FICTIONistas, Canada’s premiere tour of women authors since 2006, is a unique take on spreading the good word. It has focused on celebrating the works of women authors, who go on reading tours to help promote their work. The 2013 version of FICTIONistas comes with a twist, pairing an author with a knitter, and is known as FictionKNITstas!

The 2013 FictionKNITstas tour, combines the love of stitching with the love of words. Each knitter is paired with an author and knits an item that connects the author’s words with the yarn. The item travels the countryside with the author as she reads from her work and highlights the connection between both creative pursuits.

I was paired with Lisa-Bird Wilson and her recently released collection of short stories, Just Pretending. This collection of short stories was inspired by themes present in her life - identity and being Metis, family, and personal history. The knitterly result of this pairing is a Metis inspired knit sash. The sash appears throughout Wilson’s short stories and holds a symbolic connection to the themes noted above.

Since writing and knitting are both solitary exercises in accessing the creative parts of who we are, this event spoke to me on two levels: as a writer and a knitter. I am proud to be connected to FictionKNITstas and have my knitterly work featured alongside Just Pretending.

For more information, please see:

• FictionKKNITsta!

• Books & Needles: on the Can/Lit Knitting Connection

• Literary event combining public readings and knitting coming to Regina (Metro News story by Alyssa McDonald). More on McDonald and her writing is available here: Metro News Bio Page

• Fictionknitstas bring great yarns to Regina (Shelley Banks - Latitude Drifts blog)