Institute of Island Studies hosts knitting and storytelling event on December 3
The Institute of Island Studies at UPEI will host a “Yarns for Yarns” event focusing on knitting and storytelling on northern islands on December 3, from 1:00 to 2:00 pm, at The Gallery Coffee House and Bistro, 82 Great George Street, Charlottetown.
People can participate in person or virtually. Please click here to register. The event is free, and everyone is welcome.
Participants will discuss and demonstrate island knitting traditions that focus on mittens. Local knitter Cheryl Wartman will talk about the tradition of making fishing mittens felted in salt water, as told to her by her grandmother Yoston from Launching Place, PEI. Kim Doherty Smith from Fleece and Harmony, a locally sourced wool mini mill in Belfast, PEI, will answer questions about how they mill their yarn from PEI sheep. Lynda Harling Stalker, from a long line of Prince Edward Islanders, will join online from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, to discuss handknit mitts and islandness.
This is the fourth “Yarns and Yarns” event organized by the University of the Arctic’s Northern and Arctic Island Studies Research (NAISR) Thematic Network. Previous in-person and online events were hosted by knitting groups in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador; Uist, Scotland; and Iceland, with over 100 knitters from all over the North Atlantic region participating by Zoom.
The Charlottetown event is hosted by the Institute of Island Studies in collaboration with the Institute for Northern Studies at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Shetland, Scotland, and other members of the NAISR network.
