Kris of Urban Peasant was at the Vineyard Craft Sale this year so I got to see her northern version of a necklace: a necklace with a purpose which is to keep our tender necks WARM! :D I am sure that in due time Americans will talk about Kris's jewelery as another Canadian cliche among the fur hats, Sorrel boots, Mounties, beavers, igloos, and loons. :) Only Canada would have knit necklaces. As one of Kris's customers smartly remarked, "It's the perfect Canadian jewelry!" And it IS! They are very urban, very now, and very cool! It is neckware that gets noticed, it will get comments, and will be adored by all your friends. Americans would be LUCKY to have such a glorious piece of clothing but unfortunately they are not cool enough, in more ways then one.
I am a bit on the goofy side today. We had a good day around here and the kids are asleep!! Yey! I actually have been playing around with a finger knitter since I was a kid. My Grandma made me my first one on a wooden thread spool. I mainly made finger puppets, coasters, and hot pads for the kitchen. I wanted to knit one so long that I could make a rug but I am very much an idea girl and not a finisher so it ended up as another hot pad. Kris seems to be both and idea woman and a finisher so she came up with this brilliant neck jewelry and I did not. ;) She sent me a great bio on who she is and how she got to making this very interesting neckware so I will leave it to her now. Read all about her and her great Canadian necklaces. :)
"Urban Peasant started out, true to it's name, as a project for car rides from Winnipeg to the farm our family lived and worked on for a season last year. I wanted to find something to occupy the kids during the almost hour commute back and forth between the farm and city, and I found finger knitting online. I read the instructions, purchased a skein of cotton/bamboo blend yarn and set off in the car to the farm with the intent on figuring it out by the time we got there. When we arrived, I indeed had a super long chain knit up and no clue what to do with it. I somehow decided to wrap it around my neck, probably just as a way to carry it in to the barn while juggling bags, kids, groceries, etc. When I eventually looked in the mirror, I realized it actually looked cool! And my neckwear was born.
That year at the Winnipeg Centre Vineyard Craft Sale, I brought about 8-10 of them and sold out of them before the first half of the sale went by. So, this year I came back to the WCV Craft Sale and they were quite popular again. I've had several orders this week already and am excited to see where Urban Peasant will go! I designed some product packaging, business cards, a website and I'm working on my Etsy store this week.
Urban Pesasant's neckwear is hand-knitted from natural fibres, this season featuring fair trade organic cotton, undyed eco alpaca, and hand dyed merino and corriedale wool in gorgeous colourways. The neckwear looks great on men and women and can be worn as a cowl or more like a necklace, depending on the weather and preference. I like to wear mine as a cowl while I'm out in the cold Winnipeg winter weather, and then unloop it once I'm indoors to wear it more like jewelry.
Our tagline is "Turning nature's fibers into urban wear".
Check out some of our neckwear at www.urban-peasant.com and visit us on Etsy in the coming weeks under the shop name Urban Peasant Goods. Prices range from $12-60 depending on size and type of yarn. Custom orders welcome!"
1 comment:
Thanks! Fixed it up. :)
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