September 23, 2010

Hooray for Knitting the Bridge!

Last night, the mascot and went to the Salisbury House on the Provencher Bridge to take part in the final meeting of the “Knitting the Bridge” group. You may be asking yourself, “Why on earth would a 13 year old boy want to go hang out and watch a bunch of chicks knitting?” Here are 5 reasons:

1. Two words – Salisbury House. The promise of a milkshake and/or fries is usually enough to get him out of the house on a rainy evening. The promise of a glimpse of the “million dollar toilet” clinched the deal.
2. Since he’s not a knitter, he had the choice to play his DS or to blog. He chose to bring the netbook so that he could blog about our latest North Star Drive-in experience.
3. One more word – chicks. Who says knitters are all blue-haired biddies? The ones I know are young, hip, smart, funny and, well, kinda hot.
4. What can I say, the kid’s a joiner. This project in particular caught his attention, so he was right on-board from the get-go. I mean, come on…a 250 metre scarf? Coolness!
5. Did I mention the milkshakes?

Needless (or needle-less, as the case may be) to say, we were both rather excited to take part in the evening’s activities. It was great to see so many ladies out knitting, eating, and chatting together. We met a few awesome gals (including Andee’s mom…hi, mom!) and I managed to crochet a piece 11 stitches wide by over 6’ long. (Gotta love those fat hooks!)

It has yet to be confirmed, but I think Jen mentioned that as of last night they had met their goal and would have enough length to cover the bridge. I suppose we’ll see on Saturday night, when the installation takes place, starting at 7:00pm! I know it’s just a small contribution, but it’s nice to think that somewhere along the span, 2 metres of bridge deck will be adorned with my chartreuse handiwork.


Knitting the Bridge is a colossal cooperative effort orchestrated by artists Kristin Nelson and Jennifer Smith in conjunction with Culture Days and Nuit Blanche Winnipeg 2010. The goal of the project is to knit across the 250-meter long Provencher Bridge that separates St-Boniface from downtown Winnipeg.

Knitting the Bridge has scheduled public meets dedicated to knitting together. Anyone can participate. These knitting the bridge meets will take place at the Salisbury House on the Louis Riel Esplanade every Wednesday starting August 18th from 6-8pm. On Saturday September 25th at 7pm, Jennifer and Kristin will begin installing the work from opposite ends of the bridge making this the longest and most collaborative knitting project in Winnipeg.

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