In two large bins beside Elise West’s couch are sweaters. Oodles and oodles of sweaters.
Red and blue. Yellow and pink. Beige and brown. A kaleidoscope of colours.
Almost every evening for the past few years, you could find the 82-year-old Bowen Court resident ensconced on that couch, knitting.
“I simply cannot sit and watch tv and not knit,” she says. “It’s very peaceful and relaxing.”
The reason why there are so many sweaters in those bins is twofold.
West is a beloved vendor at the annual Community School Association Christmas Craft Fair at BICS. Surprisingly, not many of her customers are parents. Her one-of-a-kind creations appeal to aunts and uncles, grandparents and friends who delight in finding a handmade gift, something that speaks of the love of creation. Those customers return year after year as the children they are buying for grow into a new size.
But last year there was no craft fair. The pandemic put a freeze on one of the island’s favourite Christmas traditions. With no access to her customer base, West just kept adding to the selection of sweaters she will have on offer this year. The craft fair is back, albeit in a slightly modified manner. (See below for details.)
West first learned to knit as a young girl after the Second World War. Her family had fled Latvia and her mother wanted to pass on many of the skills a girl was expected to know: knitting, cross-stitching and how to pen a nice letter. Elise didn’t pick up knitting again until she was in her twenties. She asked her mother for a refresher course and hasn’t put down her needles since. Vests, cardigans and sweaters — she’s made them all as gifts and for her own family.
Because she knits at night, West doesn’t like to make intricate designs. Instead, she expresses her creativity through her choice of colours, patterns and yarn.
When she started knitting children’s sweaters, she had one rule: the sweaters have to be machine washable. (Put them in a pillowcase, tie it up and wash in cold water, gentle cycle. Don’t put the sweaters in the dryer, though, because then they’re more likely to pill.) She also doesn’t use wool because it can be too itchy on a child’s skin.
And because her sweaters are handknit, they tend to be a lot more durable than mass-manufactured knitwear. Sometimes, when she’s volunteering at the Knick Knack Nook, someone will donate one of her sweaters. While known for their durability, if a sweater is showing some wear and tear, she’ll take it home and freshen it up before returning it to the Nook for resale.
Her upcycling also includes finishing other people’s knitting. People sometimes start a project and abandon it for a myriad of reasons. They donate it, and the wool, to the Nook and she picks up where they left off. Donations of wool are also welcome at the Nook. West says that people sometimes bring in wool specifically for her but she buys it from the Nook at the same price it’s offered to customers: 50 cents for a small ball and $1 for a larger one.
Knowing that the past year has been difficult for people, West is lowering her prices this year as a pandemic-survival offering.