The Patchwork Pride Project continues to pick up steam. Deliveries of 6” squares have been arriving and I am so thankful. It’s funny how thrilling it is to tear open the package to reveal the unique hues of the rainbow colours each package contains. I know what’s going to be in there, but I also don’t. (I now totally get the popularity of unboxing videos.)
Some squares have been crocheted, some knitted, all of them gorgeous. Here’s what we’ve got so far:
You may notice that some of them have some sparkle to them.
That’s mostly Claire, who has raided the ‘sparkle’ bin of my stash which I’ve had for about fifteen years but never used. She figured that since this installation was going to be outside, it would be good if it featured some material that would catch the eye. She’s absolutely right. Claire’s squares (she’s knit a whole whack of them and shows no sign of stopping) are some of my favourites.
The present plan is to assemble the squares into a New Progress Pride Flag, which is the Pride Flag that looks like this:
Here’s the patchwork plan:
I’m thinking we can crochet the purple circle on once it’s assembled. The flag is 23 squares long by 12 squares high, which means we need 276 squares in total (final dimensions: 11.5 ft. by 6 ft.). It looks a little misshapen above, because those are rectangles, not squares -- but that’s how my Stitchpainter knitting software program works.
Here is today’s tally in chart form outlining how many of each colour we need, and how many we have, and how many we’re missing. If you think you can fill a gap, that would be tremendous. And don’t worry about us ending up with extra squares. We’ll either make another patchwork yarn bomb to accompany the flag, or, if we get enough squares to do it, we’ll just make the flag bigger! I’ve worked out what the larger flag needs in terms of number of squares, and we’ll wait to see how we fare in terms of square collection. If we look like we’re heading for the larger flag, I’ll post a new table.
I will update this chart in my next few newsletters or on my website so we can keep track as we approach the deadline of June 8.
I’ve included the knitted square pattern I’m using below (but you can do whatever you like, as long as the result is 6 inches x 6 inches. Please send your squares to Morningside-High Park Presbyterian Church, 4 Morningside Ave, Toronto, ON M6S 1C2, by Saturday June 8th.
We will be piecing the project together on Sunday June 9th, at 12:00 noon at the church – lunch provided, if you’d like to join us. Thank you!
Knit City, May 18-19, 2024
If you’d like to hand off your squares in person, here’s another option: This coming weekend, May 18th and 19th, Knit City Toronto will be taking place at the Westin Harbour Castle. I have to good fortune to be hanging out with Christopher Walker and Jamie Godin of Cabin Boy Knits at their booth on Saturday from 10:00 to 1:00, and then again on Sunday from 10:00 to 12:00 noon. If you’d like to stop by and drop off your squares in person and say hello, that would be fabulous.
You would also get the chance to look through the fantastic offerings of Cabin Boy Knits. How gorgeous is this yarn? (And Jamie and Christopher aren’t too bad themselves.)
Cabin Boy Knits
I first met Christopher when he did a presentation about the history of yarn dying in Ontario at the Toronto Knitters Guild -- where I made sure I had a good chance of winning the skein of yarn he offered as a door prize by buying arms-lengths of raffle tickets to skew the odds in my favour (totally worked, by the way – I won the beautiful hand-dyed hank).
After Christopher and Jamie heard about my installation “Stitched Glass,” they invited me onto their Cabin Boy Knits Canadian Interview Series to talk about The Knitting Pilgrim, and we had a fantastic chat. You can see that here.
Years later, it was Jamie’s turn to win a draw – this time for the Henslow’s Sparrow Pillow I had knit as a door prize to support the launch of Claire’s first novel, At Last Count. Truthfully, that is a longer story than I have time to tell here, with a few funny ups and downs and twists and turns, but by the end of it, it was my pleasure to present Jamie with the pillow. Here we are on the steps of Cabin Boy’s wonderful cabin.
If you’d like to hear the entire Henslow’s Sparrow Pillow story in four-part harmony, stop by the booth this weekend, and we’ll tell you all about it – it’s a great yarn!