I live in the foggy city of St. John’s — Newfoundland & Labrador, have lived for several years each in Victoria, Toronto and Munich, and grew up in North Saanich and Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island. In my pre-kid life, I was an atmospheric scientist obsessed with the Need to Know about everything atmospheric physics, fog in particular. I have a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science, an M.Sc. in Physical Oceanography, and a B.Sc. in Physics (with a minor in mathematics). Things change and I change with them, and now after our son was born, I’ve been creating knitting patterns since 2018.

In 2025, I developed tendonitis in both elbows — and went to a great physiotherapist! — and it changed my knitting. The tendonitis returns if I use certain yarns and do certain things, but I feel like I’ve fallen in love all over again with knitting. We knit because we love it and the slow process of creating fabric. And we all find the certain types of fabrics that we love to create through the days.

We have a great knitting time in my knitjbeale Designs Ravelry group and if you’re on Instagram, you can find me as @knitjbeale

My Background & Designs

  • My husband used to be an Experimental Particle Physicist and we eloped in 2010 in our flip flops on a dock after 7.5 months of “dating”

  • I love purling, but after developing tendonitis from a combination of camping and cable knitting in 2025, I have to be really careful with the type of yarn I use for purling and beyond…the smoother, the better!

  • Steve and I love to hike and camp for days on end. We used to bushwhack our way through Algonguin when we lived in Ontario and then when we moved here to Newfoundland, before Basil was born, we attempted to hike the East Coast Trail from Cappahayden to our home in St. John’s in 1 week…we got from Cappahayden to Cape Broyle in 3 days (93 km / 58 mi) but then the drenching drizzle-covered and densely packed pine trees between Cape Broyle and Cape Broyle Head defeated us (it was pretty intense!…train maintenance has probably - hopefully - trimmed that back now:)

Knitting and non-knitting fun facts

The land on which we live here is the ancestral homeland of the Beothuk [bee-oth-uck], and the island of Ktaqmkuk [uk-dah-hum-gook] (Newfoundland) is the traditional territory of the Beothuk and the Mi’kmaq [mee-gum-maq]. Labrador is the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Innu [in-new] of Nitassinan [ne-tass-eh-nen], the Inuit [in-new-eet] of Nunatsiavut [nu-nut-si-a-voot], and the Inuit of NunatuKavut [nu-nah-tuhk-ah-vut]. I recognise all First Peoples who were here before us, those who live with us now, and the seven generations to come. As First Peoples have done since time immemorial, I strive to be a responsible steward of the land and to respect the cultures, ceremonies, and traditions of all who call it home. (First Light NL)

-Jennifer