Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Creative Festival

One report begets one handknit sock
My research report is finally done - we did a study of physicians looking at whether being a musician influenced medical specialty choice. I'm very very glad to have it over with, as interesting as it was. There is next to no literature out there on this topic, however the one existing paper that was even remotely related mentioned knitting, go figure!
Mom was kind enough to come visit for Thanksgiving, after which we set off to Toronto in search of some fiber related fun. We visited the Textile Museum of Canada, which had a special exhibit of antique quilts from the 19th century. Surprisingly (to me), only a small proportion of them were cotton, and quite a few had extensive embroidery.

Close to 6000 hand-pieced hexagons!
My favorite, a very random cotton quilt from Canada (late 19th c.)

Creative Festival, a massive trade-show/conference of sorts for knitting, quilting, beading, sewing, etc. was also going on over the weekend. While the knitting displays were only average, it was definitely quite impressive on the quilting front. We met Sammy, a Latvian who extolled to us the virtues of real Latvian knitting, while also passionately pointing out errors in authenticity that are frequently made in what has become mainstream Latvian knitting (no variegated yarn allowed!).

Sammy

While knitting inspiration was lacking, the quilt displays did re-motivate me to get back to work on the quilt I had started a few months ago, that has been collecting dust as of late. These emergency birthday-gift earrings were also a by-product of the weekend. It was so nice to spend time with mom and briefly get away from school... now it's back to the grind until Christmas!

Not fibery, but still fun to make

5 comments:

Heather said...

The earrings turned out well!
Thanks for spending that time with me. I loved every minute, especially the time at the Textile Museum, and seeing the Fiddlehead Mittens up close and personal!

Yarndude said...

Congrats on finishing your report!

Those quilts and mittens are amazing.

Don said...

Your research paper is very well written and very interesting. I am enjoying the read. You should be proud of your written work and knitted work.

Way to go Jess!

Dad

Marie said...

And I stayed home. Sigh. Glad you had fun!

crochetgurl said...

The earrings are beautiful!

Hmm...textile museum sounds interesting. I would love to visit a place that celebrates clothing and fiber. :-)