Kate and Chocolate

I love spending time with other knitters. Someone who gets it when you say, “three fives, two fours and end with three fives”. I had a great knit-date with Kate Gilbert, creative director of Twist Collective and designer extraordinaire.  We walked from her new apartment through changeable weather, hot and sunny, a quick downpour, a chill wind,  all in the space of our 20 minute walk through her pretty Montreal neighborhood, leading us to our trés-yum  chocolate shop destination.

Over a steaming bowl of hot chocolate and a fleur de sel brownie…we snickered at simple math that stumped us both…muttered comments like “60 is a good number isn’t it?” and “what’s wrong with purling?” She told  funny stories including one of a recent bruising hail storm she was caught in while biking her 3 year old home from school, a little alarming but her vivid description made me gasp and laugh. We swapped “how I learned to knit” stories. Kate, also self taught knitter, has an unusual style, holding her needles under her right arm, which looks vaguely Shetland-like without the needle belt. She developed this technique while she learned from a book, and found she could turn the pages without letting go of her needles. Very fast she is, silver needles flying!

You can catch a glimpse of her current project above, through the glass dimly…just a tease however…which matches the drizzle of chocolate and caramel of our brownie.

Back at Kate’s apartment I met husband Fred and their daughter- a little ray of sunshine- who is nearly four. Though my daughter used to babysit her I’d only caught a glimpse of the wee one before. Charmed! She showed me many things she was thinking of juggling, called me “Monster Mary Jane” which I took as a compliment and showed off all the great features of her new bedroom including her cool sitting area with its little table and a future tent area. I also got a look at Kate’s enviable new studio, she’s graduated from the couch: she can shut the door, there’s dress form with space around it, tree-top tall shelves and a spacious desk in front of a big beautiful window, yippee!

Thanks Kate, for taking time out of your busy life for such a fun rendezvous.