Yarn Over

New yarn and crafting store hits Regina Ave

Whether you’re seasoned and searching for supplies or starting and scrambling for instruction, look no further

victoria baht staff writer

Are you aware that a new yarn and craft store has opened in Regina? Well, one has! It is called Yarn Over Fibre and Crafting Co and it is located at 3434B Regina Avenue in Regina, Saskatchewan. This store is owned by Brianna Redlich. I paid a short visit to the store and did an interview with Redlich to give you an insight into the store and her passion for yarn hobbies.

Now, let’s get to know Redlich a bit personally. Based on the shop website, Redlich used to be a veterinary technologist, and after 10 years, Redlich is “ready to hang up the stethoscope and be surrounded by yarn full time.” Redlich started partaking in yarn hobbies about seven years ago with crocheting. Since then, she’s been learning how to partake in knitting, Tunisian crochet, and spinning as well. With all these different options for different yarn hobbies and all the different types of yarn, Redlich decided to open a store of her own and follow this beloved hobby, making it into a career.

Now that we know a bit about Redlich, here’s a deeper dive into the store and its conception.

Why did you decide to open your store?

Ever since I was little I had always wanted to open my own business, and it has certainly changed over my lifetime. About 16 years ago I went to StevenBe store, […] and it was a beautiful two-storey yarn shop. You felt so welcomed there based on all the different colours and textures. So, when I first started to crochet each fall, I would go to a craft sale

and sell whatever items I made over the year. But every year there were more people doing crotchet and knitting, and the art certainly became more mainstream. The market almost seemed flooded for makers but I thought people still need the supplies, and I would still love to be surrounded by yarn all day. I wanted to be the person that states “Oh, you want to make this? […] Here are the colours you need, here are the tools, and you can make something beautiful with this.”

Who is involved in the store team? Does everyone have a good sense of knowledge of yarn hobbies to be able to help customers?

So, the store team is me, essentially! […] I am mostly a crocheter and I am learning more and more about knitting and spinning, and a lot of that is due to people coming and us having conversations or them teaching me something new I can pass along to my customers. […] We are offering classes to give the option for others to learn. Although I am not an expert in knitting or spinning, I will go out to the community and say, “Hey, I need an instructor for this.” I will bring in this person and they can answer your questions, and this is an opportunity for everyone to learn. […] This is very much a community-based business.

Based on your available stock, you have a variety of different types of yarns based on colour, thickness, brand, and feel. What is your go-to yarn depending on the hobby you are doing?

I mostly do crochet. When I do crochet, I tend to lean more towards my acrylic yarns. I like to make stuffies, and hard material and crochet uses up more yarn and is something more economical, […] where knitters tend to be geared towards natural fibres.

[…] It does certainly range, some people are looking for basic wool, or some people are looking for something on the higher end. But I find it also depends on your skill level.

Walkin’ in a crafter’s wonderland.

Photo: Victoria Baht

on Thursday, it states 6-8 p.m. for gatherings and latenight shoppers. What gather-

“Be patient with yourself, this is the biggest thing. I have seen it in classes when people start to get a little frustrated or overthinking, and you must give yourself some slack. Especially, the biggest thing is to just get the hand movement down.”

– Brianna Redlich

How did the first couple of months after opening go for you? sides the basics at Michaels and Walmart. […] I wanted to start to bring in a little bit of stock to help people get yarn and do local pick up. […] This was a nice way to start building up a customer base while we waited for a retail location.

Are there any unique items your store has that people should come and check out?

We have a local handmade area. We have fibres that are made in Saskatchewan and surrounding areas. […] We have also ceramic mugs that are handmade by someone here in Regina, we have crochet stuffies from another local artist. Plus, we also have our pattern library. We take magazine and book donations, and if there is a pattern in a book and you do not want to buy the entire book, you are more than welcome to borrow that book, take it home,

photocopy it, use it, and bring it back just like a library.

Based on the website, you plan to have classes at the store. What classes will you be hosting, and can you expand on the information available on your website?

We will have crochet 101 and knitting 101. These are the basic beginner classes, […] this is where we get people started with some of the basic skills, then we are going to have 201 where we will have more complicated stitches. Beginner yarn spinning, sock knitting class, crochet thumb class or thumb mitten class. ings are taking place at the store currently?

So, this is a time for the community to come together with friends and with a project. This is a time when we set up a bunch of extra chairs, set up a project, have a cup of tea, we share stories. This is a nice place for the crochet and knitting community to come together.

What is some advice you would give someone who is learning?

Be patient with yourself, this is the biggest thing. I have seen it in classes when people start to get a little frustrated or overthinking, and you must give yourself some slack. Especially, the biggest thing is to just get the hand movement down. It doesn’t matter what the

stitches are like or [if they] look wonky, just get the hand movement. Also, there is a big community if you are starting to get frustrated. Pop in on a Thursday night, or there is a Regina group. Post it on there you will have a bunch of people commenting “This [here] is what you do.”

Visiting the store and having a conversation with Redlich was a great experience. Redlich herself and the store are both very welcoming and really make you feel comfortable. You’re instantly a part of the community, even if you are not a knitter or crocheter. I hope this encourages you to go and check out this store and learn some skills to continue a yarn hobby or start one up!

They didn’t just lose the plot, they gave it concrete shoes and tossed it in the harbour

jorah bright a&c writer

I don’t know about you, but I love celebrity drama. The drama behind the movie Don’t Worry Darling was so engaging that I had to see the movie.

For a quick recap on the drama, our main actors and their characters are Florence Pugh who plays Alice, Harry Styles who plays Jack, Olivia Wilde who is the director and plays Bunny, and Shia LaBeouf who was cast as Jack but didn’t end up in the movie. Jason Sudeikis is not in the movie but was in a relationship with Wilde, who was romantically involved with Styles during much of the promotion of the movie. The movie marketed itself using its sex scenes very heavily, which Florence Pugh was not happy about, especially when Wilde kept talking about them.

Wilde claimed that she fired Shia LaBeouf, but LaBeouf claimed that he quit, and a video leaked of Wilde telling LaBeouf that she wanted to figure things out and the situation was “a wake-up call for Miss Flo [Florence Pugh].” After this, Pugh stopped doing press events for Don’t Worry Darling. Very recently, Wilde flipped the switch, saying that people have been talking too much about the sex scenes, when the person talking about it all along was Wilde.

This discussion is not spoiler free, so if you want to watch the movie unspoiled, stop reading here.

What the fuck is this movie? The whole movie leaves you wondering what is happening and why it is happening. I never once had a solid grasp on what was going on, even with the “happy relationship” between Alice and Jack. We get a happy relationship for maybe 20 minutes before things start going down. The only real proof feels like what the other characters say about the couple.

Harry Styles is fine as an actor, but I spent so long wondering if he was supposed to be British or not. In the beginning, I could not tell if he was British or trying and failing to do an American accent. He was British in Victory, but I wasn’t entirely convinced despite it being Harry’s actual accent.

Why are all the main characters White except Gemma Chan? The only main character of colour is Margaret, who is immediately seen and treated as crazy, and then kills herself. Even though Gemma Chan is the only POC main character, she’s barely there. She teaches the dance class, she yells at Alice, and she stabs Frank (played by Chris Pine) – which was a great move, and I was very proud of her, but I spent the end of that movie so confused about her character. How much did Shelley know about Victory and about Frank? I don’t know and I don’t know if Wilde knew either.

Why is Olivia Wilde’s forehead so big with her hairstyle? Her forehead is normally not that big. She made the movie; she could have given herself a different hairstyle.

Why does Harry Styles spend several minutes doing a weird tap dance with his hand in the air, making 360-degree turns? Why does Harry Styles dance like that? It was not good.

The movie’s moral resolution is: don’t listen to podcasts. That’s it. You spend the entire movie questioning what’s happening to Alice and what’s happening in Victory, and the answer is that podcasts are bad. Real-life Jack listens to a podcast, made by Chris Pine’s character Frank, decides to apply for Victory, gets in, and is essentially holding Alice hostage.

He’s keeping her trapped in their room, giving her water through a cloth he wrings out, has her hooked up to IVs, and it’s all very strange and weird. And we never get a conclusion to what happens to Alice when she wakes up and is out of the weird simulation thing. And, what happens to the other women who are stuck in Victory who have not even been in relationships with the men they’re married to in the simulation? They make you believe that there’s at least five or six women who have been kidnapped and are now being forced to live in this simulation where they’re married to these men, who honestly seem like incels.

It certainly was a movie, and it certainly was an experience to watch it in theaters. It’s not good, but it’s not bad either; it’s so bad it’s enjoyable, but only with a friend. Don’t watch this alone, and don’t be afraid to make fun of it the whole time because it’s absurd.

Not feeling quite so peachy are we now, Pugh?

Photo: Raph_PH via Flickr

Murphy fan left watching for more

New Netflix series The Watcher may leave viewers with more questions than the case it’s based on did

amina salah staff writer

The Watcher is a series created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. It premiered on October 13, 2022, to the streaming platform, Netflix. It is based on a 2018 article for New York’s the Cut by Reeves Wiederman whereby the experiences of Derek and Maria Broaddus were told after they received threatening letters to their home in New Jersey in 2014.

The show has received an approval rating of 48 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes with a rating of 5.3/10 from 21 critic reviews. The website’s critic consensus states: “This suburban nightmare sometimes achieves the campy fright of creator Ryan Murphy’s best horror fare, but it sprawls in too many ludicrous directions to satisfy.” I agree with the consensus; the show was all over the place.

Seeing that it was created by Ryan Murphy, I had high hopes as I am a big fan of all of his works. Following the Brannock family as they move to 657 Boulevard, the show starts off by introducing viewers to the famous house that attracted letters from the public. Nora and Dean eventually purchase the house as they move there with their two children, Ellie and Carter. The night that they move in, Carter’s pet is found dead. Shortly after, they begin receiving letters from a figure that calls themself ‘The Watcher.’ The couple then hire a private investigator after the police refuse to follow through on their case. The Watcher is a show that simply fell short. I felt that the show had no direction. I can understand that the creators wanted to remain true to the true story behind the show, however I believe it could have been done in a more tasteful manner. The show ended with many things unresolved. The open ending is unsurprising, as the true case remains unsolved to this day.

My issue remains with the many plot holes and overall direction of the show. Why is the father an absolute creep? Why does he sexualize his 16-year-old daughter? Why does he control her? Why was this just something that they quickly moved past? It was only addressed for one second.

The trailer of the show was breathtaking. However, the actual show is not worth the seven hours of watch time. Aside from my love for Murphy I picked up the show because the Watcher is voiced by none other than Daniel Franzese, who is famously known for playing Damian in my favourite movie, Mean Girls. I really enjoyed watching the scenes of the Watcher reading his letters out loud. The addition of Jennifer Coolidge was also fantastic. It was great to see her play a serious character.

All in all, The Watcher is a great show to watch if you are looking to pass some time. It is something I would leave on as background noise if I am folding clothes, doing laundry, or doing my homework. It was an interesting show, but it was nothing special. Coming from Murphy, I had extremely high expectations that eventually were shattered. Delving into the story behind the show is something I recommend as this is about real people who experienced real things. However, if you are looking for something actually scary, I recommend you skip The Watcher and instead tune into the new season of American Horror Story which focuses on New York City.