For our November 2024 Member Spotlight, we invited Patricia (Tricia) Griffith to tell us about herself. Read on to get to know Tricia who volunteers to help with the guild’s programming and Ravelry group.
Do you come from a long line of knitters?
Not really. My mother and grandmother knit and crocheted, but only sporadically, and it was my sister, three years older than I am, who taught me to knit when I was about eight years old. I knit Barbie scarves then. That’s about it.
Years passed before I picked up the needles again. I was prompted to do so for two reasons. First, my sister forced my hand. She’d knit me a few pairs of fingerless gloves but refused to knit exclusively for me, insisting that if I wanted more I should knit them myself. Second, I needed something to help me pass the time when visiting my in-laws at Christmas. Knitting allowed me to be polite and present while seated in the group while at the same time being productive.
So how did you acquire the skill to move from Barbie scarves to fingerless gloves?
Slowly. Step-by-step. I began knitting flat and my skills were very rudimentary: I didn’t even know how to bind off. So I enrolled in a “Learn to Knit” class at the Knit Café in Toronto, and then another and another. Gradually, my skill level improved, and I learned how to do things I never thought I would actually do—like knitting in the round, for instance.
Since those beginner classes, I’ve enrolled in many classes and workshops. I’ve taken three classes in brioche knitting, for instance, and have yet to master increases and decreases in that challenging technique. The first retreat I did was the Yarn Over Sleep Over at Fern resort in Orillia, now called Fibre at Fern, a great retreat that I have attended many times. I have also attended the Fall Knit Retreat held by Rosehaven Yarn Shop.
I LOVE knitting retreats, I love the classes, I love the people, I love being immersed in knitting. During the pandemic Rowan Yarns started holding weekend long schedules of on-line speakers and tutorials. I participated a few times and it helped give me that knitting retreat feeling.
In April 2024 I became even more adventurous. I took a knitting tour in Ireland through KnittingTours.com. The instructor, Edel MacBride (who is scheduled to be the TKG presenter at our January 2025 member’s meeting) taught various Aran stitch combinations, where they originated and what their significance was. She had a unique way of composing garments using regional motifs. Of course I came home with a suitcase full of yarn!
Now that I’ve been knitting for a number of years, I don’t feel right if I haven’t done any in a day or two; I HAVE to knit. Knitting does not feel like work; it sometimes requires concentration, but I find it calming. I can happily pass a weekend knitting and watching movies.
What is your day job? How, if at all, does knitting fit in?
I am a Digital Content Manager for the advertising company Pattison Outdoor, a job that involves coordinating clients, designers, and coders. It doesn’t have anything to do with knitting or knitwear design, but you never know. One day an office colleague noticed my Briggs and Little coffee mug. “Hey!” she said. “Are you a knitter? I am.” That was the beginning of a rewarding, ongoing friendship. We’ve since gone to knitting retreats and travelled together.
How has your knitting changed since you picked it up again?
I will now modify patterns. When I started, I would not deviate from a pattern at all, except possibly to make something longer. Now I have more confidence to change something I don’t like or to suit me better.
What prompted you to join the Toronto Knitters Guild?
I joined the guild in 2018 at the prompting of a friend who was already a member. We both belonged to a knitting meetup group, and at first I didn’t see the point of belonging to another knitting group, but I’m so glad I joined! Monthly guild meetings deliver more than a meetup group can. The instructional nature of the presentations at the monthly meetings appeals to me. I love the speakers and the variety, and I always learn something new. At the September 2024 presentation by physiotherapist Molly Lynch, for instance, I learned a new hand exercise that I added to my regular regime.
There’s also the social aspect of the guild—meeting other members and seeing their beautiful work. I am so pleased that the Show & Tell feature has been resumed at guild meetings, and I always look forward to the annual Show & Share in February. Guild members have presented work that’s so much more beautiful and appealing than the pattern’s pictures suggest.
Tell us about the most challenging thing you have ever knit. What revelations and/or resolutions came out of that?
The most challenging thing I ever knit was a hooded wrap called Rumpelstiltskin that I knit in a yarn called Rapunzel. I started the project early on in my knitting journey when I had no idea what I was getting myself in to—I saw it, I liked it and wanted to knit it—even though it had features such as cables that I’d never knit before. The wrap took many years of knitting, as it took me upwards of twenty minutes to complete a single row. I doggedly worked a row a day until I got to the hood which allowed me to proceed somewhat more quickly.
That project taught me to at least skim through a pattern before committing to it in order to get some understanding of how big a challenge it will be. It also taught me that if I persevere and work it out one row at a time I will eventually (finally!) finish it and have something beautiful.
Are you a process or a product knitter?
I am, definitely and unapologetically, a product knitter! I love the satisfaction of producing knitted items. I do not like ripping out—it seems such a waste of time and effort. Nor do I swatch often. SOMETIMES, yes. But even when I swatch, I do not block the swatch. I prefer to block my knitting after assembling, though if the pattern gives me a solid reason to do it before, then I’ll do it before. I often weave in my ends as I go along to avoid having to do it afterwards, as finishing is so much less fun than knitting.
I knit mostly in the fingering, DK, and worsted weights in natural fibers. Generally I knit garments, and I tend to knit for myself. As Sally Melville advises, I look at a pattern and say, “I’d like to wear that!” not “I’d like to knit that.” I once knit a hat as an act of kindness for someone else, but the finished product was so appealing that I fell in love with it, promising myself that soon I would replace the aborted gift.
I like to have a variety of projects from small to large on the go from patterns that draw me because the garment looks unique or the stitch pattern or a particular colour of yarn appeal to me. My magic number is three, that is three projects at a time. I am currently knitting a shawl, a poncho, and a hat/cowl combination.
