A circle of friends can make the Yukon feel like home
My Knitting Circle is a contemplative film, a quiet celebration of knitters and community. It’s also an ode to the Yukon and to the possibilities that can be found here, even in the isolation—often because of it.
Near the beginning of the short documentary, a lone figure, director Alexandra Knowles, makes her way to Horwoods Mall where fog rises from the Yukon River, snow lingers on the ground, and hoar frost clings to the branches. Knowles’ solitude is broken when she arrives at the Itsy-Bitsy Yarn Store where, inside, in warm light, a group of friends gather—all occupied with their needles and wool and telling stories.
Knowles has been working in film, mostly as an editor, for a long time. She was drawn to it early, following her love for photography and for watching movies. She originally went to film school to be a cinematographer but ended up liking editing better. After working as an editor on many other peoples’ film projects, Knowles turned to directing.
In 2022, Knowles pitched a version of My Knitting Circle to the industry forum at the Available Light Film Festival (ALFF). She met with Shirley Vercruysse, former executive producer of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB’s Western Documentary Unit), about funding for other projects, and ended up getting support for My Knitting Circle.
Vercruysse’s colleague, producer Teri Snelgrove, helped to shepherd it through pre-development and development. Once it was green-lit, the NFB put the production team together and provided the editor. Knowles says that it was a “pretty incredible opportunity to work with the NFB.”
Support also came from the local film community; for example, Marty O’Brien, director of photography for My Knitting Circle, provided some still shots that helped the film to be green-lit. The credits include many familiar local names.
“It was really a dream come true to have people support me in my project when I’ve been supporting other people, over the years, on their projects,” Knowles says. “It was really surreal.”
The heart of the film is the knitting circle itself, which met in pre-pandemic days. Many of its members noted that when they were new to Whitehorse, they first found community at the Itsy-Bitsy Yarn store.
The knitters reflected on the meditative, repetitive nature of knitting, the joy of wearing something you made yourself, and on the so-called sweater curse, where, if you have a significant other and decide to knit a sweater for them, by the time you’re finished, you will have broken up. One of the knitting circle members found love when she and her fiancé met on Tinder and geeked out over yarn. The group laugh a lot but also seem to feel comfortable being silent, with just their fingers moving.
One of the knitters, Ezra, sits at a spinning wheel, slowly feeding it orange wool, and reflects on how many generations have been engaged in that one simple activity. Similarly, Knowles tells me that many people learn to knit from their grandmothers, and the knitting circle is part of a long tradition handed down through families.
Beyond the sanctuary of the knitting circle and the intergenerational bonds it represents, Knowles has also made a visually-beautiful film. She says she wanted to explore “the contrast between light and dark, and cold and warm, and isolation and community” and then she adds, “It’s like the Yukon has so many vast extremes. And from working at the yarn store part-time, for many years … the textures of the yarn, and the colours … I just wanted to see this on film.
“I just love the tactile nature of the craft.”
Knowles sees the different textures and colours of yarn and some of the projects that come out of the knitting circle, as metaphors for the Yukon. The territory is a “big star” of the film, she says, both as a visual inspiration and as a place that brings people together. The “sense of being far from everything necessitates people relying on one another … coming together.”
For Knowles, the knitting circle was the start of her life here and eventually evolved into being part of multiple communities that she says “overlap and intertwine.”
In the film she says that, after she graduated, she moved frequently from place to place. It wasn’t until she moved to the Yukon that she settled. She tells me that there is space to reinvent herself here and that “people believe you can do new things.”
“I learned that I could change while staying in the same place, instead of moving away.”
If you missed the premiere of My Knitting Circle at the ALFF, it’s available to watch online at nfb.ca/film/my-knitting-circle beginning Feb. 19.
