No love for grandma's mittens?

Early pandemic interest in knitting, staying home reduces demand for knitwear

While many businesses were negatively impacted by COVID-19, Kate Garibaldi actually saw her business grow in 2020.

Garibaldi, who is the owner of the knitting store Cast Off Cast On in downtown St. John’s, N.L., says her regular customers continued shopping alongside those who chose to take up knitting as a hobby to beat the pandemic boredom.

“Avid knitters continued to knit through the pandemic,” says Garibaldi, who says there were also plenty of new faces coming through her shop or ordering online at the beginning of COVID.

“I saw more than usual firsttime knitters and people that did it long ago that wanted to pick it back up again as something to keep them from being idle.”

But not everyone was as lucky. Wanda Watters is the president of Northern Watters Knitwear & Tartan Shop in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

For Watters, declines in business have come from both the knitwear she provides as a wholesaler to stores across Canada, made by Island knitters, as well as the sales of materials to home knitters.

“I can’t say we've seen an uptick in knitting, unfortunately,” Watters said of her sales trends since 2020.

“I had to do the opposite and slow down my grandmothers from knitting mittens. With the decrease in sales, I couldn’t continue to have hundreds of pairs of mittens knit when I didn’t know what the government had in store for us. Our wholesale orders were being cancelled and no customers coming through the doors for months.”

Before the pandemic, the Charlottetown shop had been selling to more than

200 stores across the country, including gift stores and clothing stores. Watters says her wholesale customer list is now down to a few dozen stores, and as a result, she's had to decrease her workforce of dedicated knitters.

"I have had 60 grandmothers hand-knitting the mittens and now only have a few dozen still knitting,” says Watters.

There is hope that business is picking back up, she says.

“As fall is setting in, stores are starting to place orders," Watters said.

"Unfortunately, the mittens I have knit, they want different colours and I don’t have them. Now the scramble is on to get them knit in a reasonable amount of time.”

INITIAL INTEREST DROPPING

Watters’ business is primarily retail, but knitting sales remain below usual levels in other parts of Atlantic Canada as well. Although there was an initial surge in new interest during lockdown periods, that hasn't been lasting.

In St. John’s, Cast On Cast Off has seen that early boom of newcomers and returnees who were frequenting the store last year cool off in 2021 as life begins to return to some of the pre-2020 norms.

Garibaldi is hesitant about whether new knitters will continue the hobby.

“It's hard to say. From what I have experienced, a lot has slowed down but I think that is a consequence of the pandemic itself," she says.

"I know the knitters are still out there knitting, and I'm happy to welcome them to my shop, whether they are local or shopping with me online. It's been a tough 18 months but I think if we take it one stitch at a time, we'll be OK.”

According to Garibaldi, knitting enthusiasts come in a wide range of ages. The main attribute needed for the hobby is the ability to slow down and take the time that's needed for practising.

"I think most people assume knitting is for older people,” says Garibaldi. “From what I've seen, the age range for knitting is very wide – probably from age 10 all the way up to 90. It's a slow craft, so I don't find that people that like things done quickly usually like knitting. It's something you definitely need patience for. But that is also why many knitters find it very therapeutic.”

For the newbie who wants to take up knitting but doesn’t know where to start, Garibaldi says basic needles and wool, along with online tutorials, is a great jumping-off point.

“The knitting world is different than it used to be with lots more patterns, fibre and colour selections available,” she says. “Ravelry.com is an excellent resource for patterns, independent dyers, wool specifications, and lots more. It's a wealth of information and I'm on there every day, looking at what's new."

Don't worry about buying everything from the start, she adds.

"Someone starting out doesn't need much, just some light-coloured medium weight wool – light colours are easier to see your stitches when you are learning – and matching size needles. There are tons of great knitting tutorials on YouTube and I still use them when I'm not sure how to do a certain stitch."