The First Annual Canada Day Community Cast-On
We are blessed with so many talented designers and yarn dyers around us to celebrate. Did you know that our mascot gnomes are the brainchild of Canadian Sarah Schira of Brandon, Manitoba?
What better time of year to invite you to support a designer or dyer in your community by playing Canada Day Cast-On with us! Starting on July 1st choose a Canadian pattern and/or a Canadian yarn and get stitching. If you wish to share your work with us you can use the hashtag #canadadaycaston or #seweasycommunitycaston on Instagram or tag us on Facebook. We hope to do a round up of everyone’s projects in our August or September newsletter.
To start you on your quest for the perfect project, we suggest checking out Vancouver Yarn. It’s a brilliant website curated by the Coast’s own Janna Vallee of Everlea Yarns, another great dyer you might choose to support for this little endevour. The site lists numerous designers in British Columbia and beyond. CAUTION!!! This is a very big rabbit hole to go down but you’ll have a great time finding all sorts of designers you may never even have heard of.
We couldn’t resist giving a shout out to some of our favourites: Kyle Vey, Josee Paquin, Caroline Dick, Alla Saenko, Sadie Bellegarde, Sylvia McFadden
(But seriously, there’s SO many more!)
(We recognize that for many people Canada Day does not bring celebration for complicated and often painful reasons. We aim to appreciate our place of residence and the people that surround us while still acknowledging and addressing the atrocities of the past and present. If you are feeling uneasy about Canada Day this year but still wish to participate we would encourage you to support an Indigenous designer and/or dyer.)
We also want to acknowledge that Sew Easy is located and provides services within the swiya of the shíshálh people, and we appreciate the opportunity to live, work, and play within their terriroty. If you would like to learn more about the shíshálh people, please visit their website.
We currently have yarn hand-dyed in Canada by Handmaiden Fine Yarn – their DK weight Nomad (above left) is a sumptious blend of 80% merino, 20% yak (200m/100g).
If you’re looking for a quick knit, Fleece Artist Slubby Mix (above right) is hand dyed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Each cushy skein is 100 metres of 50% blue face Leicester and 50% merino lushness, perfect for a winter hat or mitts.
We are proud to carry Sechelt’s very own EmILYink Hand Dyed Yarn (above centre). These yarns (produced in Canada) are dyed in glorious colour combinations on Emily’s porch in West Sechelt. Currently available in a variety of beautiful colours in fingering weight (80% merino, 20% nylon) to inspire your next project. Emily has been busy so expect to see some new EmILYink this month.
If you’re looking to add a Canadian knitting book to your library, we carry Strange Brew, a colourwork knitting adventure by Tin Can Knits (Port Moody) and Saltwater Mittens, over 20 heritage designs from Newfoundland.
We’re already half way through but we do want to wish everyone a Happy Pride Month! We recently found the burgeoning Sew Queer community and blog and have been eager to learn more about finding and adapting sewing patterns to different body types. We wanted to give them a shout out in the newsletter as information on sewing for non-binary or trans bodies can be tough to find.
Looking for a chunky weight cotton? We now carry Rico Design Creative So Cool + So Soft Cotton Chunky. This 100% cotton works up at 13 stitches and 17 rows to 10cm.
Great for house crafts (bags, baskets, pillows, etc.) or for a shawl or blanket to keep the chill off when you’re watching the sunset at the beach.
This yarn comes in a variety of lovely colours and is so incredibly soft to touch.