aid of a calculator all patterns can easily be converted to knit in different yarns. Canadians very rarely wear skirts, everyone wears trousers so my trousers patterns were popular, and consequently tops are frequently knitted. My new twinset pattern was knitted in many different yarns, all successfully. To ensure excellent lighting Pat had installed spot lights around her basement which did just the job BUT unfortunately they also made her basement very warm, especially teaching directly under the lights. So when tea break arrived I asked for a glass of Squash, this request caused odd looks around the group of ladies, because unknown to me, Canadians only know squash as a vegetable!

Pat is a avid Tap dancer and will be appearing in Theatre next year, each week she was having to take 3 dance classes, Wednesday being the busiest day…hence my Day off ! First Day off Eileen Montgomery (visit her website www.eileenmontgomery.com) took me to Niagara Falls stopping off first at a Bead Store in St Catherines, we spent quite a while there. Sorry I have become a beader making necklaces etc, just a new Hobby ! The next day off, following Wednesday, Joyce and her hubby took me to St Jacobs where the Mennonites live, who wear only black clothing and drive horse and buggys, the women sew exquisite quilts by hand. Unfortunately we saw no locals. During my day out I heard tales from Joyce and her hubby and Racoons, to date had trapped 43 Racoons and 3 opossums. They all had to be relocated as they are protected species (unless you are a native Canadian Indian)

I also had 3 clubs asking for me to lecture. Firstly Superb Knitters club meeting on Tuesday 26th October, last day of the single bed hands on workshop. Then the Passap club on the afternoon of Nov 2nd 1-3.30 .... this club meets quarterly and asked if I had come over specially just for their club, 'of course' I said. Both of these clubs met in the Basement then I was let out to go to the Burlington club that same evening 7.30 -9pm, their club was held also in a basement of a Church with circa 30 members attending . You are going to be BUSY Pat had told me.

In total I taught for 16 days and lectured at 3 clubs, met some lovely ladies who in turn knitted some super garments including trousers all in a wide range of differing yarns. The girls travelled great distances to come, some taking time off work just to come and knit. Susan flew in from Boston and stayed for a week of teaching, Karen drove 2hrs for 2 separate classes, Fay drove 9 hrs from Perth, Ontario, The Passap girls travelled one to two hours just for their club and Heather gave up driving her School bus to come along for 3 different classes. And a mention to Frances who knitted loads but had to milk 12 cows before her class and 52 when she got home (1 hrs drive away) and there is Pat Holbrook who organised all the classes via email and phone calls, made great Tea and had loads of yarn to droll over while you knitted. Fortunately for me no yarn would fit in the case on the way home as I had done a bit of shopping and returned with bulging over-weight cases……..