Knitted Kneil

Wally Dion, born 1976, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Fabric Star Quilts.

Wally (Walter) Dion is a Canadian artist of Saulteaux ancestry living and working in Upstate New York. Working in a number of media including painting, drawing and sculpture.

Wally explains:

"The first fabric star quilt was made as part of a 2022 residency at Wanuskewin Park. It was my way of reflecting upon prairie tall grass and the reintroduction of bison into the Great Plaines. I wanted to make several transparent quilts and superimpose them; one in front another... a quilt for the microbiome, another for the bison, their manure & hooves, another for the summer fires that scorch the ground and a final quilt for the sweetgrass braid.

I was considering how all of these things worked together for thousands of years to create what is known as the 'prairie tall grass ecosystem'. A vast and fertile expanse of land stretching from the foothills of Alberta to the banks of the Mississippi. I wanted to highlight the invisibility of systems when everything is working well, as it should be.

I started with the green quilt because it is the colour of the sweet grass braid that is exchanged in ceremony and relationship building. I considered the nature and tradition of quilting; impoverished craftspeople using tiny scraps of fabric. I considered the act of offering fabric and adherence to tradition. I thought of a thousand tiny prayers and how that might look; invisible acts of respect and adherence to protocols spanning decades. My thoughts travelled across the land, imagining the trees and rocks collecting these prayers like a bush of cloth, or an etched boulders."

Sherlock only wears this cardigan periodically.

I want a new hat for the winter. 🤔

“I jokingly asked my mom to knit a sweater for my cat. she took it seriously, and actually did it”

aaaaaand it is BLOCKED!!

all i need to do now is wait a couple days for it to dry, and then unpin it

each one of those mat blocks is about a foot square, for scale - i need to get another set of them, i had to cannibalize out from underneath the shawl body to get the perimeter big enough to pin it all out, i've been meaning to do that for ages and not done it yet

hello dear reader. I have absolutely no time to do my favorite job. 😰

this is a raglan line pattern. wanted to do it for a long time.🤔