BMakingJoy
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
My Story
WHY I KNIT
My joy comes from knitting, I find it so relaxing and I love the feel of the yarn between my fingers. I usually have several projects on the go at the same time, so every time I sit down I can pick up some knitting. The simplest projects live in the TV room for mindless knitting, and the more complicated are in the front room with the best light. When my hands get cramped using smaller needles I loosen them up with something on bigger needles.
My grandmother tried to teach me to knit when I was a child, but I couldn’t catch on until I read instructions in the encyclopedia “The Book of Knowledge” as a teenager. (I wonder if mom still has those books?). I guess I am a different kind of learner, I needed written instructions and diagrams. Remember that this was the 80s, I didn’t have all the resource materials you all have access to now.
So in the 80s I was making lopy sweaters (remember those?). I guess today they are more known as Intarsia sweaters, where you work with several colours at once in an intricate design. I also made several afghans and learned many different stitches. I still have a box of all those old patterns. I won several ribbons back in the 80s, but the only designing I did in those days was to reshape mittens for my dad when he lost his pinkie due to Dupuytren’s contracture.
After becoming a mother to three girls I let my craft slide for a while. Then when they began to explore their own interests I picked up my love again. When the pandemic hit I began actively searching for joy and sharing it with others. Proverbs 17:22 “A joyful heart is good medicine ...” became my mantra. Thus began this journey.
I was focusing on finding joy in creation and in my knitting and my friends were encouraging me to start selling my work. So I brainstormed a bunch of name possibilities with the word joy in them. I settled on the name BMakingJoy because I decided my mission would be making joy and sharing it with others. Once I decided on a name, my daughter created the logo for me: a bee knitting the word joy.
My favourite project for myself has been this temperature blanket. It’s a simple garter stitch, one ridge per day in the colour I have pre-assigned for the high of the day. My first blog will be about this, coming soon.