Posted by Sudbury Northern Life Reporter Liz Fleming
Walk down Water Street, the main drag of St. John's,
Newfoundland, and you can't miss it. Woof Design, established
in 1977 and a leading member of the Newfoundland and Labrador
Craft Council, is one of the most inviting stores on its block,
with windows filled with the kind of knitted goods that promise
to warm your heart as well as your body.
The large black Newfoundland dog that dominates the logo leads
some visitors to expect pet-wear but inside, you'll find that
the clothing is definitely people-wear. And it's distinctive.
Each piece is either hand crocheted, woven, hand knit or
created using domestic knitting machines. The result is
remarkable. Every mohair sweater bears a tag with a girl's
name, and every wool sweater, a boy's. Marylou, one of the
knitters and a shop assistant, designed the 'Emily' poncho for
her granddaughter.  It's a lovely, soft design that has a
grandmother's love knitted into every stitch and it's just one
element of the store's truly authentic collection of
Newfoundland wear.
At any given time, Woof Design has as many as 30 home-based
knitters creating beautiful hand-made treasures across
Newfoundland's windswept Avalon peninsula, and those pieces
catch the eyes of tourists looking for something
quintessentially "island" to take home with them.
One day, the tourist who came into Woof Design looking for
sweaters was a very unusual visitor to Newfoundland.
Actor Kevin Spacey was filming "The Shipping News" in nearby
New Bonaventure and wanted a remembrance of the island for all
450 members of the cast and crew.  Could the women of Woof
Design create and produce a sweater to order, working under an
incredibly tight time constraint? They could and they did.
The Quoyle sweater, named after Spacey's quirky character in
the movie, was quickly designed but not quite as quickly
executed. An outbreak of hoof and mouth disease on the island
at the time necessitated the ordering of huge quantities of
wool from Scotland. 
When the wool arrived, the knitters went into production,
working to create the huge number of pieces necessary. As the
pieces were completed, they were sent to the waiting team of
sewers who assembled and stitched the sweaters. A careful
washing and drying process followed before the multitude of
sweaters were ready to be presented to the cast and crew.
It was an event to be remembered, commemorated by a photo of
the entire 450 member Quoyle-sweater-clad bunch that hangs
proudly on the wall of the shop, near a sample of the sweater
itself. Love Kevin Spacey? You too can order one of his
sweaters.
In true Newfoundland fashion, the ladies of Woof Design put
more of themselves than simply their knitting skills into the
project. One was even chosen to play an extra in the film.
And of course they had a chance to meet Kevin Spacey and his
co-stars Julie Anne Moore and Dame Judith Bench.
And did they think the sweaters were appreciated?
Indeed.
Said one of the knitters, "It was some cold when they were
filming and they weren't used to that like we are. You know
Newfoundland - it rains so much we don't tan…we rust."
