The Fibre Nook Blog

In early March, although there was concern about the spread of Coronavirus, travel was still open between countries. March 7, my husband Gord and I travelled to Scottsdale, Arizona, to spend Spring Break with his son, Mac, wife Jessie and our grandchildren, Cyd (10) and Ty (7) who live in Anchorage, Alaska.

We had a lovely visit, enjoying the pool, restaurants, sports and recreation facilities — all of which were still open. And, most precious to me, Cyd asked me to teach her how to knit.

Crafters will go to great lengths for a good joke, and they don't let them die young either.

While most of us are stitching into the future, working on such projects as winter woolens, Christmas gifts and handmade items to welcome wee ones on the way, there is a group of folks in the city who regularly knit and crochet their way into the past. They are the Fort Edmonton Park knitting circle: 25 members strong with some 60 others waiting for an opening.

What would Papa (Clifton Price’s paternal grandfather) make of his strapping, six-foot grandson knitting up a little dishcloth?

That question was on Price’s mind as he travelled to Ontario six years ago to visit both sets of his grandparents. It wasn’t as if the young man was put off by what people might think of him knitting. After all, he was then clicking his needles in the Alberta oil fields where he worked as Measurement Well Drilling Engineer, fending off such comments from the roughnecks as, “Come on man, you’re not fxxxing knitting?”