WAWA CIRCLE SCARF
by good night day

The designer shares her top spots to eat, drink, and shop in Ontario’s capital.

Tara-Lynn Morrison of Good Night, Day currently lives in Hamilton, Ontario, a port city about 35 miles outside Toronto, where she knits wool accessories perfect for anyplace that has a dead of winter. And while the peace and quiet of her locale helps her churn out scarves and hats at a shocking tick, she makes her way into the big city whenever she can. Here are the makings of a perfect afternoon in the Canadian hotbed, in her humble opinion. —liza darwin


Robber
“This store carries a lot of independent designers like Samantha Pleet, and they also carry my stuff. It’s very inviting—not pretentious at all—and the staff is very welcoming. I like it because they don’t mind if I try on a million things.” (robberstore.wordpress.com)


Café Bernate
“I like to do everything in the same area, and Queen West is where the good food places are, along with vintage shops. The back of this French coffee shop is decorated in a fifties/sixties style. The sandwiches are amazing. I usually get the chicken, brie, and fresh pepper.” (cafebernate.com)


Vintage Mix One
“There are a few vintage shops in the area, but this one is my favorite. Each tag has a description of the item—the era it’s from and occasions where you can wear it.”


Type
“This magazine-and-book shop carries everything; I usually go there for hard-to-find stuff, like Lula or Gentlewoman or RUSSH.” (typebooks.ca)


Venezia Bakery
“I always get the custards here. They also have a bunch of Portuguese pastries and cheap sandwiches, which are all so good.”


Terroni Pizza
“This place always has such great drinks. There’s a huge amount of different pizza options, too—spicy white pizza, pears with walnut, that type of thing. It’s all very authentic.” (terroni.com)

Tara-Lynn wove a circle scarf (in two colors!) just for us up in Canada. Get it now.

The weaving pro unravels her story.

“I taught myself to knit about five years ago out of sheer boredom—and because I didn’t like the patterns that were out there,” recalls Tara-Lynn Morrison. What began as a hobby—a fun activity to keep her and her pals up in cold, cold Canada toasty—has now grown into Good Night, Day, a full-fledged knitwear line that’s earned an enthusiastic following for its cozy hats, scarves, and tops.

At her house in Hamilton (about 45 minutes outside Toronto), Tara-Lynn makes every last piece herself from alpaca, merino, and cashmere-blended wool that she buys from family farms in South America. She’s determined to keep her hands in every step of the process, from obtaining the fair-trade yarn to knitting up to four designs a day, each named after a city in Ontario—yup, homespun.

Given their wearability and obvious function—winters outside of Tara-Lynn’s part of the world can be damn harsh too, after all—it’s not surprising that Morrison’s customer base has exploded within the past few years. Even so, she says the idea behind the business remains highly personal. “I’d worked a lot of crappy jobs, and after getting laid off I was like, ‘I have to do this,’” she says. “So now I knit what I want; it’s exactly what I would wear.” —liza darwin

Score the sweet edition Tara-Lynn made for us! She knit each of our cushy circle scarves herself.

See exactly how her impressive hand-knit scarves come together.

You know how you’ve been trying to learn to knit for the past five years? Well, Tara-Lynn Morrison has actually succeeded—and turned her self-taught skills into a business, Good Night, Day. Here she fills us in on the process of making her super-special, ridiculously snuggly Of a Kind cowls, from start to finish. —liza darwin

Ready to pull the trigger? Click here to scoop up one of her made-by-hand creations.


“I got the wool from a women’s collective in Argentina. I only do fair-trade—I find the different farms through a company in Toronto that knows my requirements.”


“This wool is called thick-and-thin spun and is made in really small quantities. I like it because it’s really light and airy. When I’m really busy, I get my boyfriend to roll up the yarn for me because it takes forever. It is hand-spun so it comes off the wheel like that.”


“After it’s rolled, I start knitting from it right away. I actually get custom needles made from a designer on Etsy because the wool is so thick. It’s funny—even with needles, I deal with small businesses.”


“I usually knit for eight to 12 hours a day, or until my shoulders really hurt. I just got Netflix. I just watched Martha Marcy May Marlene twice! It’s my favorite movie right now.”


“After I’m finished, I seam the cowl so that it’s just one circle. Then I stamp and ribbon the craft tags, and we’re good to go.”