Alexa and Emily write of their beginnings…”One fateful day years ago, the two of us met while working at a knit shop in Vancouver, Canada. We came from different career paths (Alexa from teaching and Emily from architecture), but had both begun to dabble in pattern design. In 2010, we headed out for a weekend visit to Tofino, one of our favourite places. At the beach, walking and talking under a starry sky the idea of Tin Can Knits began. We dreamed of publishing a book. In 2011 we began to dream bigger, aiming to turn knit design into a day job. Now, 13 years later, we have a catalog of 193 patterns and 11 collections, and it keeps on growing!”

SYLVIA OLSEN is a master storyteller, historian, knitter, designer, and award-winning, best-selling author. She spent seventeen years buying and selling Cowichan sweaters in a shop behind her home on the Tsartlip First Nation Reserve near Victoria, BC. Since then she has studied the history of the knitting tradition and how it fits into the broader scope of knitting traditions around the world. With her daughter, Joni, Sylvia works in Salish Fusion, the Olsen family business that creates knitted things. Sylvia’s latest book, “Unravelling Canada: A Knitting Odyssey“, tells the story, sometimes conflicted, sometimes celebratory, of her six week knitting tour across the country that examines the natural spaces and cultural geography of this great land through a knitting lens. In her presentation Sylvia will talk about the history of the Cowichan Sweater and the Coast Salish knitters, one of Canada’s most exceptional knitting stories.

Chris Liszak has been using felt as a medium for creating wearables (coats, scarves, hats, mittens) and fine art (juried gallery exhibitions and curated artisan shows) since 2010. She teaches feltmaking at the Fibre Garden in Jordan Village, at her home studio and other venues upon request. Chris is the current president of felt::feutre canada, a nationwide association of feltmakers, and is a member of the International Feltmakers Association and Studio Art Quilt Associates. Her work through those organizations has been in many online and in person exhibitions.

Christine LeGrow was born and raised in St. John’s, Newfoundland. After a long career in retail she began Spindrift Handknits, a thriving cottage industry that creates local designs that are knit by Newfoundlanders.

Shirley Anne Scott, also known as “Shirl the Purl”, is a Come From Away who made her home in St. John’s in 2006. A librarian by profession, in 1989 she wrote Canada Knits, a history of Canadian knitting that opened many doors.