‘Poor as a stockinger’ has been a phrase from the 1500’s when men’s and women’s stockings were worked by hand using needles and then on the early ‘knitting machine’ then called a knitting frame. As a four and a half decade machine knitter, it’s fascinating and humbling to see where the industry started and used…
I wrote this on International Women’s Day but only just got around to posting it. Listening to the women of The View this morning, they were reminding us of Sally Field winning the Oscar for ‘Norma Rae’ in 1980 while she was dating Burt Reynolds. Apparently, he wouldn’t go to the Oscars with her as…
I had to dig through my 1990 photographs and negatives but this week has found me back in St Martin, French West Indies, and wandering down the waterside in Marigot the capital of the French side as I reminisce about our trip in 1990. The waterside in Marigot now is lined with parking spots and…
Well, June 2nd, 2022 found me celebrating the day, forty years ago, that I walked down University Avenue in Toronto to register my business…Carolyn M. Barnett Designs…how imaginative…NOT! However, I thought that ‘Jumpers’ just wouldn’t fly in Canada (the Brit word for sweaters) so I went with my name. That’s worked well in that when…
Twenty twenty two has been an interesting year! With vaccinations we’ve been able to get out and about more and feel a wee bit less afraid, also, after two years (I’ve lost track) we’ve been jonesing to congregate, get together with family and friends, also, in my business, to let loose in craft fairs. Artfest…
I can’t remember when I started collecting bags (shopping…not handbags)…I do know I was already in my twenties as, before that, I didn’t even carry a purse. Not having enough money to do much shopping outside Zellers and Woolworths there weren’t many bags I’d want to hang onto and start collecting. It’s not really a…
‘Lucy Locket lost her pocket, Kitty Fisher found it’. We all remember that nursery rhyme…sounds cute, fun and, of course, old fashioned. Well, on a sunny outing to cruise our downtown shops with take away lattes in hand we dropped into Novel Idea…a locally owned book shop. I’ve been ordering books from them for ages…if I…
Well, earlier this year I got an email from the San Francisco Opera telling me that one of the hats I had done for Cosi fan Tutte had made its way into their June production of Don Giovanni so they need another one. The pattern is from a 1947 knitting book and had been faxed…
Before COVID set in I had been approached again by the San Francisco Opera for some knitting work they needed for a future production. Everything ground to a halt so I didn’t think about it as I did more slow stitching during lockdown and knit more socks and shawls. The socks and shawls were for sale without…
I have taken on a whole pile of knitting machine ‘stuff’, two knitting machines and a bunch of tools and equipment to go with them. I’ve listed some on Kijiji which anyone can pick up to augment what they already have for their Singer/Silver Reed machines and also for the Brother, but I also have…